Southwest Airlines (LUV) Short Interest Ratio & Short Volume

Short interest is the volume of Southwest Airlines shares that have been sold short but have not yet been closed out or covered. As of April 30th, traders have sold 60,790,000 shares of LUV short. 10.80% of Southwest Airlines' shares are currently sold short. Learn More on Southwest Airlines' current short interest.

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. LUV shares currently have a short interest ratio of 5.0. Learn More on Southwest Airlines's short interest ratio.

As of the most recent reporting period, the following institutional investors, funds, and major shareholders have reported short positions of Southwest Airlines: Jane Street Group LLC, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Parallax Volatility Advisers L.P., Polar Asset Management Partners Inc., Millennium Management LLC, HBK Investments L P, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC, Nomura Holdings Inc., Twin Tree Management LP, Eisler Capital Management Ltd., PEAK6 LLC, Walleye Trading LLC, Walleye Capital LLC, DLD Asset Management LP, Capital Fund Management S.A., Maven Securities LTD, Citigroup Inc., and IMC Chicago LLC. These positions are disclosed in Form 13F filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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. 10.80% of Southwest Airlines' floating shares are currently sold short.

Southwest Airlines saw a increase in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totaling 60,790,000 shares, an increase of 83.7% from the previous total of 33,100,000 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.

Southwest Airlines currently has issued a total of 569,866,000 shares. Some of Southwest Airlines' 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. Southwest Airlines currently has a public float of 563,130,000 shares.

10.80% of Southwest Airlines' shares are currently sold short. Here is how the short interest of companies in the sector of "transportation" compare to Southwest Airlines: Delta Air Lines, Inc. (3.40%), United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (4.61%), Alaska Air Group, Inc. (5.95%), Copa Holdings, S.A. (5.15%), SkyWest, Inc. (3.39%), JetBlue Airways Co. (21.26%), Allegiant Travel (11.02%), Ryanair Holdings plc (0.86%), American Airlines Group Inc. (11.15%), Frontier Group Holdings, Inc. (16.32%),

As of the most recent reporting period, the following stocks had the largest short interest positions: Spotify Technology S.A. ($4.67 billion), Charter Communications, Inc. ($4.58 billion), Capital One Financial Co. ($4.47 billion), The Kroger Co. ($2.56 billion), Reddit, Inc. ($2.23 billion), Rivian Automotive, Inc. ($2.16 billion), Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. ($1.90 billion), SoFi Technologies, Inc. ($1.85 billion), Zscaler, Inc. ($1.75 billion), and Omnicom Group Inc. ($1.75 billion). View all of the most shorted stocks.

Short selling LUV is an investing strategy that aims to generate trading profit from Southwest Airlines as its price is falling. LUV shares are trading down $0.59 today. To short a 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 a stock 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 Southwest Airlines 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 LUV, 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 LUV, twice per month. The most recent reporting period available is April, 30 2025.