OKE Options Sentiment Flips Bullish as Shorts Pile In

Short sellers have dramatically increased their OKE positions over the past week. Yet the options market is telling a very different story.

The put/call ratio for ONEOK dropped to 0.33 on September 21. That's a z-score of -2.66 — more than two standard deviations below the 20-day mean of 0.37. Options traders are loading up on calls relative to puts at an unusual pace. The PCR sits near the lower end of its 52-week range of 0.23–0.64.

Shorts Surge, Borrow Stays Cheap

Short interest climbed 46% over the past week to 4.38% of float — roughly 27.6 million shares. That's a meaningful jump for a midstream name that has traded quietly for months.

What makes it unusual: the borrow market isn't reacting. Availability stands at 466%, meaning there are more than four shares available to lend for every one currently borrowed. Cost to borrow is 0.52% — effectively free. Short sellers face no friction in putting on positions.

The one anomaly in that picture: cost to borrow spiked to 16.6% on September 14, then collapsed back to baseline within days. That single-session squeeze resolved quickly and left no lasting tightness in the lending pool.

Bulls and Bears in the Same Room

The divergence is stark. Short interest is at its highest level in at least a month. The options market is simultaneously the most call-heavy it has been all year on a z-score basis.

These two signals don't cancel each other out — they flag that conviction is high on both sides. Institutional holders remain anchored: BlackRock holds 10.2% of shares, adding over 5 million shares in the most recent reported period. Capital Research added nearly 4.8 million shares. The institutional register looks stable.

OKE has also slipped 5.3% over the past week and is down 1.8% on the day. Next earnings land October 30.

Data Summary

• SI % of Float: 4.38%, up 46% week-on-week
• Cost to borrow: 0.52% — low; availability at 466%
• PCR: 0.33, z-score -2.66 (52-week range: 0.23–0.64)
• Price: $91.80, -5.3% on the week
• BlackRock: added ~5.1M shares (as of Aug 31)
• Short score: 52.6, up from 46.0 two weeks ago
• Next earnings: October 30