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According to a recent Bloomberg article:

Melvin Capital closed its position after repositioning its portfolio, according to a spokesperson. Citron Capital’s Andrew Left also said Wednesday that the firm covered the majority of its GameStop short bets at “a loss of 100%” in a YouTube video.

Is it possible for a skeptical third-party observer to somehow confirm if this claim is true and their portfolio is now indeed free of $GME shorts? It would be very beneficial for the hedge fund to lie about closing their positions without actually closing them, as this might help them avoid a short squeeze after all.

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    One obvious point is that if they had, they wouldn't have paid apps like RobinHood to shut down their trading.
    – Criticizing Israel not allowed
    Commented Jan 28, 2021 at 18:22
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    @Grade'Eh'Bacon I wouldn't expect to make money based on the supposition. But I don't see any reason why Robinhood would want to stop its users from losing money. Surely that's not their job. At the most, they should put up a warning screen "This stock is really volatile! You'll probably lose all your money! Are you sure you want to proceed?"
    – Criticizing Israel not allowed
    Commented Jan 28, 2021 at 18:35
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    @user253751 There's a separate question discussing why they might do that. Please stick to the topic on this page, and preferably only use comments to improve the question, not partially answer it.
    – IMSoP
    Commented Jan 28, 2021 at 18:50
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    @Grade'Eh'Bacon the retail investor can lose their investment. The short seller can lose their shirt.
    – Jontia
    Commented Jan 28, 2021 at 19:00
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    It would be very beneficial for the hedge fund to lie about closing their positions without actually closing them, as this might help them avoid a short squeeze after all. This statement is categorically false. The players in the GME saga are going to do what they do regardless of what Melvin Capital says. In addition, a bunch of words in a public relations statement doesn't help them avoid a short squeeze in any way.
    – Bob Baerker
    Commented Jan 28, 2021 at 20:48

2 Answers 2

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Is it possible for a skeptical third-party observer to somehow confirm if this claim is true and their portfolio is now indeed free of $GME shorts?

No. However, the number of shorted shares for a given company is publicly known.

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    Where can you find the chart for GME's % of shorted shares over time?
    – JonathanReez
    Commented Jan 28, 2021 at 22:18
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    @JonathanReez marketbeat.com/stocks/NYSE/GME/short-interest though this one is not too fine-grained. That's the kind of question that should make website recommendation on-topic on money.stackexchange.com
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Commented Jan 28, 2021 at 22:27
  • isthesqueezesquoze.com => confirms Melvin Capital likely lied and they're still holding those shorts. Accepting your answer.
    – JonathanReez
    Commented Jan 28, 2021 at 22:52
  • This is really interesting. The link shows that last year 55-65 million of GME shares were shorted all the time. With this in mind shorting GME does not sound like the huge game it is always portrayed
    – Manziel
    Commented Jan 29, 2021 at 16:11
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No, trades are private. If you are large enough then there are regulations that force you to reveal your trades, but those still take time because they're only mandatory every 3 months.

Form 144: Notice of Proposed Sale of Securities is a document issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It must be filed with the SEC by an executive officer, director, or the affiliate of a company when placing an order to sell that company's stock during any three-month period in which the sale exceeds 5,000 shares or units or has an aggregate sales price greater than $50,000. This is also known as Rule 144 of the Securities Act of 1933.

(source above)

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