Are Hedge Funds Still Shorting GME? | Short Interest Reality Check

Yes, short positions in this stock still exist, and the public filings show ongoing short interest even years after the 2021 squeeze.

“Are people still shorting GME?” sounds like a simple yes-or-no question. The tricky part is the word “people.” Public short-sale reporting doesn’t tag trades as “hedge fund” or “retail.” It reports totals across broker-dealers, venues, and settlement cycles. So the clean way to answer the question is to step back and use what the market actually publishes: exchange-reported short interest, daily short-sale volume, fails-to-deliver, and borrowing conditions.

This article gives you a practical method to verify what’s happening without leaning on rumor, screenshots, or vibes. You’ll also see which metrics get misread most often, what they can tell you, and what they can’t. If you want a grounded answer you can re-check every two weeks, you’re in the right place.

What shorting GME means in 2026

Shorting is a trade where someone sells shares they don’t own yet, then buys them back later. To do it in the standard way, the short seller borrows shares, sells them, and later returns shares to the lender. The short seller’s risk sits in plain sight: if the price rises, buying back costs more.

When people say “hedge funds are shorting,” they’re usually pointing at professional trading firms and funds that run short books. Still, short interest is not a “hedge fund meter.” Short interest totals can include market makers, quantitative funds, long/short funds, proprietary desks, and other participants. Some shorts are directional bets. Others exist as part of paired trades, options market making, or hedging for convertible or basket exposure.

So the most honest answer isn’t “hedge funds did X.” It’s: “Reported short interest is still present, and short selling still shows up in official datasets.” From there, you can decide what you think that means.

Hedge funds shorting GME today: A clean way to verify it

If you want to know whether shorting is still happening, don’t start with daily “short volume %” screenshots. Start with the dataset designed to track open short positions: the exchange-reported short interest files. On NYSE-listed names, the NYSE Group publishes a semi-monthly short interest file that reflects reported uncovered short positions. You can learn what that file contains on the NYSE’s own description page: NYSE Group Short Interest.

Short interest answers one core question: “How many shares are reported short and still open as of the settlement date?” That’s the closest thing you’ll get to a scoreboard. It updates on a schedule, not in real time. That’s a feature, not a bug. It reduces noise from intraday trading mechanics and focuses on positions that remain open.

Next, pair that with borrow conditions. A stock can have a decent short interest number yet be easy to borrow with low fees, or it can be tight to borrow with higher fees. Borrow conditions shift fast, so treat them as a read of “today’s friction,” not a permanent truth.

Then, use settlement stress signals as a cross-check. One useful dataset is fails-to-deliver (FTD) totals, published by the SEC. FTDs can rise for many reasons, so they are not a “naked short” stamp by themselves, but they do show when settlement didn’t complete on time at scale. The SEC explains what its file contains here: SEC fails-to-deliver data.

What the public short interest number can and can’t tell you

Short interest is the best public starting point, yet it still has limits. It tells you how many shares are reported short on the reporting date. It does not tell you who is short, why they are short, or what their exit plan is. It also doesn’t tell you whether shorts are “stuck” or “comfortable.” Two shorts can have the same position size and feel totally different if one is hedged with options and the other is not.

Short interest also doesn’t settle the “synthetic” debates by itself. A high short interest number can exist with clean settlement and easy borrow. A lower short interest number can exist with tight borrow and heavy options activity. That’s why you want a small dashboard of signals, not a single screenshot.

One more trap: “days to cover” gets tossed around as if it predicts a squeeze date. It doesn’t. Days to cover is a ratio of shares short divided by average daily volume. Volume can spike or fade. The ratio can swing even if the short position barely moves. Use it as a way to compare how crowded the short side might be, not as a timer.

How daily short sale volume gets misread

Daily short sale volume is not the same as short interest. It measures how much of a day’s trading volume printed as “short sale,” not how many shorts stayed open. A market maker can sell short to fill a buy order, then flatten the position minutes later. That trade prints as short volume, yet it may not add to open short interest at all.

FINRA publishes daily short sale volume data and makes it available for download and via tools. The official catalog page is here: FINRA short sale volume data. This dataset is useful, but only when you treat it as “trade flow,” not “position totals.”

A high short volume ratio can happen in a rising market, a falling market, or a flat one. It can reflect liquidity provision, hedging, and order routing, not only bearish conviction. If you want to use it, track it over weeks and compare it with the semi-monthly short interest reports. When both trend up together, you have a stronger signal than either one alone.

Signals that hint at persistent short pressure

There’s no single magic metric that proves “hedge funds are pressing the stock.” Still, a cluster of signals can point in that direction. If reported short interest stays elevated for multiple reporting cycles, borrow availability stays tight, borrow fees rise, and FTD totals show repeated spikes, that bundle suggests that shorting demand remains active and settlement has more friction.

On the flip side, if short interest trends down across multiple reports, borrow gets easier, fees fall, and FTD totals remain calm, then short pressure may be fading even if daily short volume still looks chunky.

Also watch options positioning with a clear head. Options can shift price action through delta hedging and dealer positioning, yet options activity is not the same as short interest. Options can hide or offset risk, but they don’t erase the need to buy shares back if a short position must close.

Quick reference table for GME shorting checks

Use the table below as a simple routine. You can run it every short-interest reporting cycle and keep notes. The goal is a repeatable method, not a one-time “gotcha” hunt.

Signal	Where To Pull It	What It Can Tell You
Exchange-reported short interest	NYE Group Short Interest file description	Open short position totals on the report date
Short interest trend across 3–6 reports	Your own log from each report	Whether short exposure is building, stable, or shrinking
Days to cover ratio	Computed from shares short and average volume	How crowded the short side may be relative to typical volume
Daily short sale volume	FINRA short sale volume dataset	Short-flagged trade flow, not open positions
Off-exchange vs lit routing mix	Venue breakdown tools and broker reporting	Where prints occur; helps frame short-volume context
Fails-to-deliver totals	SEC FTD files	Settlement stress that may line up with heavy trading periods
Reg SHO threshold status	Threshold list pages by SRO	Whether fails exceed the threshold rule conditions
Borrow availability and fees	Broker or prime borrow screens	How hard it is to borrow shares right now
Corporate actions and float changes	Issuer filings and exchange notices	Context for shifts in float-based ratios

What Reg SHO threshold lists can add to the picture

Reg SHO threshold lists are a narrow tool with a narrow meaning: a stock lands on a list when aggregate fails-to-deliver meet the rule’s conditions for multiple settlement days. This does not mean “crime confirmed.” It means the fails met the rule’s published threshold. A stock can also have notable FTD spikes and never land on a threshold list.

If you want to track threshold status, use the actual SRO pages. NasdaqTrader provides an overview and the daily list access here: Reg SHO Threshold Security List. Treat this as a flag to dig deeper into dates, volumes, and catalysts, not as a verdict.

The practical way to use this: when you spot heavy price movement or unusual volume, check the SEC FTD file for the matching settlement window. Then check whether the stock appeared on a threshold list around that time. If you see repeated threshold appearances over time, that’s a pattern worth noting.

Common claims that sound convincing but fail basic checks

GME attracts bold claims. Some are built on real datasets. Others are built on misunderstandings. Use the table below to keep yourself honest when you read a viral thread or watch a clip with charts flying across the screen.

Claim	Fast check	What to conclude
“Short volume was 60%, so short interest rose 60%.”	Compare FINRA daily short volume with the next short interest report	Short volume is trade flow; it does not map 1:1 to open shorts
“FTDs prove naked shorts on every spike.”	Check SEC FTD totals and the settlement window around catalysts	FTDs show settlement misses, with many possible drivers
“Threshold list means forced buy-ins tomorrow.”	Verify threshold status and read rule conditions on the SRO page	Threshold status is a flag, not a guaranteed timeline
“Hedge funds are the only shorts.”	Stick to what reports show: totals, not identities	Many participant types can short, including liquidity providers
“Low borrow fee means no one is short.”	Check reported short interest and borrow screens together	Borrow conditions can be loose even with meaningful short interest
“High days to cover predicts a squeeze date.”	Watch how the ratio moves when volume shifts	It’s a ratio, not a calendar

So, are hedge funds still shorting GME?

Yes. The public reporting still shows open short positions in GME, and short selling still shows up in official datasets. What you can’t prove from public files is the exact share of those shorts that belong to “hedge funds” as a category. That identity detail is not what the public short interest files are built to show.

If your real question is “Is there still a sizable short bet against GameStop?” the clean way to answer is to track the semi-monthly short interest totals and watch how they move across multiple report dates. Pair that with borrow friction and settlement stress signals. When those pieces line up, you have a grounded read that doesn’t depend on a single noisy metric.

If your question is “Could shorts still get pressured?” the honest answer is: price, volume, and positioning can shift fast, and short sellers manage risk in more than one way. Some shorts may be hedged. Some may be paired. Some may be plain directional. The market doesn’t hand you their playbook, but it does give you enough to track the footprint.

A simple checklist you can reuse every report cycle

Here’s a repeatable routine that takes ten minutes once you know where to click:

• Log the latest short interest total on the settlement date, plus days to cover.
• Compare that number to the prior 2–4 reports and note the direction.
• Pull FINRA daily short sale volume for the week around the settlement date and note any spikes.
• Pull SEC FTD totals for the matching settlement window and note any sharp jumps.
• Check whether the stock appeared on an SRO threshold list near that window.
• Write one sentence on what changed since the last cycle and what stayed the same.

That’s it. No hype required. Once you build your own log, you’ll spot patterns faster than any one-off chart can show.

This article is general information, not personal financial advice. Markets carry real risk, and short selling carries extra risk.