TECH - Short Sellers' Nightmare: $195B Evaporates In 2023's Market Surge | Benzinga
In a year when equity markets rallied strongly, short sellers — traders who position for losses on assets — had an extremely tough time in 2023.
Data published on Friday by S3 Partners showed that short sellers in the U.S. and Canada were down $194.9 billion in 2023 — down 20.4% on an average short interest of $958 billion.
These mark-to-market losses of 2023 offset two thirds of the $299.1 billion gain seen in 2022, with the biggest losses coming from the technology and consumer discretionary sectors.
The biggest IT-based exchange traded fund by value of assets is the Vanguard Information Technology ETF (NYSE:VGT) and it gained 44.7% during 2023. Similarly, the biggest consumer discretionary ETF, the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLY) was up 33.4% in 2023.