The short rebuild in VUG that was flagged two days ago has continued — and the data now looks more stretched than at any point this year.
Short interest climbed again to 3.98 million shares as of June 9, up another 8% on the day and 63% over the past week. That eclipses the April 22 reading of roughly 3.21 million shares that was previously the year's peak. On a float-percentage basis the position has moved to 0.99% — still technically below 1%, but the pace of accumulation is the notable element here. Two weeks ago, 2.4 million shares was considered elevated. The current level is 65% above that.
The borrow market is tightening in step. Availability has dropped from 630% in late May to 217% now — still within what would be considered a normal range for a liquid large-cap ETF, but the direction is unmistakable. Availability has more than halved in just ten sessions. Cost to borrow has edged higher too, up 15% over the past week to 0.57%, a multi-week high though still comfortably low in absolute terms. The ORTEX short score has moved to 41 from 32 a fortnight ago — a steady grind upward that reflects the combination of rising shares short and tightening availability rather than any single-day spike.
Options positioning adds context without amplifying the alarm. The put/call ratio is running at 1.48, slightly below its 20-day average of 1.53 — which means options traders are a touch less defensively positioned than their recent norm, even as short sellers add. That divergence is worth noting. Through late May and into early June, the PCR was running above 1.60; it has drifted lower just as the short interest rebuild was accelerating. The two signals are pointing in slightly different directions, with short sellers more active while options hedgers have modestly pulled back.
The price tells the same story as the previous note, only worse. VUG closed at $85.37 on June 9, down 5.2% on the week and 1.0% on the day. The fund has now given back essentially all of its May recovery. Managed Account Advisors and Edward Jones Trust, the two largest holders with a combined 16% of shares, would have been sitting on meaningful month-to-date losses heading into the week. The broad ownership base — 387 institutional holders as of end-March — means the selling pressure is distributed rather than concentrated, which tends to make any reversal less sharp.
What to watch is whether short interest breaks cleanly through the 4 million share level and whether availability continues its rapid descent — if it reaches the 100-150% range, the cost to borrow will likely move more decisively, and the lending market would shift from tightening to genuinely constrained.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
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