What is a short squeeze

A short squeeze is a market phenomenon where the price of a stock increases rapidly due to a large number of short sellers covering their positions. Here’s how it works:

1. **Short Selling**: Investors who believe a stock's price will fall (the "short sellers") borrow shares from their brokerage, sell them in the market, and plan to buy them back at a lower price to profit from the decline.
2. **Price Increase**: Unexpected positive news or a bullish sentiment can cause the stock's price to rise instead. This forces short sellers to buy back the shares (covering their short positions) to limit their losses, which further increases the stock's price.
3. **Feedback Loop**: As more short sellers buy to cover their positions, it creates a self-reinforcing cycle that pushes the stock price even higher. This can lead to a significant and rapid increase in the stock's price, sometimes resulting in a short seller losing a substantial amount of money if their prediction of a price decrease was incorrect.

In summary, a short squeeze is a rapid increase in a stock's price primarily due to an excess of short selling, which forces short sellers to buy back shares, thus creating a bullish momentum.