Whatever caused the tech selloff, and inflation angst looks to be the likeliest culprit, evidence has been gathering for weeks that traders were bracing for declines.
Short interest in the Nasdaq 100 exchange-traded fund, in free fall as recently as March, was surging before the index had its biggest plunge since March. Flows to the ETF were negative in April and would’ve been this month, too, if not for a jump on Friday. All told, about half a billion dollars has been drained from the QQQs this year.
