short squeeze

American  

[shawrt skweez] / ˈʃɔrt ˈskwiz /

noun

Stock Exchange.

1. a condition that occurs when the price of a stock or security rises unexpectedly after an unusually large number of short transactions, forcing the short sellers to cut their losses by rapidly buying up the stock, in turn driving the price even higher.

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Etymology

Origin of short squeeze

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

The stock’s short interest made it a target of meme-stock traders looking to trigger a short squeeze this summer.

From Barron's

A prime example is the short squeeze in GameStop, engineered by an army of traders during the height of the Covid pandemic a few years ago.

From Barron's

The latest spike in stock price wasn’t a sign of recovering demand; rather, it appeared to be the result of a short squeeze, a phenomenon in which the price of a heavily shorted stock rises suddenly, forcing short sellers to buy back shares to cover their positions.

From Barron's

Back in 2021, individual investors’ frenetic trading of GameStop pushed share prices high enough that professional investors who had shorted the stock were forced to buy back shares to curb their losses, a phenomenon referred to as a short squeeze.

From The Wall Street Journal

The move appeared to spark a so-called short squeeze: as the stock price surged, the many investors betting against the company were forced to buy shares to cover their losses.

From BBC