Hedge funds stayed heavily exposed to large-cap technology through the first half of 2026, but the short book is more interesting, as usual. Hazeltree‘s H1 Review found Charter Communications was North America’s most crowded large-cap short, while short participation increased by more than 10% month over month in Oracle and Nebius Group.
The report is based on anonymized positioning across approximately 16,000 securities held by more than 600 global funds on Hazeltree’s securities-finance platform. Its crowding score runs from 0 to 99 and measures how widely a security is held long or short within a regional market-cap group. It is a relative ranking, not position size or a directional forecast.
The large-cap short book split the AI trade
Charter led North American large-cap shorts with a crowding score of 99. Super Micro Computer followed at 85, with Oracle at 83. CoreWeave, Kimberly-Clark and Coinbase each scored 81.
Charter is by far number one, while Oracle, CoreWeave and Nebius are three AI infrastructure names in the ranking. Super Micro is another hardware-linked name. At the same time, hedge funds remained crowded into Nvidia, Broadcom, Applied Materials and Lam Research on the long side. fund managers stayed long much of the semiconductor supply chain while shorting several companies tied to the spending and data-center buildout around it.
Oracle and Nebius were also among the large caps where short fund counts increased by more than 10% month over month, according to the research. Palo Alto Networks moved in the other direction, with short fund participation down by more than 10%, although the stock still ranked seventh among large-cap shorts with a score of 79.
The securities-lending data shows Nebius recorded 100.0% average institutional supply utilization, the highest reading among the 30 North American names in Hazeltree’s three short lists. Hims & Hers Health followed at 77.9%, ahead of Eos Energy Enterprises at 72.6% and Canadian Solar at 71.7%.
Supply utilization and crowding do not measure the same thing. Crowding ranks how broadly funds in Hazeltree’s community are short a security. Institutional supply utilization tracks how much lendable institutional supply is in use. A name can therefore rank below the very top in fund participation while showing a tighter securities-lending setup.
Hazeltree’s workbook also includes community borrow-fee measure. It is not used here as a literal market borrow quote, and it is excluded from the charts.
Mid-cap shorts concentrated in travel, staples and technology
Norwegian Cruise Line was the most crowded North American mid-cap short with a score of 99. The Campbell’s Company ranked second at 91, followed by Oklo at 84. Hims & Hers, Hyatt Hotels and Dropbox each scored 82.
Short fund counts rose by more than 10% month over month in Campbell’s, Dropbox and Conagra Brands. Hims & Hers went the other way, with a decline of more than 10%, yet remained tied for fourth in the mid-cap ranking; a decrease in short participation does not necessarily mean a short has become uncrowded.
Small-cap positioning showed the same churn
Eos Energy Enterprises topped the small-cap list with a score of 99, followed by Ziff Davis at 88. Amprius Technologies and Flowers Foods each scored 85.
Short fund counts increased by more than 10% month over month in Sable Offshore, Canadian Solar and Neogen. All three finished inside the top 10. Flowers Foods and BlackLine recorded declines of more than 10% in short fund counts but also remained in the ranking. As in mid caps, the half-year snapshot shows both heavy existing participation and sharp movement underneath it.
Long exposure remained crowded too
Amazon remained North America’s most crowded large-cap long with a score of 99, despite a decline in long participation from the beginning of the year. Nvidia ranked second at 96 and Meta Platforms third at 93.
Alphabet, Apple and Meta gained long holders between the start of 2026 and June, while Amazon lost long participation. On the short side of the Magnificent Seven, Amazon, Microsoft and Nvidia gained short holders; Meta and Apple saw reductions. Those movements left several companies with meaningful participation on both sides of the trade rather than a simple bullish or bearish consensus.
Semiconductor positioning accelerated into June
The share of PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index constituents with net-long positioning rose from 53% in February to 70% in June. Hazeltree’s monthly reports show the progression more clearly: 57% in January, 53% in February and March, 57% in April, 60% in May and 70% in June.
Texas Instruments and NXP Semiconductors both moved from short-biased to long-biased positioning in May. Texas Instruments produced the largest shift in the sector.
The ratio of funds long Texas Instruments to funds short the stock rose from 0.6 on January 1 to 2.2 on June 1. Hazeltree also reported that the share price gained 68% from January 2 through June 30. The positioning reversal came semiconductor basket moved toward its strongest net-long reading of the first half.
The H1 data leaves a crowded market on both sides. Technology and semiconductor exposure remained central to the long book, but managers were building or maintaining large shorts in cable, consumer names and a distinct set of AI infrastructure companies. The sharp changes in Oracle, Nebius, Campbell’s, Dropbox, Conagra, Sable Offshore, Canadian Solar and Neogen show where that short exposure was still being added at the end of the period.
The full Hazeltree Crowding Report covers the Americas, EMEA and APAC.
Sources: Hazeltree Crowding Report – H1 Review 2026; corrected press release dated July 15, 2026; draft report commentary dated July 13, 2026; North America long and short crowding workbooks supplied under embargo. Charts by Hedge Fund Alpha.
