Bed, Bath & Beyond retail rally continues with 100% long interest in the stock; short squeeze underway

 

According to online retail trading platform, Capital.com, global retail traders are increasing their long exposure to popular meme stock, Bed, Bath & Beyond (BBBY).

CFD (Contracts for Difference) buying in BBBY reached volumes in excess of $11 million at the close of trading on Friday (14 January 2022) with traders rallying behind the stock with 100% long interest. This is in contrast to a week ago, when trading volumes in BBBY CFDs were some 550% lower from its Friday highs. Bullish sentiment was also slightly lower two weeks ago with traders showing 95% long interest vs 5% short interest.

BBBY was among one of the top seven most popular markets to trade among Capital.com’s first time traders last week— these are traders who have opened an account with Capital.com for the first time and executed their first trade on the platform.

Bullish sentiment in BBBY is perhaps reflective of an attempt by the retail cohort to influence a short squeeze in the beleaguered retailer.

 

Justin Mcqueen, Market Specialist at Capital.com, said:

“Since January 5th, when Bed Bath & Beyond stated that it was considering bankruptcy, the stock has been up over 40%. Retail traders may be hoping for a repeat of what happened to Hertz in 2020 when the company’s share price rallied shortly after it filed for bankruptcy. With (institutional) short interest in Bed Bath & Beyond shares said to be around 32%, retail traders are perhaps trying to trigger a short squeeze. However, with BBBY’s price rally being driven by hype rather than any significant change to its fundamentals, there remains a significant risk to buyers in light of the threat of bankruptcy.  Should we see confirmation of this, BBBY shares could potentially gap lower.”





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