NEW YORK, April 30 (Reuters) - Short-sellers in Trump

Media & Technology Group ( DJT ) are feeling the heat from the

recent rally in the company's stock and the higher cost of

borrowing its shares, analytics firm S3 Partners said.

Shares of the company, which operates former President

Donald Trump's social media firm Truth Social, jumped nearly 7%

on Tuesday. Shares have risen for five straight days, though

they are down nearly 30% since it began trading on March 26 at

$70.90.

That advance has hit the returns of short-sellers, leaving

them with market-to-market profits of $91.1 million for the

month of April, or a gain of 50%, said Ihor Dusaniwsky,

president of S3 Partners.

Short-sellers, who profit when the share price falls, are

still down 68% since the trading debut in late March, with $94.8

million of year-to-date mark-to-market losses, he said.

Short-sellers are "exiting their positions due to the huge

cost of stock borrow financing and the stock being up 75% in

just over two weeks," Dusaniwsky said.

Short-sellers exiting a position must buy back the

underlying stock, exerting upward pressure on its shares.

But the recent price action does not necessarily mean

bearish investors are running away, according to Dusaniwsky.

While some are unwinding their trades, there are "a slew of

replacements ready, willing and able to enter the breach and

short the stock at those higher levels."

The higher cost of borrowing the company's shares is adding

to their burdens, Dusaniwsky said.

Initiating a new short position in Trump Media & Technology

Group ( DJT ) carries a fee between 600% and 650%, while existing

positions carry fees of 330%, according to S3 data. Fewer than

100,000 shares are available to borrow.

"At these stock borrow levels short sellers need DJT's stock

price to drop by three-eighths to just break even and cover

daily stock borrow financing costs," Dusaniwsky said.

Trump Media & Technology Group ( DJT ) sent a letter to Nasdaq CEO

Adena Friedman April 19 alerting the exchange to "potential

market manipulation" in the stock and suggested that "naked"

short-selling was to blame.

"Naked" short selling, which is generally illegal in the

United States, involves selling shares without first borrowing

them or determining they can be borrowed, creating the risk the

seller may not be able to deliver the shares.