Options traders are piling into calls on BOTZ. At the same time, short sellers are quietly building positions. The two camps are moving in opposite directions — and the lending market is starting to reflect the tension.
The put/call ratio on BOTZ dropped to 0.65 on May 18. That's the lowest reading in 52 weeks. The 20-day mean sits at 0.98 — so the current reading is nearly 2.4 standard deviations below normal. Traders have shifted sharply toward calls. The robotics and AI theme has been pulling in bulls, with BOTZ up 6.5% over the past month despite a modest pullback this week.
The bullish options flow hasn't deterred short sellers. Short interest hit 2.9% of free float on May 18. That's up 42% in a single week. Over the past month, the short position has grown 53%. In absolute terms, around 2.5 million shares are now borrowed and sold short. At 2.9% of float, this remains a low absolute level — but the speed of accumulation is notable.
The cost to borrow BOTZ has followed the shorts higher. CTB reached 1.80% on May 18 — up 53% over the prior week and more than double where it stood a month ago at around 0.74%. Availability has tightened from over 460% in early April to roughly 96% today. That's still within the normal range, but the direction is clear. One month ago, shares were plentiful. Now lenders are noticing the demand.
The underlying story is a genuine tug-of-war over the AI and robotics narrative. The ETF rallied on AI adoption tailwinds in recent weeks. Short sellers appear to be fading that rally, betting the move has run ahead of fundamentals. Options traders are betting the opposite. The ORTEX short score sits at 51.7 — roughly neutral — consistent with a market genuinely split on direction.
What to watch: Whether the PCR holds below 0.70 and whether borrow availability continues to tighten — a drop below 50% would signal a meaningfully constrained lending market for this ETF.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open BOTZ 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.
