Who Saw It Coming? Short Sellers Were Out Front of Bank Upheaval
- Short interest in biggest regional bank ETF hit 78% on March 3
- Silvergate, SVB Financial triggered slump across bank sector
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
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While this week’s bank-stock drama blindsided most of the market, at least one corner of Wall Street spied trouble ahead.
Short sellers pushed bearish interest in the $2.2 billion SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (ticker KRE) gradually higher for weeks before it peaked at about 78% of shares outstanding on March 3, according to data from analytics firm S3 Partners. That was the highest level in at least a year.