Tesla short sellers pocket about $4 billion in profits after Musk-Trump spat

(Corrects paragraph 1 to say it was the biggest single-day drop in market value, not shares)

(Reuters) -Traders raked in $4 billion in profit from their short positions in Tesla shares on Thursday after a public feud between President Donald Trump and CEO Elon Musk drove the biggest single-day drop in market value.

The gains from betting against the EV maker were the second biggest, data from analytics firm Ortex showed. Traders had pocketed $5.4 billion from a selloff on September 8, 2020, after the firm was looked over for inclusion into the S&P 500 index.

The stock closed down 14.3% on Thursday and lost about $150 billion in market value.

With short sellers up $7.5 billion on their bet against Tesla, it remains the most profitable trade for the bearish investors among the "Magnificent 7" stocks this year. Apple stands second at $7.3 billion, according to Ortex.

(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

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