Bye, Baba Bears. Maybe You'll Have Better Luck in 2018

(Bloomberg Gadfly) -- It really sucked to be short Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in 2017.

No wonder the bears are starting to give up.

Short interest peaked July 14 at 141 million shares.  With the stock up 74 percent for the year at that point, you could understand the hopes for a slide. The bears were disappointed. Not only did Alibaba keep climbing, the lowest close from that point was a drop of a mere 60 cents, or 0.4 percent.

The shares have since gone on to rise another 13 percent, and by the close on Dec. 28 were up 96 percent for the year. The stock did ebb a little in the interim, but an 11 percent peak-to-trough decline was barely enough to make shorting worth the hassle. 

Meanwhile, short interest has waned to 116 million shares,  the lowest level since April. 

Oh well. Sorry bears, better luck in 2018.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Tim Culpan is a technology columnist for Bloomberg Gadfly. He previously covered technology for Bloomberg News.

1. Short interest is reported by the exchange twice per month.

2. Trading is in ADRs. One ADR one share.

3. As of Dec.

To contact the author of this story: Tim Culpan in Taipei at tculpan1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Sillitoe at psillitoe@bloomberg.net.

©2017 Bloomberg L.P.