GraniteShares ETP analysis reveals the top 10 most shorted UK stocks and the most active fund managers for shorting
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Will Rhind, Founder and CEO at GraniteShares
New analysis from ETP provider GraniteShares, which offers a range of 3x short and 3x leveraged ETPs on popular UK, US, and European stocks, reveals that on May 19th 2022, Cineworld Group, the world’s second-largest cinema chain, was the most shorted UK listed company. Some 8.2% of its stock was held short by five investment firms, with New Holland Capital LLC holding the largest short position with 2.42% of the company’s shares.
The next most shorted UK listed companies were ASOS PLC, Dixons Carphone PLC and BOOHOO.com with 7.2%, 6.4% and 6.2% of their stock held short by 8, 6 and 7 investment firms respectively. The table shows the largest ten short positions in companies that are listed and trading on the London Stock Exchange.
| Company | Percentage of stock held short | Number of funds shorting the stock |
| Cineworld Group | 8.2% | 5 |
| ASOS PLC | 7.2% | 8 |
| Dixons Carphone PLC | 6.4% | 6 |
| BOOHOO.com | 6.2% | 7 |
| Kingfisher PLC | 6% | 6 |
| Hammerson PLC | 5.1% | 5 |
| AO World PLC | 5% | 7 |
| Majestic Wine PLC | 4.9% | 5 |
| Royal Mail PLC | 4.9% | 5 |
| Metro Bank PLC | 4.7% | 3 |
Source: London Stock Exchange, updated on May 19th 2022
The analysis reveals GLG Partners LLP had by far the most short positions on UK listed companies of any investment firms with 41. This was followed by Marshall Wace LLP, BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited and JP Morgan Asset Management (UK) with 32, 17 and 10 short positions respectively.
| Fund Manager | Number of short positions |
| GLG Partners LLP | 41 |
| Marshall Wace LLP | 34 |
| BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited | 24 |
| Citadel Advisors | 11 |
| JP Morgan Asset Management (UK) Ltd | 10 |
| Ennismore Fund Management Limited | 8 |
| AQR Capital Management LLC | 8 |
| Citadel Advisors Europe Limited | 7 |
| Sandbar Asset Management LLP | 7 |
| AKO Capital LLP | 7 |
Source: London Stock Exchange, updated on May 19th 2022
Will Rhind, Founder and CEO of GraniteShares, said: “The combination of worries about global economic growth and inflation has hit confidence and put share prices under pressure with retailers some of the worst affected.”
“The most popular shorted stocks on the Graniteshares remain some of the largest U.S. Technology names, in particular Tesla (3STS). With the recent decline in U.S. Technology stocks, sophisticated investors may be signalling they expect further price declines.”
The five most popular 3x short single stock GraniteShares ETPs currently are:
| Top five GraniteShares single stock 3x short ETPs | Ticker Code | Value of funds invested in ETPs ($) |
| GraniteShares 3x Short Tesla Daily ETP | 3STS | 21.8m |
| GraniteShares 3x Short UBER Daily ETP | 3SUB | 4m |
| GraniteShares 3x Short NIO Daily ETP | 3SNI | 3.5m |
| GraniteShares 3x Short Netflix Daily ETP | 3SNF | 2.78m |
| GraniteShares 3x Short Amazon Daily ETP | 3SZN | 2.78m |
Source: GraniteShares, Bloomberg as of 17th May 2022
Source: ETFWorld.co.uk
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