Time will tell if the rally is sustainable, but this much is certain: From its Wednesday close to its Friday close, the Deutsche X-trackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares ETF (NYSEArca: ASHR), the largest U.S-listed A-shares ETF, surged more than 25%, rocking late-arriving shorts that had piled into bearish A-shares trade.
Short interest in ASHR “accounted for 19 percent of shares outstanding, after tripling from a month earlier, data compiled by Bloomberg and Markit Group Ltd. show,” according to Bloomberg.
There is plenty of other evidence to support the notion that traders have recently been plenty eager to establish bearish views on Chinese stocks. Last Wednesday, the Direxion Daily FTSE China Bear 3X Shares (NYSEArca: YANG) added nearly $16 million in new assets. The Direxion Daily CSI 300 China A Share Bear 1x Shares (NYSEArca: CHAD), arguably the epitome of a “right place, right time” ETF, has added $21.6 million in new assets last week through Thursday. That brings CHAD’s AUM total to the $190 million area, an impressive sum for an ETF that is not yet a month old. [Traders Flock to Leveraged China ETFs]
However, with ASHR on the mend, at least for the last two days of last week, CHAD was throttled while its double-leveraged bullish cousin, the Direxion 2x Daily CSI 300 China A Share ETF (NYSEArca: CHAU), the first leveraged A-shares ETF to list in the U.S., surged.
CHAU capped last week with a two-day gain of over 54%, underscoring how quickly the short A-shares turned for the worse and how painful it had become. Last week, we noted that CHAU could be poised for big near-term gains because ASHR was trading at a steep discount to its net asset value. [Leveraged A-Shares ETF Could Tempt]