There are the dizzying “teslanaires” who will understandably talk about the ear of the amazing good they have done this year, and then there is the other much darker side of the trade.
Those who bet against Elon Musk.
According to S3 Partners, short sellers lost more to Tesla TSLA,
than they did to any other company. And it’s not close. We are talking about billions more.
This “is not only the biggest market loss of any stock this year,” S3 managing director Ihor Dusaniwsky told Bloomberg News, but “the biggest annual loss I’ve ever seen.”
In total, Tesla accumulated losses in excess of $ 38 billion as shares exploded to make a profit of more than 700% this year. The next biggest money loser for the downtrodden? Apple AAPL,
at nearly $ 7 billion, S3 reported.
And Musk clearly enjoys every minute, with teasing like this:
Amidst the carnage, there are far fewer Tesla shorts these days, with short interest falling to 6% of the float compared to 20% a year ago. Jim Chanos, founder of Kynikos Associates, for example, revealed to Bloomberg earlier this month that betting on stocks was “painful” and that it reduced the size of its short position in its hedge fund.
“The small opening has been all year round. It’s been a downward sloping straight line, ”S3’d Dusaniwsky told Bloomberg.“ The most important thing about Tesla, unlike any other stock, is that the vast majority of retail shareholders will never be sellers. They love stocks, they love cars, they love Elon Musk and they are firm shareholders. ”
Shares of Tesla are on track to end the year with a positive rise, rising 1% up early on Thursday’s reduced trading session, while the DIA Jones Industrial Average DJIA,
and S&P 500 SPX,
also rose and the Nasdaq Composite COMP,
it was off slightly.