Opendoor Stock’s Retail Trader Confidence Drops Amid Share Slide As Major Holder Slashes Stake

Retail trader sentiment for Opendoor Technologies has dipped amid a share slide and shareholder stock sale, signaling investor caution for the newest “meme stock” darling after its sensational rally.

On Stocktwits, the sentiment shifted to 'bearish' as of early Wednesday, from 'neutral' the previous day, amid a small rise in the 24-hour message volume.

Opendoor revealed in an exchange filing that Access Industries sold approximately 11.4 million shares, valued at $95.2 million, reducing its holdings to about 31.3 million shares, or 4.2% of OPEN’s 742.1 million shares outstanding. That caused Opendoor shares to fall 15.4% on Tuesday, their worst session since Aug. 6.

Access Industries, run by Ukrainian-born billionaire Len Blavatnik, is Opendoor’s third-largest shareholder, behind CEO Kaz Nejatian (83.35 million shares) and Vanguard (66.28 million shares), according to a Reuters report citing LSEG data.

The firm previously sold approximately 10.9 million OPEN shares, worth roughly $100 million, on Sept. 12, which drove the stock down by nearly 14%.

After gaining multi-fold since July, following hedge fund manager Eric Jackson’s bullish remarks about the company, investor interest seems to have waned of late. 

OPEN shares have declined approximately 33% since their record high on Sept. 11. Short interest has also shot up from 10.3% at the start of the year to 22.8% as of the end of last week, according to Koyfin data.

Interestingly, earlier this week, Jackson put his weight behind another company in the real estate space, Better Home & Finance. The micro-cap stock has jumped more than 200% since he revealed his latest position.

Although the Stocktwits sentiment declined, several users forecast a bounce in Opendoor stock.

"Just a matter of time. We will be back above ($)10 soon enough," said a user.

One bearish Stocktwits user claimed OPEN, despite being under a short-sale restriction rule (SSR) — which kicks in when a stock falls more than 10% in a day and limits short sellers from piling on more pressure — still continued to slide. "This is a sign of losing momentum and volume. Take profit and get out quick and re-enter later."

As of last close, Opendoor shares are up 343% year-to-date.

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