SPY Short Interest Retreats Sharply From March Highs

Short interest in the S&P 500 ETF dropped 2% over the past week while cost to borrow jumped 27%. Options sentiment spiked to a 2.67 standard deviation above the 20-day mean. Utilisation fell to 6.45%, down from the 78.88% 52-week high hit March 20.

Price action & positioning

SPY closed at $713.94 on April 24, up 0.77% on the day. The ETF gained 0.54% over the past week and rallied 9.3% over the month. That marks a sustained recovery from the early-spring selloff.

Short interest & lending

Short interest stood at 120.13 million shares as of April 23, representing 11.7% of float. That marked a 0.55% increase from the prior day but a 2% decline over the week. The monthly trend showed a 10.4% rise from late March.

The current level sits well below the mid-April peak of 127.98 million shares on April 13. Short sellers trimmed positions by 7.85 million shares since that high. The early-April surge coincided with broader market volatility, and the subsequent retreat aligns with the ETF's 9.3% monthly gain.

Cost to borrow jumped to 0.46% from 0.41% a week earlier, a 27% increase. That remains below the March 20 spike to 0.97%, when utilisation hit its 52-week high of 78.88%. The April 1 reading of 0.67% marked another brief spike before settling into the current 0.40–0.50% range.

FINRA fortnightly data reported 125.0 million shares short as of the April 15 settlement date, with days to cover at 1.94. The exchange-reported figure runs about 4% higher than the April 23 ORTEX estimate.

Options flow

Put-call ratio hit 2.18 on April 24, sitting 2.67 standard deviations above the 20-day mean of 1.80. The reading approached but remained below the 52-week high of 2.40. Over the past month, PCR climbed from 1.57 on March 31 to the current elevated level. The z-score indicates an extreme tilt toward put volume relative to recent norms.

Utilisation trends

Utilisation dropped to 6.45% on April 23, down from 12.68% a week earlier. That marks a steep decline from the March 20 peak of 78.88%, when borrow demand spiked alongside the cost-to-borrow surge to 0.97%. Through early April, utilisation remained in the 50–66% range before collapsing to current single-digit levels. The sharp drop suggests easing borrow demand as shares became more readily available.

Institutional positioning

JPMorgan Chase held the largest position at 44.2 million shares (4.3% of shares), down 5.1 million shares in Q4. Morgan Stanley trimmed its stake by 11.4 million shares to 28.8 million (2.8%). Goldman Sachs reduced holdings by 2.5 million shares to 27.7 million (2.7%).

Wells Fargo moved the opposite direction, adding 10.8 million shares to reach 20.6 million (2.0%). Jane Street Group increased its position by 8.2 million shares to 10.0 million (0.98%). Citigroup added 5.1 million shares, bringing its total to 8.5 million (0.83%).

Bank of America, Northern Trust, Susquehanna, and Hudson River Trading all reduced positions in the quarter.

What to watch

The next quarterly 13F filings will show whether institutional positioning shifted further during Q1 2026. Watch for continued divergence between the utilisation trend and short interest — the current 6.45% utilisation versus 11.7% SI suggests ample borrow availability. The elevated put-call ratio warrants monitoring alongside any resumption of market volatility.