Irish traders target short sellers as meme stocks move up

Movie chain operator and meme stock AMC was the most-traded stock last month in 10 of the 18 countries – including Ireland – in which discount brokerage Degiro operates.

AMC takes over from another meme stock, GameStop, which Degiro says was the most-traded stock in Ireland in each of the previous three months.

Redditors from all over the world have piled into highly-shorted stocks like AMC and Gamestop in 2021, causing big losses for short sellers in the process. Consequently, the shorts are in retreat; according to Barclays, the number of companies with extremely high rates of short interest has fallen "dramatically", from 43 to 18.

Shorts aren’t just avoiding volatile meme stocks – they’re avoiding bearish positions in general. Short interest in the median S&P 500 company is near 17-year lows, says Goldman Sachs. Similarly, Morgan Stanley notes that in Europe, short interest in Stoxx 600 companies is near record lows.

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George Soros once said he was wary of going against the herd as one is liable to be trampled on – a message being heeded by today's short sellers.