Slack Technologies stock is heavily shorted
The shares of Slack Technologies Inc (NYSE:WORK) are up 3.2% to trade at $24.58 this morning, on track to snap a three-day losing streak. This comes after the workplace messaging name reported September daily active users that were up 37% year-over-year to 12 million, including 6 million paid seats.
Despite today's upside move, WORK is still heading toward a weekly loss. And while the stock has bounced from its Sept. 27 bottom of $21.60, it has run headfirst today into resistance at its 30-day moving average. For reference, this trendline hasn't been toppled yet once since the company's June 20 initial public offering (IPO) of 38.50.
The equity is ripe for a short squeeze, which could help topple that 40-day. Short interest nearly doubled since the Sept. 1 reporting period to a record high 29.15 million shares. This accounts for a healthy 15% of WORK's total available float, and four days worth of buying power, at the stock's average pace of trading.
In the options pits, puts and calls have seen almost equal buying demand in recent days. Data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) shows speculative players have bought to open 45,155 calls in the last 10 sessions, compared to 42,171 puts. Digging deeper, the October 30 put is home to the largest increase in open interest during this time frame.