Business

GameStop short-squeeze losses at US$12.5 billion YTD - Ortex data

Shorting shares in GameStop, the video game retailer at the centre of the ongoing retail trading frenzy, cost hedge funds a total US$12.5 billion over January, data from financial analytics firm Ortex showed on Monday.

FILE PHOTO: People enter a GameStop store during "Black Friday" sales in Carle Place, New
FILE PHOTO: People enter a GameStop store during "Black Friday" sales in Carle Place, New York November 25, 2011. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo

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LONDON: Shorting shares in GameStop, the video game retailer at the centre of the ongoing retail trading frenzy, cost hedge funds a total US$12.5 billion over January, data from financial analytics firm Ortex showed on Monday.

The losses were inflicted by small-time investors who piled into GameStop, pushing up the shares and forcing many hedge funds to buy them back to cover losses. GameStop shares are up 1600per cent year-to-date.

Ortex data showed US$5.9 billion worth of GameStop shares were out on loan as of Friday or 49per cent of the total freefloat.

In Europe, short-sellers booked US$28 million loss on their bets against Cineworld. Almost 24per cent of its freefloat is on loan.

(Reporting by Sujata Rao; editing by Thyagaraju Adinarayan)

Source: Reuters