Thread by @BiIndia

#GameStop short-sellers have lost $5 billion this year as #Reddit's day-trader army squeezed their bearish bets

businessinsider.in/stock-market/n…

Short-seller net-of-financing mark-to-market losses in Gamestop have reached an incredible $5 billion in 2021 as the company's stock continues its historic run, according to data from the financial-analytics firm S3 Partners.

Losses totaled nearly $867 million on Tuesday alone as shares rocketed as much as 95% higher.

#GameStop stock continued its climb on the back of retail traders and #Reddit's WallStreetBets army this week as the battle with short-selling hedge funds and investors continues.

The company's shares initially leaped on January 11 after activist investo and Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen recommended changes to modernize the business, including adding three new directors to the board.

Since then, Gamestop shares have spiked more than 500%, drawing in swaths of retail traders looking to make a quick buck off a short squeeze of institutional investors.

The rapid increase in GameStop's share price has left short-sellers with record losses.

Still, over the last 30 days, the number of shares shorted in GameStop has actually increased by some 1.53 million, giving the company a short interest of nearly 71.79 million shares.

The increase in shorts and continuing rise of the stock's price has also caused fees to borrow shares of GameStop to increase to an unheard of 31%, with new shorts paying a fee of over 80%.

Still, as of Tuesday, nothing seems to be slowing down GameStop's momentum, so it looks like it could be a long couple of days for short-sellers.

And now billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya has entered the fray, purchasing $115 call options that expire on February 19 in a bullish bet on GameStop.