short interest

American  

noun

Finance.

1. the total amount by which a single seller or all sellers are short in a particular stock or commodity or in the market as a whole.

---

Etymology

Origin of short interest

An Americanism dating back to 1885–90

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

short interest

In short, interest is added on a larger and larger pot as time goes by.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

Individual investors also tend to be more active in shares of stocks with high short interest.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026

Second, there was heavy short interest, likely from hedge funds betting against the stock.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

Adding fuel to Avis’ rise was the heavy short interest in its stock, which is a measure of how many investors were betting the shares would fall.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026

This short interest was a leading factor in producing the extraordinary resistance of prices in New York which caused so much favorable comment during the few days before the closing.

From The New York Stock Exchange in the Crisis of 1914 by Henry George Stebbins Noble

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---