Whatever number of real shares were sold, they went to someone. If not to shorts covering then to buyers accumulating. Or to the mm's covering. They do not have to report their naked short interest. I'll bet the hedgies are rolling shares over to each other in short transactions. I'll short them to you, you short them back a few days later, and so on and so on.
All I ask for comments like this is some context and some proof.
From June 30th until now, based on reporting available to us, short covering and institutional selling has matched up almost evenly (including the Adage sales).
Maybe the 4th Quarter reports when they finally get released will show a significant divergence.