BlockBeats News, July 20th, despite the continuous rise of the U.S. stock market, investor sentiment has increasingly turned bearish. As concerns mount over whether this AI-driven rally can be sustained, short bets against the U.S. stock market have reached a historic high.

Since the end of March, the S&P 500 Index has risen by a cumulative 18%. According to data compiled by S3 Partners LLC since 2010, the short interest as a percentage of free float shares of S&P 500 Index constituents has risen to 3.79%, hitting a record high. A similar trend has been seen for Russell 3000 Index constituents, with this percentage recently climbing to 6.3%, also setting a new record.

Despite shorting stocks not being a successful overall trading strategy this year, persistent market concerns about AI investment returns and the accompanying risks disrupting the market have kept the bears in a strong position. Ihor Dusaniwsky, Managing Director of Predictive Analytics at S3 Partners, stated: "Shorting activity has increased, and the universe of securities being shorted has expanded."