What Happened: Investors betting against Tesla have lost big with the stock soaring after Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election. After a previous report of short sellers losing $5 billion since the election, the total has now jumped to $7.8 billion according to data from S3 Partners.

Tesla short-sellers lost $7.8 billion after a 38% post-election surge in shares of the EV maker. Tesla was a popular "Trump trade" and is seen as a beneficiary of a second Trump term. Tesla is the third largest short in the stock market, with $25.6 billion in short interest.

It marks a bet by investors that a Trump White House might ease up on some of the investigations by safety regulators into features such as self-driving. The ties between Trump and Musk could also help Tesla navigate shifts in relationship between the US and China,