Retail Embraces the Short Side | Breakout Point Monthly Update | Zer0es TV

TL;DR

Activist short selling and retail trading are intersecting in the current market, with retail investors embracing short selling more than before due to the weakness in popular retail stocks. The ETF market is also experiencing interesting developments, including the rise of short ETFs. Overall, there has been a slowdown in the number of short reports published in January.

Transcript

hello everyone welcome back to zeros tv and another monthly update with ivan josevich from breakout point yvonne thank you so much for coming back on thanks for having me max nice to see you again in 2022. great to see you in this new year well that's one of the things we started out doing in 2021 that i'm excited to continue with here in 2022 and ... Read More

Key Insights

• 🍰 Retail investors are becoming more open to short selling and are actively exploring short opportunities.
• 💗 The emergence of short ETFs indicates a growing interest in hedging strategies among retail investors.
• 🍰 The number of major short reports published in January was lower than in the previous year, possibly due to market weakness and concerns about short squeezes.
• 🫰 Specific companies, as well as ETFs and indices, are being discussed in relation to put options among retail investors.
• 🍰 Short reports from last year's targets have also experienced further declines in share prices.
• 😑 J Capital Research's report on Faraday Future led to the chairman stepping down due to allegations of misleading investors about pre-orders.
• 👾 February may see the continuation of previous trends, such as the focus on SPACs and Chinese companies, but new narratives and ideas are also likely to emerge.

Questions & Answers

Q: Why are retail investors embracing short selling more than before?

Retail investors are observing the decline of popular retail stocks and realizing there are opportunities on the short side. This shift in perception is contributing to their increased acceptance of short selling.

Q: Are retail investors focusing on individual company puts or ETF/indices puts?

While there is a significant amount of put talk in ETFs, especially the S&P 500 ETF (SPY), there has also been an increase in the discussion of specific company puts. This represents a development compared to last year.

Q: How many major short reports were published in January?

In January, there were seven new major short calls and reports, a decrease compared to the 17 reports published in the same month of the previous year.

Q: How did last year's short targets fare in January?

The short targets experienced a further decline in January, with an average decrease of 50% compared to down 42% at the end of the previous year. However, the decline has slowed down compared to the fourth quarter of 2021.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Retail investors are increasingly embracing short selling, particularly as popular retail stocks and narratives, such as EVs and meme stocks, experience a decline.

• The ETF market is witnessing interesting developments, with the emergence of short ETFs and retail investors exploring hedging opportunities.

• There has been a slower pace of short reports published in January, with only seven major reports compared to 17 in January 2021.