EquiLend Short Squeeze Score | Designed to provide early warning signals of potential short squeezes, using both comprehensive securities finance data and social media sentiment data.

After aggressively hiking interest rates to a 10-year high of 5.5%, the U.S. Federal Reserve started 2024 in a holding-pattern of sorts. Inflation measures were cooling, but the American consumer was still feeling the pain of high prices.

With two months now elapsed since the 2024 U.S. presidential election, policy shifts planned by the incoming administration have begun to come into focus, and broader financial markets have reacted in kind. While the implications of a potentially dramatic shift are only beginning to be realized, there are key signals and themes which can already be observed within the securities finance market.

As U.S. equity markets rallied in 2024, securities lending revenue for U.S. equities faced significant challenges, with Q4 revenue down 7% year-over-year (YoY), contributing to a total annual decline of 17%. A 22% drop in fees drove the decrease and offset a 5% increase in balances, which was driven by increased valuations.

While global securities lending revenue faced headwinds in 2024, the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region showed resilience, experiencing a comparatively modest 1.8% year-over-year (YoY) decline to $2.1 billion. The majority of revenue was generated by equities, contributing $2 billion, representing a 0.3% YoY decline. A 3.3% increase in fees was offset by a 3.8% decrease in on-loan balances.