"This is still, IMO, the only logical explanation for almost 5M shares being short."
And also all the big longs who are hedging using both options and shorts...If that were not the case, we would have seen massive covering by now.
Listen, unlike me, there are a group of investors (who may be smarter than me), who are NOT trying to squeeze every penny out of an investment.
They would rather go for the sure, guaranteed "Lesser" profit, and hedge.
That's all this is - I think (but not clearly all the time).