March 2026 Crowding Report: Nvidia, Rolls-Royce, And TSMC Top the Long Book As Funds Re-Rate Energy
HFA Staff
Published on
Updated on
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In March, North American hedge funds looked increasingly crowded in the same large-cap names on both the long and short sides, with Technology, Industrials and Financials standing out most clearly.
Methodology
The Hazeltree Crowdedness Report is based on anonymized and aggregated positioning data from Hazeltree’s proprietary securities‐finance platform, which reflects trading activity from its hedge fund client base of more than 600 global funds. It calculates the crowdedness score by sector and region (Americas, EMEA, and APAC) and analyzes both long and short crowdedness over the full month of March 2026.
Divergence Bar Chart
The divergence bar chart shows the March 2026 crowdedness score by sector and region. Long positions are represented on the blue side of the chart and short positions on the red side, enabling a clear comparison of long and short positioning within each sector.
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Volatility and uncertainty intensified in March, driven by concerns around private credit, AI disruption, inflation risks, geopolitical tensions, and tariff uncertainty. Equities are under pressure as a ‘war premium’ in energy prices, driven by Middle East tensions, has forced a repricing of risk, while oil and gas prices have surged.
Energy stocks have attracted increased hedge fund inflows in March, potentially driven by a combination of macro positioning and geopolitical risk. Rather than just oil, investors are likely pricing in soaring oil prices and an increase in liquefied natural gas demand. Our hedge fund community data shows that within the Energy industry, 55% of companies witnessed an increase in the number of funds long their stock, and 44% of companies had an over 10% increase in the number of funds long their stock compared to the prior month.
North America
The Information Technology sector (Software & Services industry) is the most crowded sector, followed by the Financials sector (Banks industry) and the Health Care sector (Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Life Sciences industry) for longs. On the short side, the Information Technology sector (Software & Services industry) remained the most crowded, followed by the Industrials sector (Capital Goods industry) and the Health Care sector (Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Life Sciences industry).
When looking at trading activities this month, we calculated the percentage of stocks in each sector that had a month-over-month change of 10% or more in fund counts. Under that measure, Energy and Information Technology were the most active sectors in terms of increase and decrease in the long fund counts, respectively. On the short side, Financials and Consumer Staples were the most active sectors in terms of increases and decreases in short fund counts, respectively.
In the single name crowding space, top movers such as Microsoft Corp within the Large Cap group, Axis Capital Holdings Ltd, Onto Innovation Inc and Darling Ingredients Inc from the Mid Cap group, Permian Resources Corp, Amn Healthcare Services Inc, Kemper Corp, Harley-Davidson Inc, Gentherm Inc and Maxlinear Inc from the Small Cap group saw an over 10% month over month increase in the number of funds that long these names. On the other hand, Inspire Medical Systems Inc from the Small Cap group witnessed an over 10% month over month decrease in the number of funds that long this name.
On the short side, Cloudflare Inc, Nebius Group N.V., Brown & Brown Inc from Large Cap, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd, MGM Resorts International, Terawulf Inc from Mid Cap, Eos Energy Enterprises Inc, Pagaya Technologies Ltd, Canadian Solar Inc, Xometry Inc-A, Pacira Biosciences Inc from Small Cap group experienced an over 10% month over month increase in the number of funds that short those names. On the other hand, Flowers Foods Inc and Neogen Corp from the Small Cap group experienced an over 10% month-over-month decrease in the number of funds that were shorting those names.
EMEA
The Industrials sector (Capital Goods industry) was the most crowded sector for both long and short positions, followed by the Financials sector (Banks industry) and the Consumer Discretionary sector (Consumer Durables & Apparel industry).
When looking at trading activities this month, we calculated the percentage of stocks in each sector that had a month-over-month change of 10% or more in fund counts. Under that measure, Materials and Consumer Discretionary were the most active sectors in terms of increases and decreases in the long fund counts, respectively. On the short side, Telecommunication Services and Energy were the most active sectors in terms of increases and decreases in short fund counts, respectively.
In the single name crowding space, top movers such as Natwest Group Plc, Axa SA within the Large Cap group, Rightmove Plc, Imi Plc from the Mid Cap group, Friedrich Vorwerk Group SE, Atalaya Mining Copper S.A., Central Asia Metals Plc, 4Imprint Group Plc from the Small Cap group saw an over 10% month over month increase in the number of funds that long these names. On the other hand, Gamma Communications Plc from the Small Cap group witnessed an over 10% month over month decrease in the number of funds that long this name.
On the short side, AUTO1 Group SE from the Mid Cap group, Tate & Lyle Plc, and Sinch AB from the Small Cap group experienced over a 10% month-over-month increase in the number of funds that are shorting those names. On the other hand, HelloFresh Se from the Small Cap group experienced an over 10% month-over-month decrease in the number of funds that were short this name.
APAC
The Information Technology sector (Technology Hardware & Equipment industry) dominated the most crowded space for both long and short this month, followed by the Industrials sector (Capital Goods industry) and Materials sector (Materials industry). The Consumer Discretionary sector dropped out of the top 3 most crowded sectors from the prior month.
When looking at trading activities this month, we calculated the percentage of stocks in each sector that had a month-over-month change of 10% or more in fund counts. Under that measure, Utilities and Consumer Discretionary were the most active sectors in terms of increases and decreases in the long fund counts, respectively. On the short side, Materials and Information Technology were the most active sectors in terms of both increases and decreases in short fund counts.
In the single-name crowding space, top movers such as HD Hyundai Electric Co Ltd, Winbond Electronics Corp from Large Cap, Samsung E&A Co Ltd, United Integrated Services, Capricorn Metals Ltd from the Mid Cap group, Stanmore Resources Ltd from the Small Cap group saw an over 10% month over month increase in the number of funds that long these names. On the other hand, China Mengniu Dairy Co from the Mid Cap group, Bellevue Gold Ltd, Arcadyan Technology Corp, and Zip Co Ltd from the Small Cap group saw an over 10% month-over-month decrease in the number of funds that long this name.
On the short side, Xiaomi Corp, Alibaba Health Information Technology Limited from the Large Cap group, Greentown China Holdings, and Shanghai Microport Medbot Group from the Mid Cap group, and IPH Ltd from the Small Cap group experienced over a 10% month-over-month increase in the number of funds that short those names. On the other hand, PWR Holdings Ltd from the Small Cap group experienced an over 10% month-over-month decrease in the number of funds that short this name.
Spotlight on:
In the Energy industry, EQT Corporation, the only large-scale, vertically integrated natural gas producer, attracted significant attention in March. The number of funds long the stock has increased by 24% while the number of funds shorting the stock has decreased by 36% compared to the prior month. Our Data Insights dataset shows that EQT Corporation’s monthly long-to-short fund count ratio has steadily climbed from approximately 1:1 in December 2025 to approximately 3:1 in March. It is the highest level we have seen for this stock since the beginning of 2025. The stock closed at $66.86 on March 26, 2026, which delivered a solid 25% YTD gain.
The blue line represents the security price in USD, and the green line represents the institutional supply utilization ratio.
