The Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF XLI has exhausted its entire share-lending pool. Every available share is now out on loan. That shift — from roughly 50% availability a month ago to zero — tells a clear story: demand from short sellers has overwhelmed supply.
Availability for XLI has been at 0% for three consecutive sessions through April 30. As recently as April 20–22, availability sat between 50% and 100% of shares already borrowed. The transition to a fully locked-down borrow market has been swift.
Cost to borrow reflects the squeeze. CTB hit 0.93% on April 30 — up 23% week-on-week and 43% over the past month. For context, the rate was 0.50% on April 17. Demand for shorts has nearly doubled the cost of carrying a position in under two weeks.
SI % FF hit 18.5% on May 1. That is the highest level since March 2023. The build has been rapid: shorts rose 10.2% in a single week and 18.1% over the past month. In raw terms, short positions stand at approximately 28.2 million shares.
The ORTEX short score sits at 68.6 — near the top of its recent range and up from 65.1 on April 20. The score has climbed steadily as each lending signal has tightened.
The options market is heavily skewed toward puts. XLI's put/call ratio stands at 4.73 — meaning roughly five put contracts trade for every call. That ratio is near its 20-day average of 4.74 and well above the 52-week low of 1.72, indicating the defensive positioning has been persistent, not a sudden spike.
The 52-week PCR high of 5.54 was reached on April 22 — the same session where availability was around 50%. Since then, puts have moderated slightly even as the lending market tightened further.
The lending pool is fully locked. Any additional short demand will either push CTB materially higher or go unmet entirely. XLI is up 11.5% in the past month, which means existing shorts are sitting on mark-to-market losses. Watch for whether rising borrowing costs force position unwinding — or whether short sellers add further pressure and the borrow rate accelerates.
Data summary
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open XLI on ORTEX →ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
