Opendoor Stock’s Retail Trader Confidence Drops Amid Share Slide As Major Holder Slashes Stake

Investors are concerned as Opendoor stock is now 33% off its record high earlier this month.

Retail trader sentiment for Opendoor Technologies has dipped amid a share slide and shareholder stock sale, signaling investor caution for the newest “meme stock” darling after its sensational rally.

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On Stocktwits, the sentiment shifted to ‘bearish’ as of early Wednesday, from ‘neutral’ the previous day, amid a small rise in the 24-hour message volume.

OPEN sentiment and message volume as of September 24 | Source: Stocktwits

Opendoor revealed in an exchange filing that Access Industries sold approximately 11.4 million shares, valued at $95.2 million, reducing its holdings to about 31.3 million shares, or 4.2% of OPEN’s 742.1 million shares outstanding. That caused Opendoor shares to fall 15.4% on Tuesday, their worst session since Aug. 6.

Access Industries, run by Ukrainian-born billionaire Len Blavatnik, is Opendoor’s third-largest shareholder, behind CEO Kaz Nejatian (83.35 million shares) and Vanguard (66.28 million shares), according to a Reuters report citing LSEG data.

The firm previously sold approximately 10.9 million OPEN shares, worth roughly $100 million, on Sept. 12, which drove the stock down by nearly 14%.

After gaining multi-fold since July, following hedge fund manager Eric Jackson’s bullish remarks about the company, investor interest seems to have waned of late. 

OPEN shares have declined approximately 33% since their record high on Sept. 11. Short interest has also shot up from 10.3% at the start of the year to 22.8% as of the end of last week, according to Koyfin data.

Interestingly, earlier this week, Jackson put his weight behind another company in the real estate space, Better Home & Finance. The micro-cap stock has jumped more than 200% since he revealed his latest position.

Although the Stocktwits sentiment declined, several users forecast a bounce in Opendoor stock.

“Just a matter of time. We will be back above ($)10 soon enough,” said a user.

One bearish Stocktwits user claimed OPEN, despite being under a short-sale restriction rule (SSR) — which kicks in when a stock falls more than 10% in a day and limits short sellers from piling on more pressure — still continued to slide. “This is a sign of losing momentum and volume. Take profit and get out quick and re-enter later.”

As of last close, Opendoor shares are up 343% year-to-date.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.<

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