East West Bancorp Short Interest Ratio and Short Volume

Short interest is the volume of East West Bancorp shares that have been sold short but have not yet been closed out or covered. As of October 15th, investors have sold 3,320,000 shares of EWBC short. 2.36% of East West Bancorp's shares are currently sold short. View details.

The short interest ratio, also known as the "days to cover ratio", is calculated by dividing the number of shares of a stock sold short divided by its average trading volume. A short interest ratio ranging between 1 and 4 generally indicates strong positive sentiment about a stock and a lack of short sellers. A short interest ratio of 10 or greater indicates strong pessimism about a stock. East West Bancorp currently has a short interest ratio of 4.0.

Companies that have a short interest as a percentage of float below 10% indicates positive investor sentiment and few short sellers. Stocks with a short interest percentage above 10% is considered high, suggesting some investors are pessimistic about the stock. Companies with a short interest percentage of 20% or more indicates widespread negative sentiment. 2.36% of East West Bancorp's floating shares are currently sold short.

East West Bancorp saw a increase in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totaling 3,320,000 shares, an increase of 13.3% from the previous total of 2,930,000 shares. Changes in short volume can be used to identify positive and negative investor sentiment. Investors that short sell a stock are betting that its price will decline in the future. An increase in short sale volume suggests bearish (negative) sentiment among investors. A decrease on short sale volume suggests bullish (positive) sentiment.

East West Bancorp currently has issued a total of 141,487,000 shares. Some of East West Bancorp's outstanding shares are available for trading, while others are subject to various restrictions. The public float, also referred to as floating shares or "the float", are shares that publicly owned, unrestricted and available to trade on the open market. East West Bancorp currently has a public float of 140,430,000 shares.

2.36% of East West Bancorp's shares are currently sold short. Here is how the short interest of companies in the sub-industry of "regional banks" compare to East West Bancorp: Truist Financial Co. (1.37%), PNC Financial Services Group Inc (1.36%), First Republic Bank (0.00%), Fifth Third Bancorp (1.96%), SVB Financial Group (2.27%), M&T Bank Co. (2.33%), Regions Financial Co. (2.19%), KeyCorp (2.08%), Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (2.03%), and Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (3.55%).

As of the most recent reporting period, the following stocks had the largest short interest positions: Charter Communications Inc ($4.68 billion), Aon Plc ($3.70 billion), Clorox Co ($2.93 billion), ViacomCBS Inc. ($2.88 billion), Analog Devices, Inc. ($2.75 billion), Snap Inc. ($2.72 billion), Kroger Co ($2.21 billion), Uber Technologies, Inc. ($1.94 billion), Moderna, Inc. ($1.93 billion), and Datadog, Inc. ($1.83 billion). View all of the most shorted stocks.

Short selling EWBC is an investing strategy that aims to generate trading profit from East West Bancorp as its price is falling. East West Bancorp's stock is trading up $0.75 today. To short East West Bancorp stock, an investor borrows shares, sells them and buys the shares back on the public market later to return it to the lender. Short sellers are betting that East West Bancorp will decline in price. If the stock does drop after selling, the short seller buys it back at a lower price and returns it to the lender. The difference between the sell price and the buy price is the trader's profit.

A short squeeze for East West Bancorp occurs when it has a large amount of short interest and its stock appreciates in price. This forces short sellers to cover their short interest positions by buying actual shares of EWBC, which in turn drives the price of the stock up even further.

Short interest is typically published by a stock exchange once per month. However, NASDAQ publishes a report for U.S. stocks, including EWBC, twice per month. The most recent reporting period available is October, 15 2020.