There are the dazzling “Teslanaires” who, understandably, will speak loudly about how well they have done over the course of this year, and then there is the other, much darker side of the trade.
Those who bet against Elon Musk.
According to S3 Partners, short sellers lost more on the Tesla TSLA,
than in any other company. And it’s not even remotely close. We are talking about billions and billions more.
This “is not just the biggest mark-to-market loss for any stock this year,” S3 managing director Ihor Dusaniwsky told Bloomberg News, but “the biggest annual mark-to-market loss I’ve ever seen”.
In total, Tesla bears have accumulated more than $ 38 billion in mark-to-market losses as the stock exploded with a gain of more than 700% this year. The next biggest money loser for small spenders? Apple AAPL,
at almost $ 7 billion, S3 reported.
And Musk is clearly savoring every minute, with teasing like this:
Amid the carnage, there are far fewer Tesla shorts today, with short interest rates falling to 6% of the float from 20% a year ago. Kynikos Associates founder Jim Chanos, for example, revealed to Bloomberg earlier this month that betting against the shares was “painful” and that he reduced the size of his short position in his hedge fund.
“The little squeeze has been going on all year. It’s been a straight downward slope, ”explained Dusaniwsky to Bloomberg. “Tesla’s great advantage, as opposed to any other action, is that the vast majority of retail shareholders will never be a seller. They love stocks, they love the car, they love Elon Musk and they are long and unyielding shareholders. ”
Tesla shares are on track to end the year on a high, advancing 1% at the start of Thursday’s low trading session, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA,
and S&P 500 SPX,
also advanced further and the Nasdaq Composite COMP,
it was slightly off.