FTXL drops 7.4% on the week to $253.15, creating a sharp reversal against a 4.8% gain over the prior month — and the borrow market is sending mixed signals about what comes next.
The lending picture is the most interesting angle right now. Availability swung dramatically this week: it was extremely tight at 34.6% on June 4 and 44.8% on June 5, suggesting short sellers were scrambling for borrows mid-week. By June 9, availability had loosened sharply to 161%, nearly five times wider than the recent trough. That kind of intra-week whipsaw — from near-squeeze territory back to comfortable levels — points to active repositioning rather than a steady build or unwind. Cost to borrow ticked up to 4.84% on June 9 after a brief dip to 3.32% on June 8, and has run between 3.2% and 5.5% all month. That range is elevated compared to early May levels around 3.5-3.9%, reflecting genuine but not extreme demand for the short side.
Short interest itself tells a slightly less charged story. At 5.1% of the free float, it sits just above the threshold where it becomes worth watching. Short shares edged down about 1.5% on the week to 527,213 — a minor trim rather than a meaningful unwind or build. The month-over-month rise of 6.3% shows incremental accumulation since early May, but the pace has slowed. Days to cover is 2.38, meaning there's no meaningful squeeze overhang in the position sizing alone.
Options positioning remains broadly relaxed and skewed toward calls rather than puts. The put/call ratio is 0.17, modestly above its 20-day mean of 0.14 but well within one standard deviation — a z-score of 0.44. The 52-week PCR high is 0.47, so current defensive positioning is nowhere near extreme. Notably, the PCR spiked to 0.26 in late May during a brief bout of turbulence, then deflated quickly as sentiment recovered. This week's slight uptick on the price pullback has not yet registered as a genuine options-driven hedging signal.
The ORTEX short score is drifting lower — from around 60 through late May and early June down to 58.3 on June 9. That's a modest softening rather than a sharp deterioration, and the absolute level remains in moderately elevated territory for an ETF. The combined score of 58.0 sits in a similar zone. As an ETF, FTXL has no analyst coverage, no earnings events, and no insider activity to drive discrete catalysts. The fund tracks the Nasdaq semiconductor complex directly, which means the week's 7.4% drawdown reflects the sector's own broader wobble — consistent with the softer chip-demand signals flagged in recent commentary around forward guidance from major semiconductor manufacturers.
What to watch: availability stability is the key tell — whether the borrow market settles near the current 161% level or tightens again toward the 35-45% range seen mid-week will indicate whether fresh short positioning is rebuilding into the semiconductor sector's next move.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open FTXL 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.
