Traders who bet on falling stock prices—known as short sellers—had made about $159 billion in paper profits over just six trading days, thanks to the recent market plunge that was triggered by President Trump’s tariff policies. The sharp sell-off, which was the biggest since 2022, pushed the S&P 500 (SPX) down by over 10%. Interestingly, one of the most profitable bets has been against the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), which tracks the broader market index. According to S3 Partners, traders shorting SPY have gained over $6.1 billion so far this month.
These gains came during a period of intense market volatility that wiped out trillions of dollars in value. Indeed, short sellers made roughly $46 billion in new bets just during April. While short trades have paid off during this downturn—S3 says that 81% of all short positions were profitable—there is still risk. If the market rebounds, short sellers could rush to close their positions by buying back shares, which would add fuel to any rally and increase volatility.
Other major short targets in April included tech giants like Apple (AAPL), Nvidia (NVDA), and Tesla (TSLA), along with the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which tracks the Nasdaq 100. Each of these positions has netted more than $2 billion in paper profits. Meta Platforms (META), Amazon (AMZN), and Microsoft (MSFT) were also among the top fifteen. However, if markets turn around, a wave of short covering could help push prices higher, just as short activity helped drive them down.
Which Tech Stock Is the Better Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, out of the six stocks mentioned above, analysts think that NVDA stock has the most room to run. In fact, NVDA’s average price target of $175.06 per share implies more than 73% upside potential. On the other hand, analysts expect the least from TSLA stock, as its average price target of $307.75 equates to a gain of 32%.
