Stocks are experiencing their best week since June and coming off their best single session in years, with strategists saying a “short squeeze” is contributing to the big bounce. Stocks with the biggest bets against them could lead this comeback as investors run to cover their short positions. Bets against electric vehicle charging stocks EVgo and Blink Charging were piling up before this bounce. FactSet data showed that, as of Oct. 31, short interest as a percentage of float on EVgo and Blink had risen to 32% and 28%, respectively. Short interest as a percentage of float refers to the amount of shares available for trading that are being bet against the company. EVgo and Blink have struggled this year, with the former losing 25% in 2022 while the latter has shed 46%. Both are down sharply from their 52-week highs, with EVgo down more than 60% and Blink off by about 70%. But the two are up big this week. If the market is turning, investors who borrowed shares in these stocks and sold them will be forced to buy them back to cut their shorting losses, in turn further fueling the run. This so-called short squeeze happens at market bottoms. Other stocks with high levels of short interest include EV maker Nikola , Carvana and bitcoin proxy MicroStrategy . To be sure, if this bounce is short-lived, these stocks could lead the way lower. (Note: The table includes stocks traded on the NASDAQ or NYSE exchanges with short interest greater than 25% of their total float and at least $100 million in market cap. Short interest data is updated twice a month and reported mid-month and at the end of the month. These figures are current as of Oct. 31as reported by the exchanges, via FactSet. The next release date is Nov. 25 for short interest data as of Nov. 15).
