10 highly shorted stocks are soaring as Reddit traders wage war against top Wall Street hedge funds

• The Wall Street Bets forum on Reddit – now 3 million members strong – is flexing its muscle against hedge funds.
• The forum has sparked an epic short squeeze in shares of GameStop, which is now spilling over into other highly shorted stocks.
• Detailed below are the 10 highly shorted stocks that are soaring at the expense of many hedge funds.
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An extreme level of herd mentality led by Reddit’s 3 million-member Wall Street Bets forum has sparked an epic rally in the most shorted stocks in the market.

The forum, members of which refer to each other as “degenerates” and create “meme stocks,” first targeted shares of GameStop, buying deeply out-of-the-money calls that created unprecedented demand for shares.

The ensuing 1,784% year-to-date rally in GameStop has led to massive losses for certain hedge funds that were short the stock, including Melvin Capital, which lost more than 30% and received an emergency $2.8 billion investment from Point72’s Steve Cohen and Citadel’s Ken Griffin.

Now some traders are setting their eyes on other highly shorted stocks in the market, hoping to replicate the success of GameStop and cause pain for Wall Street hedge funds that are on the opposite side of the trade.

Detailed below are the 10 most shorted stocks that are soaring at the expense of many Wall Street hedge funds.

Read more: GOLDMAN SACHS: These 22 stocks still haven’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels – and are set to explode amid higher earnings in 2021 as the economy recovers

10. National Beverage Corp.

Ticker: FIZZ
Percent of float short: 63%
YTD rally: 131%

9. iRobot Corp.

Ticker: IRBT
Percent of float short: 63%
YTD rally: 146%

8. Virgin Galactic Holdings

Ticker: SPCE
Percent of float short: 64%
YTD rally: 150%

7. Children’s Place

Ticker: PLCE
Percent of float short: 65%
YTD rally: 50%

6. Tanger Factory Outlet Centers

Ticker: SKT
Percent of float short: 71%
YTD rally: 110%

5. Bed Bath & Beyond

Ticker: BBBY
Percent of float short: 84%
YTD rally: 204%

4. Macerich

Ticker: MAC
Percent of float short: 88%
YTD rally: 144%

3. AMC Networks

Ticker: AMCX
Percent of float short: 94%
YTD rally: 104%

2. Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Ticker: LGND
Percent of float short: 106%
YTD rally: 100%

1. GameStop

Ticker: GME
Percent of float short: 261%
YTD rally: 1,917%

All short interest data is as of December 31 and was sourced from Yahoo Finance. Year-to-date data is as of Wednesday’s intraday highs.