Hedgers are circling the Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF XLI. A sharp tightening in borrow availability, a put-heavy options market, and rising short interest are all pointing in the same direction.
Availability has tightened dramatically in recent days. On April 22, roughly half of all borrowed shares still had supply sitting behind them. By April 23, that had collapsed — the lending pool hit near-capacity, with availability implying fewer than 1 in 12 shares still available to borrow. The 52-week high for utilisation sits at 100%, and XLI briefly touched 97.92% last week.
As of April 27, the borrow market has eased slightly — utilisation pulled back to 88.85% — but the cost to borrow has kept climbing. XLI's CTB hit 0.82% APR, up 57% over the past week and 13% over the past month. For a liquid mega-ETF, that kind of move in borrowing cost signals genuine demand pressure from short sellers.
The put-call ratio tells the same story. XLI's PCR reached 5.70 on April 23 — a 52-week high and 2.5 standard deviations above its 20-day mean of 4.78. That's an extreme reading. By April 27, PCR had eased to 4.81, still well above the 52-week low of 1.72.
The structural skew here is worth noting. XLI's PCR rarely drops below 3.4, which reflects its normal role as a sector hedge. But the April spike to 5.70 was not normal. That's active demand for downside protection, not passive rebalancing.
SI stands at 17.5% of free float — elevated for an ETF of this size and liquidity. Short shares rose 6.2% in a single day (April 24 to April 27) and are up 3.5% on the week. Over the month, however, SI is actually down 3.4%, suggesting the latest spike is a fresh positioning move rather than a sustained build.
The ORTEX short score is 68.1 — up from 65.1 a week ago and near the top of its recent range.
What to watch: Whether borrow availability continues to tighten back toward the April 23 extreme, and whether the PCR resets or holds elevated — two would confirm the bear thesis is building rather than fading.
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.
