By Shristi Achar A

April 18 (Reuters) -

Short sellers have been raking it in over the last 30 days

as receding bets of an early interest rate cut by the U.S.

Federal Reserve triggered a selloff in the equity market.

Traders have made a mark-to-market profit of more than

$25 billion up to Thursday from covering their short positions,

said Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director of predictive analytics

at S3 Partners, more than erasing their $14.8 billion in losses

so far this year.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Short sellers were in a bind for most of

last year

as a raging bull market, partly powered by enthusiasm

around AI as well as hopes of an early rate cut, forced them to

book nearly $190 billion in losses for 2023.

The current weakness in the market allows them to cover

a portion of those heavy losses. The benchmark S&P 500 index

is down about 5% so far in April and off by a similar

margin from its record high hit last month.

THE NUMBERS

Overall U.S. & Canadian equity short exposure fell by $50

billion to $1.08 trillion in the last 30 days, largely due to a

fall in the mark-to-market value of short positions and short

covering.

Mark-to-market change is the method of measuring the value

of assets that can fluctuate over time, adjusting the asset's

value to reflect its current market price.

THE DETAILS

Bets against bitcoin-focussed MicroStrategy ( MSTR ) and

chip stocks such as Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) and Super

Micro Computer ( SMCI ) were profitable for traders during the

period in dollar terms.

That was despite those stocks witnessing the largest

mark-to-market decrease in short positions.

However, short positions on oil giant Exxon Mobil ( XOM )

, Google-parent Alphabet and e-commerce company

Amazon.com ( AMZN ) turned out to be least profitable for

traders.

(Reporting by Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil

D'Silva)