In the last reporting period (mid-March; it always lags) IWM had 108 million shares short (and SPY had 214 million shares short). Some have already been covered, and some are covering as we speak. There are still plenty more shorts preparing their “buy-to-cover” orders.
A profit is a rare and beautiful thing for bears, and they DO NOT want to give it all up.
A re-test and breakdown at the top of the purple box will cancel (or at least postpone) the bull.
15min IWM “The Big W” update:
On the longer view, 60min, since the election, note that we’re still in a down channel (red lines) inside a larger up channel (pink lines), and bears will cover more at each key point (breakout of the red channel etc) until they finally all capitulate.