Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnADVERTISEMENTJing PanSat, August 8, 2026 at 1:15 PM GMT+2 10 min readMoneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue through links in the content below.Elon Musk has issued another warning to traders betting against SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX).They do not appear to be listening.Must ReadJeff Bezos backs a platform that lets anyone invest in rental homes for as little as $100 — 6 ways to build wealth like a landlord without actually being oneJPMorgan still sees gold hitting $5,000/oz by Q4 — and savvy investors are protecting their wealth with a tax-advantaged Gold IRA. Learn more with a free guide from Priority GoldThe tax breaks in Trump's 'big beautiful bill' expire after 2028 — and experts say most people won't act in time. What to do before the window closes"I try to warn them, but they just double down …" Musk wrote on X (1), responding to a post highlighting the rapidly growing bearish wager against his rocket, satellite and artificial intelligence company.His warning came as data from S3 Partners (2) showed roughly 95% of the SpaceX shares available to borrow had been loaned out, translating to 34% short interest as a percentage of the float.Short sellers borrow shares and immediately sell them, hoping to buy them back later at a lower price and pocket the difference.But when a heavily shorted stock suddenly climbs, short sellers can be forced to repurchase shares to limit their losses. That buying can push the price even higher, potentially creating a cycle known as a short squeeze.Musk has seen this movie before."The survival probability of firms who maintain a significant short position in SpaceX over time is very low," he warned in a separate post (3) in July.Yet short sellers have continued to increase their bets.The strategy has paid off handsomely so far. SpaceX shares fell from a post-IPO high of $225.64 to below the company's $135 offering price, leaving short sellers with an estimated $15.5 billion (4) in paper profits by late July. Roughly 360 million shares — equal to 56% of the free float — were out on loan at that point, according to data from analytics firm Ortex Technologies."There is no sign of short sellers taking profits on SpaceX," Ortex co-founder Peter Hillerberg told Reuters. "If anything they are leaning in harder."That strategy may continue to profit if SpaceX continues to tumble. But it could also become extraordinarily painful if shares suddenly spike up.A bet that can turn against you quicklySpaceX has given skeptics plenty of ammunition.The company's sky-high valuation, aggressive spending and exposure to the highly speculative AI trade have raised questions about whether investors pushed the stock too far, too quickly.Terms and Privacy PolicyEU DSA contactPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore Info