QQEW, the First Trust Nasdaq-100 Equal Weight ETF, closed at $140.17 on May 5 — up 2.8% on the week and nearly 10% over the past month — at the same time that options positioning has made a sharp pivot toward the bullish end of its range.
Options sentiment is the standout story this week. The put/call ratio has collapsed to 0.64, well below its 20-day average of 1.84 — roughly one standard deviation below that mean. That marks a near-complete reversal from early to mid-April, when the PCR was running above 3.0 and at one point touched the 52-week high of 5.0. Investors who were loading up on downside protection through most of April have sharply reduced that hedge. The swing in options posture tracks closely with the fund's price recovery.
Short interest reinforces the sense that bearish conviction has faded, though the absolute numbers remain modest. SI hovers at just 0.09% of free float — barely a rounding error — with availability at roughly 899% of the outstanding short interest, meaning the borrow market is effectively wide open. Cost to borrow has edged up about 1.7% over the week to 7.5%, yet that figure has actually declined 18% over the past month, easing back from the 9%+ levels seen in late March and early April. The ORTEX short score of 47 is middling — it has climbed from around 33 two weeks ago, but remains far below any threshold that would signal real short-side pressure. What is notable is the week-on-week jump in estimated shares short, up 151%, but the starting base was so small that the move in absolute terms is inconsequential.
The broader Nasdaq-100 equal-weight context is worth framing. U.S.-focused equity ETFs absorbed massive inflows over the past month — tech-sector funds alone attracted over $103 billion net. QQEW's equal-weight construction means no single mega-cap name dominates the return stream. The fund's near-10% monthly gain reflects a broadening of the recovery, not just a handful of the index's largest components doing the heavy lifting. That structure also explains the relative lack of short interest: equal-weight index funds are rarely a vehicle for tactical short bets.
The borrow market's recent history adds one layer of texture. Back in early April, estimated shares short hit nearly 40,000 — more than three times the current level — while CTB touched 9% and the PCR stayed elevated. That combination pointed to a genuinely more defensive posture across the ETF's user base. The subsequent unwind of both the short positions and the put hedges has been methodical, running through late April and accelerating into the first week of May as price recovered.
What to watch: whether the PCR stabilises near current levels or reverts toward its 20-day mean as the market digests the next round of Nasdaq-100 component earnings. A move back above 1.0 on the PCR, combined with any renewed softness in the fund's price, would suggest the April hedging impulse is returning.
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