First Trust Strategic Income ETF Short Interest Ratio and Short Volume

Short interest is the volume of First Trust Strategic Income ETF shares that have been sold short but have not yet been closed out or covered. As of January 15th, investors have sold 18,700 shares of FDIV short.

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. First Trust Strategic Income ETF currently has a short interest ratio of 1.0.

First Trust Strategic Income ETF saw a increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totaling 18,700 shares, an increase of ∞ from the previous total of 0 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.

As of the most recent reporting period, the following stocks had the largest short interest positions: Charter Communications, Inc. ($6.95 billion), ViacomCBS Inc. ($6.14 billion), Aon Plc ($4.66 billion), Analog Devices, Inc. ($4.54 billion), Moderna, Inc. ($3.96 billion), DuPont de Nemours, Inc. ($3.77 billion), Palantir Technologies Inc. ($3.53 billion), Snap Inc. ($3.48 billion), International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. ($3.45 billion), and Beyond Meat, Inc. ($2.78 billion). View all of the most shorted stocks.

Short selling FDIV is an investing strategy that aims to generate trading profit from First Trust Strategic Income ETF as its price is falling. To short First Trust Strategic Income ETF 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 First Trust Strategic Income ETF 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 First Trust Strategic Income ETF occurs when it has a large amount of short interest and its stock increases in price. This forces short sellers to cover their short interest positions by buying actual shares of FDIV, 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 FDIV, twice per month. The most recent reporting period available is January, 15 2021.