HYG Short Interest
iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) operates in the Financial Services sector, specifically the Asset Management - Bonds industry, with a market capitalization near $16.18B, listed on AMEX, carrying a beta of 0.67 to the broader market. The iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of U. public since 2007-04-11.
Short interest is the total number of shares currently sold short and not yet covered, reported bi-monthly by FINRA. Days to cover (short interest divided by average daily volume) indicates how long it would take short sellers to close positions, with higher values signaling greater squeeze potential.
- Settlement Date
- 2026-05-15
- Short Interest
- 94.1M
- Previous Short Interest
- 89.6M
- Change
- 5.05%
- Days to Cover
- 2.56
- Avg Daily Volume
- 36.8M
- Avg Days to Cover (24 reports)
- 2.13
Showing 24 bi-monthly FINRA short interest reports for iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF.
Learn how short interest is reported and how to read the data →
HYG most-active contracts
| Type | Strike | Expiration | Volume | OI | IV | Bid | Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PUT | $75.00 | Sep 18, 2026 | 112.0K | 204.8K | 6.2% | $0.34 | $0.37 |
| CALL | $80.00 | Sep 18, 2026 | 111.5K | 43.7K | 3.2% | $0.29 | $0.78 |
| PUT | $65.00 | Dec 18, 2026 | 18.6K | 1.3K | 8.8% | $0.18 | $0.37 |
| PUT | $75.00 | Dec 18, 2026 | 18.5K | 218 | 8.5% | $0.07 | $1.51 |
| CALL | $82.00 | Dec 18, 2026 | 18.5K | 1.2K | 4.6% | $0.08 | $0.44 |
| PUT | $78.50 | Jun 18, 2026 | 18.0K | 26.9K | 1.0% | $0.05 | $0.10 |
| PUT | $79.00 | Jun 18, 2026 | 16.3K | 511.5K | 1.0% | $0.10 | $0.12 |
Top 7 contracts from the institutional-grade nightly options scan; ranked by volume within the broader S&P 500/400/600 + ETF universe.
Frequently asked HYG short interest questions
- What is the current HYG short interest?
- As of the May 15, 2026 settlement, iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) short interest is 94.1M shares, a +5.05% change from the prior period. FINRA publishes short interest twice monthly on the 15th and last business day of each month under Rule 4560.
- What is the HYG days-to-cover ratio?
- Days-to-cover is 2.56, calculated as short interest divided by average daily volume. It estimates how many trading days closing all short positions would consume given typical liquidity. Values above 5 days are commonly cited as elevated; values above 10 days are squeeze-relevant.
- How does HYG short interest affect options pricing?
- High short interest changes options pricing through three mechanics: borrow-rebate effects (synthetic long stock trades below frictionless put-call parity by approximately the borrow rebate when shares are hard-to-borrow), gamma-squeeze setup risk (if dealers are short gamma against retail call buying, dealer hedge flow can amplify upward moves), and elevated event-vol pricing on names with squeeze potential. See the canonical short-interest documentation for the full mechanism.