PSI, the Invesco Semiconductors ETF, enters the week with an unusual split: short sellers are retreating rapidly even as the fund itself loses ground.
The most striking development in the lending market is the near-complete unwinding of bearish positioning. Short interest has collapsed nearly 47% over the past week alone, from roughly 233,000 shares to just 108,000 — under 0.9% of float. That follows an even sharper drop earlier in May, when borrowed shares peaked above 447,000 on May 27 before sliding steadily. Availability, the ratio of shares still available to borrow versus those already borrowed, has swung from tight to extraordinarily loose: it now stands at 1,495%, more than double last week's reading and nowhere near the 52-week tightest point of 27%. With that much supply in the lending pool, there is no friction preventing new shorts from entering — but for now, the direction of travel is firmly the other way. Cost to borrow, though up roughly 87% over the week at 2.6%, remains well within the low range by historical standards and is actually cheaper than the 3–3.5% prevailing through most of May.
The ORTEX short score reinforces the picture. It has dropped steadily from 50 on May 27-28 — a level signalling meaningful bearish pressure — to just 31 now, close to a 30-day low. That score captures the full constellation of lending-market signals, and the consistent decline over two weeks suggests a broad-based cover rather than a one-day technical move. With the combined ORTEX score also at 31, the data is consistent: short sellers have been systematically reducing exposure to this ETF.
Options tell a mildly different story. The put/call ratio ticked up to 0.45 this week, slightly above its 20-day average of 0.41 and running at a Z-score of roughly 0.76. That is nowhere near alarming — still well inside one standard deviation — but it does represent a modest uptick in defensive activity at a moment when shorts are actively covering. The 52-week PCR range for PSI runs from 0.21 to 0.90, so the current reading is comfortably in the middle of the historical spread. Options positioning looks cautious rather than bearish.
The price action adds context. PSI closed at $151.94 on Tuesday, down 6% on the week and essentially flat over the past month at +0.1%. The fund's top holdings include names like NVDA and AMD, both of which have been volatile around macro and trade-policy noise this year. The institutional holder base is dominated by wealth-management platforms — HighTower, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Raymond James — most of which trimmed positions in the March quarter. None of those moves are dramatic, but the trend across the top ten holders was modest reduction rather than accumulation.
The clearest question heading into next week is whether the short-covering that has pushed SI from a 30-day high near 450,000 shares down to 108,000 has now run its course, or whether there is more covering to come — particularly if semiconductor sector sentiment remains volatile around trade-policy headlines and the pace of AI capital spending.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open PSI 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.
