Options traders have turned sharply bullish on JETS. That move contrasts with a borrow market that has never been tighter this week.
The put/call ratio fell to 2.62 on May 20. The 20-day mean is 3.30. That is a swing of 2.4 standard deviations — the most bullish options positioning seen in weeks. The ETF also gained 6.6% on May 20 alone. Call buyers are pressing the case that the airline sector has more upside ahead.
This is a meaningful shift. For most of the past month, PCR has sat well above 3.0. Bears dominated options flow. That is now reversing — and quickly.
The lending market for JETS has rarely been tighter. Availability stands at just 5.9% — fewer than one share available to borrow for every sixteen already out on loan. A week ago, availability was 26.5%. It has collapsed 75% in seven days.
Cost to borrow is running at 7.76% APR, up 24% over the week. Bears holding short positions are paying meaningfully more carry than they were a fortnight ago.
Short interest itself sits at 47.2% of free float. That is an extraordinarily high level. Shorts have not abandoned the trade — they are simply paying more to stay in it.
The picture is one of division. Options traders are buying calls aggressively. Short sellers are maintaining positions — but against a borrow pool that is nearly exhausted and a cost that keeps rising.
The ORTEX short score is 72.8, reflecting sustained bearish pressure from the lending data side. Yet the options signal has moved sharply in the opposite direction over just two sessions.
Both cannot be right simultaneously. One camp faces increasing pain if sentiment continues to shift.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open JETS 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.
