TrimTabs Records Net Short Selling of $2.0 Billion in the Second Half of February

In the second half of February (Feb 17-27), traders opened $1.95 billion in new short positions on the Russell 3,000 stocks, raising the aggregate short interest to 12.84 billion shares ($203 billion / 2.69% of market cap) on February 27 from 12.52 billion shares ($226 billion / 2.89% of market cap) on February 13.

There was net short selling in six of the ten major sectors with Consumer Discretionary and Industrials receiving the largest short interest inflows of $1.4 billion and $899 million, respectively. The sectors with the greatest net short covering were Energy and Consumer Staples, which posted short interest outflows of $893 million and $546 million, respectively.