a view of the exterior of the nasdaq market site in times square in the manhattan borough of new york city us october 24 2016 reutersshannon stapleton aug 9 reuters  short interest on the nasdaq fell 312 in late july the exchange said on tuesday as of july 29 short interest fell to about 1265 billion shares from 13058 billion shares as of july 15 investors who sell securities short borrow shares and then sell them expecting the stock to fall so they can buy the shares back at the lower price return them to the lender and pocket the difference shorting can also be part of a hedging strategy