Eco-Trade Corp. (fka BOPT)

[cayman_west]

There are plenty of investors betting against publicly traded companies by selling them short, hoping to profit if the share prices head lower. However, some stocks have unusually large sums of short-sellers relative to their typical trading activity. This results in a high short interest ratio, and it's something that both bulls and bears need to watch closely.

The short interest ratio is easy enough to calculate. Take the total number of shares sold short, and divide that by the average number of shares in that stock that trade in a day. That's the short interest ratio, or the number of days that it would take to cover all of those bearish positions given typical trading volume.

There could be some legitimate reasons for high short interest ratios. A stock could have a lot of convertible debt out there and investors are merely hedging their equity risk. However, for the most part, a stock with a high short interest ratio is also a logical candidate for a short squeeze, sending the stock higher at the first whiff of a positive catalyst as the worrywarts scramble to close out their position.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/04/16/5-stocks-begging-for-a-short-squeeze.aspx