AMC’s Short Interest Has Now Doubled This Year-To-Date

September 16, 2024

AMC’s short interest has now doubled this year-to-date, signaling sellers have begun to participate in the prominent ‘meme stock’ again.

Last year, sources reported AMC’s short interest at 7.80% — today, Fintel is reporting the short interest at 15.09%, nearly double.

AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) stock closed down 2.22% on Monday with shares falling more than 20% this year-to-date.

This year the S&P Global raised AMC’s rating to CCC from SD — selective default — but says the company is ‘unsustainable’.

Despite the company’s tough critics hammering the business down, the box office continues to hit it big.

For example, Beetlejuice earned a whopping $150 million worldwide and more than $117 million in domestic revenue during its opening weekend, per IMDB.

The highly anticipated sequel to Tim Burton’s original film, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” has achieved an impressive opening weekend, ranking as the third-best of the year, trailing only behind major hits “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

Estimated ticket sales for the weekend (Friday through Sunday) at U.S. and Canadian theaters were as follows:

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” – $110 million
“Deadpool & Wolverine” – $7.2 million
“Reagan” – $5.2 million
“Alien: Romulus” – $3.9 million
“It Ends With Us” – $3.8 million
“The Forge” – $2.9 million
“Twisters” – $2.3 million
“Blink Twice” – $2.1 million
“The Greatest of All Time” – $2 million
“Despicable Me 4” – $1.8 million
Final domestic figures will be released on Monday.

While the company may have its challenges, it has also recovered significantly from where it once stood.

Combined with the massive support from its loyal fan base and investors, AMC Entertainment seems to have no problems keeping up.

The “box office is making a come back”, said Adam Aron during the Q2 earnings call.

AMC Entertainment was able to secure $770 million in cash equivalents and expressed their optimism moving forward.

So, why is AMC’s short interest going up again?

The company stock continues to be shorted — Fintel is currently reporting more than 1 million short shares were available on Monday.

What does this mean for the investor?

Is it too early to call another short squeeze?

Only time will tell — and I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out on the data and looking at the stock’s performance and trends.

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NEW WITH AMC: AMC Entertainment Now Appoints A New Director of The Company
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Market News Today - AMC's Short Interest Has Now Doubled This Year-To-Date. — Market News Today – AMC’s Short Interest Has Now Doubled This Year-To-Date.

Citadel is now fighting the SEC on the market surveillance system known as CAT, which enables regulators to track trading activity.

Citadel Securities is spearheading an industry pushback against a proposal from exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq that would require traders to help fund a new market surveillance system, known as the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT), which has already incurred nearly $1 billion in costs.

Brokers are urging regulators to halt new billing schedules that would mandate their financial contributions to the CAT system, which serves as a comprehensive record of all activity in U.S. equities and options markets—often compared to a “Hubble Telescope” for financial markets.

Until now, exchanges have covered the costs of the CAT.

However, if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) does not intervene soon, brokers will start receiving bills from the exchanges beginning Tuesday, as the exchanges seek to recover a portion of the promised costs.

The CAT was established after the 2010 flash crash, which made it difficult for investigators to determine the cause of a market drop that erased nearly $1 trillion in value.

The system has been fully operational since 2022, according to Financial Times.

The SEC directed national exchanges and Finra, which oversees brokers, to create the CAT, with the expectation that the trading industry would eventually bear a significant share of the expenses.

Last year, the SEC approved a plan requiring broker-dealers to cover two-thirds of the costs, while exchanges would cover the rest.

Initial payment plans were submitted in January but were suspended pending review, which has yet to be completed.

Last month, exchanges and Finra withdrew their initial payment plans and submitted revised ones with minor changes.

Unless the SEC issues another suspension, brokers will receive bills in October based on September’s trading volumes.

Several regulatory filings and letters from industry groups, including Citadel Securities, Virtu Financial, the American Securities Association, and Sifma, have urged the SEC to suspend the billing process.

Citadel Securities, led by Ken Griffin, warned the SEC that it might seek legal action if the billing is not halted by next week.

Also Read: “The Game is Rigged”, Says Ex-Citadel Data Scientist

The company criticized the new filings as an attempt to extract significant amounts from broker-dealers.

Citadel previously challenged the legality of the CAT funding model in a Florida court, in partnership with the ASA.

That case is still ongoing.

Exchange representatives, including those from the NYSE, Nasdaq, and Cboe Global Markets, declined to comment, as did Finra and the SEC.

However, exchange officials noted that they were instructed by the SEC to implement the CAT and that cost-sharing with the industry was always part of the plan.

They argue that increasing trading volumes have contributed to rising costs.

One executive involved in the CAT project stated, “We’re just recovering our costs. There’s no profit here,” emphasizing that the industry had been resistant to funding the system.

Brokers have raised concerns not only about the costs but also about accountability for any costly missteps during the CAT’s development, as well as the system’s annual operating budget, which now nears $200 million—about five times the original estimates from 2016.

In a market where big player such as Citadel have manipulated prices in their favor, reported inaccuracies, and have taken advantage of the industry — opposing any regulatory means that track its trading activity has been part of their mission for years.

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Also Read: BlackRock Is Now Hit With 54 Counts of Securities Violations

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