9 Most Shorted ETFs In The Market

The S&P 500 has continued its steady march higher in 2017, up another 7.7 percent year to date. But even with all the positive momentum in the market, traders are also making big short bets in certain segments of the market.

Here’s a look at the nine most-shorted ETFs in the entire market, according to shortsqueeze.com.

• 9. iShares US Real Estate ETF IYR (43.5 short percent of float): Investors are making big bets against the U.S. real estate market.
• 8. ProShares Ultra MSCI Mexico Capped IMI IMI (49.5 short percent of float): Tensions between the U.S. and Mexico have been strained under President Donald Trump to say the least.
• 7. VanEck Vectors Oil Services ETF OIH (53.4 short percent of float)-The global oil glut continues to linger and crude oil just reentered a bear market.
• 6. iShares S&P NA Tec.-SW. Idx. Fund (ETF) IGV (58.5 short percent of float): Investors speculating that we could be in a software bubble are placing short bets against the IGV ETF.
• 5. SPDR S&P Biotech (ETF) XBI (67.6 short percent of float): The status of U.S. healthcare remains up in the air, and drug prices have faced intense scrutiny in recent years.
• 4. SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Explore & Prod (ETF) XOP (94.0 short percent of float): The lower oil prices go, the fewer exploration and production companies will be able to turn a profit on their assets.
• 3. SPDR S&P Retail (ETF) XRT (103.1 short percent of float): The U.S. brick-and-mortar retail industry continues to struggle under the weight of e-commerce competition.
• 2. VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF SMH (184.9 short percent of float): Traders are making a bet that red-hot semiconductor stocks have flown too high too fast.
• 1. ProShares Trust II SVXY (185.0 short percent of float): By betting against this inverse volatility play, traders can use the SVXY to make short-term bets on a spike in market volatility.

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