Shorting Palantir, Rocket Lab, MSTR Paid Big in June
Leveraged short funds targeting Palantir, Rocket Lab, and Strategy surged up to 130% in June, topping every S&P 500 stock.
If you were bearish on Palantir, Rocket Lab, or Strategy last month, you were printing money. Leveraged short funds betting against these three names soared as much as 130% in June — a return that crushed every single stock in the S&P 500. That's not a typo. Short sellers ran the table.
These weren't obscure penny stocks getting squeezed in reverse. Palantir and Strategy have been Wall Street darlings with massive retail followings. Rocket Lab has ridden the space-sector hype for years. The fact that leveraged shorts on all three outperformed every long position in the index tells you something important: momentum cuts both ways, and overextended names make the fattest short targets.
Read more Apple's China Memory Push Faces Political Supply-Chain Risk →
Leveraged short ETFs amplify daily moves on the downside, meaning they're designed for traders who want to press a bearish thesis hard and fast — not buy-and-hold investors. A 130% monthly gain from a short vehicle means the underlying name got absolutely wrecked over that stretch. If you missed the trade, the lesson is simple: when high-flying, narrative-driven stocks stall, the unwind can be violent.
The broader takeaway for active traders is that June rewarded conviction on the short side in a way that passive long investing simply couldn't match. With names like Palantir still carrying premium valuations and Strategy tied tightly to Bitcoin's mood swings, the volatility isn't going away. Bears who time their entries right could find more opportunities ahead.
Continue reading at Benzinga
