Westpac Banking (WBK) Short Interest Ratio & Short Volume

Short interest is the volume of Westpac Banking shares that have been sold short but have not yet been covered or closed out. As of January 15th, investors have sold 95,000 shares of WBK short. Learn More on Westpac Banking's current short interest.

Westpac Banking saw a decline in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totaling 95,000 shares, a decline of 51.2% from the previous total of 194,600 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.

Here is how the short interest of companies in the sector of "finance" compare to Westpac Banking: HSBC Holdings plc (0.20%), American Express (1.19%), Morgan Stanley (1.19%), HDFC Bank Limited (0.68%), The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (1.38%), Royal Bank of Canada (1.35%), The Progressive Co. (1.13%), The Charles Schwab Co. (1.18%), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (0.15%), BlackRock, Inc. (1.36%),

As of the most recent reporting period, the following stocks had the largest short interest positions: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. ($8.74 billion), S&P Global Inc. ($7.90 billion), Charter Communications, Inc. ($5.88 billion), Lucid Group, Inc. ($3.75 billion), Palo Alto Networks, Inc. ($3.44 billion), Wayfair Inc. ($2.88 billion), Rivian Automotive, Inc. ($2.60 billion), Zscaler, Inc. ($1.86 billion), Match Group, Inc. ($1.79 billion), and Carnival Co. & plc ($1.72 billion). View all of the most shorted stocks.

Short selling WBK is an investing strategy that aims to generate trading profit from Westpac Banking as its price is falling. 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 Westpac Banking 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 WBK, 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 WBK, twice per month. The most recent reporting period available is January, 15 2022.