AMC Entertainment’s (NYSE:AMC) short borrow fee has risen to 244.40%.
This is the fee short sellers are paying annually to borrow short shares in efforts to suppress the stock’s share price from creating a short squeeze.
Short sellers could face serious losses as the movie theatre chain stock begins to move up in price again from retail buying pressure.
As hedge funds begin to play the long game and begin to buy the stock again, the reality for the short seller could be disastrous.
In 2021, AMC shareholders were able to move AMC’s share price from $2 per share to $20, and then from $9 per share to its all-time high of $72 per share based on momentum alone.
AMC retested the heavy demand zone at $6 per share and even retested above the $8 level in the beginning of 2023.
However, share prices have broken below these levels today.
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AMC’s Rising Share Price Spells Trouble for Short Sellers
Retail investors continue to take on Wall Street in 2023 as long-term shareholders continue to buy and hold the world’s largest movie theatre chain stock.
#AMCSTOCK and #AMCSQUEEZE have been trending on Twitter for two years in a row now, signifying shareholders aren’t leaving.
After price rejection at $6 levels, AMC found itself trading above $7 per share having retested $8.32 earlier this year.
AMC’s short interest is already over 25% according to Ortex data, higher than the short interest it was before it began surging to its all-time high.
Retail investors have been waiting for AMC to trade above $100 per share since 2021 when it nearly reached those levels.
And with the extremely high short borrow fee rate, shareholders are waiting to see the stock’s price skyrocket again.
Short sellers betting against the movie theatre chain are no longer paying the 1% short borrow fee rate like they were last year.
According to Stonk-O-Tracker, hedge funds are currently facing a 244.40% short borrow fee rate to short AMC.
Hedge funds may be incentivized to close their short positions in AMC stock as the cost to borrow increases. At some point, it’s not worth paying that high of a fee to continue shorting a company that has fundamentally improved.
AMC is no longer the same endangered company it once was during the pandemic.
The company has improved every quarter since 2021 and has managed to get rid of a lot of debt.
The world’s largest movie theatre continues to innovate and adapt to the changing world.
While online streaming threatened the industry, revenue from box office hits has proved people are still going to the movie theatres, despite the convenience of watching movies at home.
Short sellers are betting against a recovering and innovating film industry generating billions in revenue now.
As AMC continues to prove itself fundamentally and the cost to borrow rises, expect short sellers to begin closing their short positions.
Here is where patient investors will see massive returns.
The Fool thinks you should sell your stock, but retail investors aren’t budging.
Mainstream media who serve hedge funds in a conflict of interest have been egging retail investors to not buy the stock all of 2021.
If you listened to The Fool who told you not to buy AMC when its share price was low, then you would have missed out on a trade that went as high as 3000% in gains!
While the runup to $72 per share might have caused AMC’s short interest to drop to 14% from 20%, AMC’s short interest has now gone up to 22%.
Ladies and gentlemen, AMC stock has plenty of room for growth in 2023.
Welcome to Franknez.com – the blog that provides retail investors market news with integrity. Today we’re discussing AMC’s short interest data to determine whether it will squeeze in 2023.
AMC has a high enough short interest to squeeze shorts from their positions in 2023.
Sitting at 24% short interest, it’s more than enough to get the price up well into the high hundreds of dollars per share.
Whether regulators will investigate naked shares, FTDs, and other forms of counterfeit shares for hedge funds to cover is another topic.
AMC will need momentum if it’s to see another massive runup in share price.
Furthermore, hedge funds will lead their customers into losses for the second year in a row if retail investors continue to buy and hold the stock in 2023.
AMC Entertainment stock has plenty of room for growth and mainstream media doesn’t want you to know it.
If you’re lucky enough to get involved in the ape community you’ll find yourself fighting for a fair and transparent market, where your voice means everything.
The AMC community has not had a problem holding or buying the stock.
One of the biggest problems the community faces today is regulators not protecting retail investors against the predatorial strategies from hedge funds.
The community has always been a beacon for change.
Apes will need to voice market concerns to elevate awareness.
AMC stock had multiple chances to squeeze in 2021, however, hedge funds always found a loophole that would prevent them from reporting information, or trading stock in the lit exchange.
Market manipulation continues to be a threat to every retail investor in the market.
AMC Entertainment was on the brink of extinction, it was about to go bankrupt.
Hedge funds took this opportunity to overleverage their short positions in the stock, betting it would close forever.
Once retail investors got in and saved the company, the community uncovered a number of market manipulation tactics that allowed hedge funds to prevent the stock’s share price from soaring.
The fight for a fair market continues in 2023.
For the ape community, this is more than just a short squeeze play.
Your support helps maintain all the costs it takes to run a blog at this scale.
Together, we’ve been able to place AMC Entertainment articles on the #1 page results on Google and get featured on the ‘news’ section, combating mainstream media.
The mission of this platform is to spread the truth corporate media isn’t willing to, by giving the people in our community a voice.
Interactive Brokers Chief Strategist Steve Sosnick says there’s big demand to short AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) stock.
He says the biggest reason aside from the company’s fundamentals is its new merge with its equity (NYSE:APE).
“It’s very hard to keep the momentum in these things because economic reality does take hold.
Bed Bath & Beyond, at one point was the best performing stock on the board until reality set in and they began defaulting, averted bankruptcy, but using a deal that is so dilutive that it’s unavoidable.”
Sosnick says AMC is in a very special situation because of the proposal to merge APE with AMC common shares.
“Right now we’re seeing such a demand to short AMC partly because of its difficulties but partly because of the special situation.
This really is what they were looking for in some ways as the mother of all short squeezes.
The borrow rate, it costs you 700% to borrow the shares overnight — if you can find them,” said the Interactive Brokers Chief Strategist on Yahoo Finance.
Is AMC Entertainment stock about to squeeze this year?
Here are 5 big signs that point to a mother of all short squeezes.
#1. AMC’s Short Interest is Really High
A short squeeze requires a company to be heavily shorted, which AMC is.
Did you know that before AMC’s share price surged from $14 per share to its all-time high of $72 per share it only had a short interest of 22%?
AMC’s short interest dropped from 22% to 14% as short sellers began to close their positions.
Well, I’m sorry to break it to skeptics, but AMC’s high short interest means there are shorts to squeeze.
I’d love to hear the rebuttal on this one; I don’t get the counterargument.
#2. There Are Millions of Shares on Loan
This ties back to AMC’s short interest data.
There are currently 197.10 million shares on loan, per Ortex.
These are shares that have been borrowed and not yet returned to the lender.
Hedge funds borrow these shares to short AMC stock.
At some point, these shares eventually have to be returned whether short sellers simply return them without necessarily selling them in the market, or through a ‘buy-back’ when closing their short positions.
Small spikes in AMC’s share price in correspondence with a drop in short interest suggests some short closing.
We’ve seen this on very high-volume trading days.
Now imagine all of these shares getting returned to the lender from shorts closing positions.
That’s a lot of buying power getting injected into the stock, forcing shares to spike.
Also known as a short squeeze.
#3.The Cost to Borrow AMC is Higher Than Ever
The cost to borrow is the annual fee hedge funds are paying to borrow shares to short the company stock.
AMC’s current CTB is a whopping 260%.
Hedge funds are currently paying more than $30 million monthly in fees alone.
This lucrative fee alone could incentivize short sellers to ditch this play and close their positions.
#4. AMC Entertainment Has the Community to Trigger Big Buying Pressure
This is one of the biggest catalysts for an AMC short squeeze.
Why?
Because volume is what drove share prices up during the Wall Street Bets movement in GameStop, AMC, and other heavily shorted stocks at the time.
DFV knew that buying pressure is what would trigger spikes in GameStop, causing short sellers to run for the hills.
AMC shareholders replicated it in 2021, sending shares from $6 per share to $72 per share by literally buying every dip.
Yeah, it was wild -but it worked.
And shareholders haven’t left, they are still holding in 2023.
#5. The Company Isn’t Going Bankrupt
The short thesis made sense during the height of the pandemic when movie theatres were forced to close their doors to the public.
CEO Adam Aron said AMC Entertainment went from one day making millions per day to income suddenly halting due to the lockdowns.
But AMC Entertainment is no longer going bankrupt.
The company has improved and restructured its debt every quarter since 2021 and has beat earnings expectations ever since.
While the company does carry debt, Adam Aron has proved to be a master at raising cash from thin air.
Some of his efforts have included branded merchandise, the introduction of its equity APE, and through partnerships in the entertainment industry which Disney and Netflix.
The company is expected to launch a new credit card this year and put AMC branded popcorn in retail stores.