Quote from Sparohok:
Get a clue, guys, you can't have a short squeeze in an ETF, only in the underlying. A while ago TLT had short interest that was 150% of float, and nobody got squeezed. Even 150% of TLT's assets is miniscule compared to the Treasuries market, far less than one days worth of transaction volume. When shorts need to cover, market makers take over the short position, hedge it out against the underlying, and then at the end of the day the fund issues them creation units to flatten their books. As long as the transaction volume from the market makers hedging activities don't impact the underlying market(s) there will be no squeeze.
Same story with XLF. Their total assets represent just a bit more than 0.1% of the market cap of the financial sector. Any squeeze will be in the underlying. Since C, BAC, AIG, and the like have short % of float in single digits, no squeeze.
Martin
Good point...
the real question... what's the short interest of of the underlying. I tend to agree that the financials will outperform the SPX over the next couple of days, but I'm not about to buy.
Looking at the table I see that people are saying that GS is bluffing.