American Express Company
NYSEAmerican Express is seeing a notable surge in short interest, with bearish bets jumping 26% over the past week to 12.5 million shares as of March 31st. The financial services giant now carries 3.36 days to cover, up from 2.5 days in mid-March. Short interest has climbed 74% over the past month, marking a dramatic shift in sentiment despite the stock's strong performance. This selling pressure comes as AXP shares have rallied 12% over the past month and trade near $330. The stock is up 0.9% this week alone, suggesting short sellers are betting against the upward momentum. Cost to borrow remains relatively modest at 0.45%, up 41% week-over-week. Utilization sits at just 0.59%, well below the 52-week high of 3.91%, indicating plenty of shares remain available for short sellers to borrow. The options market tells a different story. Put/call ratio has dropped to 0.47, significantly below the 20-day average of 0.52. This represents a Z-score of -2.6, signaling unusually bullish options sentiment even as short sellers increase their bets. American Express reports earnings on April 23rd, just days away. The divergence between rising short interest and bullish options positioning suggests investors are bracing for volatility around the quarterly release. Short interest in the consumer finance sector has been climbing as investors reassess credit quality and consumer spending trends. Whether these bearish bets pay off may depend heavily on the company's guidance when it reports later this week. This analysis is based on ORTEX data and is not financial advice.
Short Sellers Pile Into American Express
American Express is seeing a notable surge in short interest, with bearish bets jumping 26% over the past week to 12.5 million shares as of March 31st. The financial services giant now carries 3.36 days to cover, up from 2.5 days in mid-March. Short interest has climbed 74% over the past month, marking a dramatic shift in sentiment despite the stock's strong performance. This selling pressure comes as AXP shares have rallied 12% over the past month and trade near $330. The stock is up 0.9% this week alone, suggesting short sellers are betting against the upward momentum. Cost to borrow remains relatively modest at 0.45%, up 41% week-over-week. Utilization sits at just 0.59%, well below the 52-week high of 3.91%, indicating plenty of shares remain available for short sellers to borrow. The options market tells a different story. Put/call ratio has dropped to 0.47, significantly below the 20-day average of 0.52. This represents a Z-score of -2.6, signaling unusually bullish options sentiment even as short sellers increase their bets. American Express reports earnings on April 23rd, just days away. The divergence between rising short interest and bullish options positioning suggests investors are bracing for volatility around the quarterly release. Short interest in the consumer finance sector has been climbing as investors reassess credit quality and consumer spending trends. Whether these bearish bets pay off may depend heavily on the company's guidance when it reports later this week. This analysis is based on ORTEX data and is not financial advice.
Snapshot as of 7 May 2026
A new long-form analysis for AXP this week — anomalies vs the company's own history, peer comparisons, news context, and the full data picture. Premium subscribers only.
Read on ORTEX →Sign up for premiumAmerican Express heads into its May 5 results at a genuine crossroads: the recent Q1 print already rattled investors, and the Street has spent the past three weeks repricing what the next quarter needs to show. Options…
American Express heads into the final days of April with options traders betting bullishly even as the stock softens — a notable divergence following last week's disappointing earnings reaction. Options positioning is…
Why this matters — Three distinct ORTEX data streams on American Express have aligned simultaneously: a sharp cost-to-borrow collapse, a post-earnings short interest unwind, and a normalising options put/call ratio.…
Short interest updated daily, real-time options flow, analyst consensus deltas, 13F positioning, ORTEX Alpha signals, and every article ORTEX publishes for AXP — free to start on ORTEX.
Sign up for free →Open AXP on ORTEX