Oil Fund Shorts Surge Past 87% as Crude Rally Accelerates

Short sellers have piled into USO even as the oil tracking fund surged 14% over the past week. Short interest now stands at 87.5% of float — the highest level in a month — while cost to borrow has more than doubled in seven days to 11.9%.

Price action & positioning

USO closed at $132.40 on April 24, up 14.1% over the week and 15.6% over the month. The fund gave back 1.7% on Friday, but remains in a strong uptrend as crude oil prices continue to climb.

Short interest & lending

Short interest reached 11.57 million shares as of April 23, representing 87.5% of the free float. That marks a 5% increase over the past week and a 33% surge over the month. The current level is the highest since April 20, when shorts briefly touched 12 million shares before pulling back.

Looking back further, the buildup is striking. Short interest sat at just 7.6 million shares on March 13. It jumped sharply to 13.7 million by early April before settling into the current 11–12 million range.

Cost to borrow has spiked 126% over the past week to 11.9%, up from 5.3% on April 16. The 30-day history shows significant volatility. CTB peaked at 12.7% on March 26, fell to 3.9% by April 15, then doubled within days. The current 11.9% reading is the second-highest of the past month.

Utilisation sits at 89.7%. The fund has hit 100% utilisation eight times over the past 30 days, including as recently as April 20. The 52-week high for utilisation is 100%. Current levels indicate tight borrowing conditions, though not at the absolute limit.

Options flow

The put-call ratio closed at 1.44 on April 24, slightly below the 20-day mean of 1.47. The z-score of -0.48 indicates neutral sentiment, neither extremely bullish nor bearish. Over the past month, PCR has ranged from a 52-week low of 0.56 to a high of 2.52, but has held in the 1.3–1.6 band for the past three weeks. Current readings suggest balanced options positioning.

Institutional positioning

Goldman Sachs holds the largest position at 1.24 million shares (8.4% of shares outstanding), but trimmed the stake by 192,296 shares in Q4 2025. Morgan Stanley cut its position by 1.2 million shares, now holding 146,383. Jane Street reduced its stake by 309,165 shares. UBS Asset Management sold 275,555 shares.

On the buy side, Morgan Stanley Investment Management added 152,725 shares to bring its holding to 192,449. Harvest Fund Management increased by 60,569 shares. Susquehanna International added 77,888 shares. E Fund Management initiated a new 116,459-share position in Q1 2026. Caption Management took a new 75,200-share stake in Q4 2025.

What to watch

The collision between rising prices and rising short interest creates a volatile setup. Shorts are betting against a fund that has rallied 16% in a month while borrowing costs approach 12%. If the crude rally extends, a squeeze scenario becomes possible — utilisation has already hit 100% eight times this month. Conversely, if oil reverses, the elevated short base could accelerate downside. The next move in crude oil prices will determine which narrative plays out.