Trump Media & Technology rally bruises short sellers, but bearish bets to continue

Investing.com -- Trump Media&Technology Group Corp's surged on its stock market debut on Tuesday, handed sizeable losses to traders betting against the stock, but that isn't likely to stop others jumping on the short-selling bandwagon. 

Trump Media&Technology Group Corp (NASDAQ:DJT), the parent company of former President Donald Trump's Truth Social, closed 16% higher Tuesday, a day after completing its merger with special purpose acquisition company Digital World Acquisition Corp. The stock had jumped as high as $79.38 intraday. 

"Shorting DJT/DWAC has not been a profitable trade in 2024 with short sellers down -$158 million in year-to-date mark-to-market losses, -152% for the year," s3partners said on Tuesday.  

Despite the bruising losses for short sellers, with the stock at near year-to-date highs, other traders are likely to join in on the short-selling bandwagon, s3partners said.  

"At these high stock price levels, which have hit year-to-date highs, we will probably see new short sellers try and jump into this trade hoping for a short-term pullback back into the $30’s or lower," it added

The stock is the most shorted special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, in the U.S. with $168.6 million of short interest, 3.37 million shares shorted and 11.69% short interest as percentage of its overall float, s3partners said in a note.