What were the biggest short squeezes in history?

From Piggly Wiggly to GameStop, brief squeezes have been triggering drama on the stock exchange for more than a century. Keep reading to find out about the biggest short squeezes in history and how to participate in the next one.

What are short squeezes? 

Short squeezes are market occasions where traders push up the value of a stock, forcing brief sellers to purchase (go long) to reduce their losses.

As the brief sellers buy stock, the share worth increases even greater, increasing the revenues of the short-squeezing traders.

The greatest short squeezes of perpetuity

1923: Piggly Wiggly short squeeze 

When Clarence Saunders opened the first Piggly Wiggly supermarket in Tennessee in 1916, it was a discovery. For the first time, clients could stroll the aisles of a grocery store and choose their own products.

Within 6 years, there were Piggly Wiggly stores all over the Southern and Midwest regions of the United States, and Piggly Wiggly stock was being listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Then Clarence Saunders overplayed his hand.

What occurred?

After market traders began to short Piggly Wiggly stock, Saunders pledged to counter. Utilizing his own cash and $10 million from a group of bankers, he bought up all available Piggly Wiggly stock, pushing the price of the stock up by approximately 50%.

By March 1923, Saunders owned all but 1128 shares of the company's exceptional shares, and he got in touch with the brief sellers to pay up. The following day, the NYSE suspended trading in the stock, prior to completely stopping all trading in Piggly Wiggly on 26 March. The suspension provided the short sellers time to buy up most of the business's 1128 outstanding shares and cover their positions.

Saunders ended up with complete control of Piggly Wiggly stocks, countless dollars of financial obligation and no capability to offer his shares on the general public market. He made an early effort at crowdfunding by getting advertisements in regional papers saying that the failure of Piggly Wiggly would embarassment the entire South. The campaign fizzled out and Saunders was required to turn over his stock and file for bankruptcy.

2008: Volkswagen vs Porsche

For a short moment in October 2008, Volkswagen was the most valuable business on the planet, at more than EUR1000 per share. And it all began with a surprise announcement by competing automobile producer Porsche.

What occurred?

Porsche and Volkswagen had a long history of interacting, and Porsche had consistently maintained a minority stake in Volkswagen. On 26 October 2008, Porsche revealed that it had actually acquired control of 74% of Volkswagen's voting shares by purchasing up nearly all of the business's flowing stock.

Naturally, by October 2008 the world remained in the grip of the worldwide monetary crisis, and short-selling was rampant. The Porsche Volkswagen short squeeze was only possible due to the fact that a lot Volkswagen stock (around 12.5%) was on loan to brief sellers at the time of the Porsche announcement. When the market opened the following day, those brief sellers raced to exit their positions to minimise their losses, buying more stock and inflating the share price a lot more.

On 27 October 2008, Volkswagen's shares opened at EUR348 and closed at EUR517-- an increase of nearly 150%. By Tuesday, the stock peaked at EUR999 per share, while short-selling costs were approximated to be in the 10s of billions. Porsche's president (CEO) Wendelin Wiedeking was ultimately charged with market control for his function in the short squeeze, however the charges were later dropped.

The big short on Herbalife

In December 2012, Bill Ackman, a hedge fund supervisor at Pershing Square Capital Management, made a brief bet versus nutritional supplements company Herbalife. He explained his choice in a three hour discussion, where he described Herbalife as a pyramid scheme that was certain to go bust. 

What took place?

Ackman was so positive that he spent $1 billion shorting Herbalife, when its stock was trading at around $45. Rival hedge fund supervisor Carl Icahn publicly disagreed with Ackman's bet, and a fight of the egos saw Icahn take a 26% share in Herbalife, making him the business's biggest investor, and netting him $1 billion over the next few years.

For Ackman, it was the even worse short squeeze ever. By the time Pershing exited the brief position in February 2018, the stock was trading at more than $90 per share, and the company is still very much out there today.

2020: Tesla stock cost rally

At the start of August 2020, Tesla's shares were close to hitting $300 for the first time in the company's history.

By the end of August, Tesla shares were worth nearly $450. Market commentators puzzled over the surprise rally, which did not accompany any brand-new product launches or other apparent market-moving activity.

What took place?

In hindsight, a number of problems probably caused the rally-- electrical cars were ending up being more popular, the business was preparing to join the S&P 500, and the board had actually simply revealed a five-for-one stock split, which suggested that anyone who bought Tesla shares before 21 August 2020 would effectively get four shares free of charge (for one bought).

However the primary driver seems to have been short sellers. By mid-2020, Tesla was the most shorted stock on the planet, reflecting Wall Street's view that the business was overvalued. Rather, the stock benefitted from a run of good press and strong financial reports, costing short sellers roughly $40 billion by the end of the year.

The Tesla short squeeze may be among the worst short squeezes in history, as sluggish but favorable growth in Tesla's stock meant that short selling losses accumulated slowly throughout lots of months.

2021: The GameStop rise

One of the greatest short squeezes in history started on a SubReddit, where numerous countless retail investors united to drive the price of GameStop shares up to an all-time high of nearly $500. Prior to the surge, GameStop's stock had been valued at $17.25. 

What happened?

At the time, around 140% of GameStop's public float had actually been sold short, so as the rally got pace, these short sellers were required to cover themselves by purchasing as much stock as possible, therefore adding to the rise.

Affordable, light-touch financial investment apps such as Robinhood enabled retail financiers to buy stock in small quantities, suggesting that anybody could participate the GameStop movement. Meanwhile, Reddit users shared investment tips and techniques in layperson's terms, introducing many individuals to the world of investing for the very first time.

On 28 January 2021, Robinhood stepped in and halted the purchase of GameStop shares and other securities, stating that they could not meet the collateral requirements to perform the offers. This decision has sparked a number of examinations and ongoing criticism from traders on Reddit.