Tesla short sellers have raised nearly $14 billion since Elon Musk agreed to buy Twitter, making Tesla most profitable in 2022.

While shares did not close below the psychological barrier of $125, Tesla still closed at its lowest price since September 2020. For the week, shares were down 16.6%, which could challenge the previous week for the worst since 2020. Tesla stock is in In the market. Way to the worst month, quarter and year ever.

The decline pushed Tesla’s market value below $400 billion, making it the 10th most valuable company in the S&P 500. Visa Inc. V,
-0.85%
It moved higher than Tesla on Tuesday, when Tesla Trading set its valuation at $395.82 billion, below Visa’s $418.17 billion. Walmart Inc. WMT,
-1.17%And the
At $383.35 billion, it was creeping up on Tesla with a chance of knocking it out of the top 10.

Read: Tesla’s stock decline was bad. But this company wiped out more investor wealth in 2022

Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director of predictive analytics firm S3 Partners, said in a note that short sellers, whom Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been keen to target previously, are having a happy holiday if they bet on Tesla this year. He noted that Tesla was the most profitable stock to sell in 2022.

“Shorts are backing their short exposure to TSLA for good reason, it’s the most profitable, in dollar terms, in 2022,” Dusaniwsky said. Tesla short sales are up $15 billion year-to-date in market earnings in 2022, with a gain of $4.54 billion in December alone, according to S3 data.

“Since Elon Musk’s Twitter pitch on 4/14/22, TSLA’s short earnings have increased by $13.74 billion in market earnings,” Dusaniwsky said.

The analyst said that short interest in Tesla has been declining since April due to lower prices, but that short selling has increased since August. With 3.05% of the 81.8 million shares sold short, Tesla shares at $11.28 billion are the second largest dollar short after Apple Inc. AAPL,
-2.38%
And $16.78 billion in short interest.

Read from Monday: Tesla analysts say they can’t ignore Elon Musk’s Twitter “nightmare” anymore

For its part, Visa shares are also the fourth-largest dollar sell-off at $7.75 billion, according to S3 data.

Tesla shares came under pressure Thursday after the company doubled the discount it offers to customers who “receive a new Model 3 or Model Y between December 21-31, 2022 in exchange for a $7,500 credit and 10,000 miles of supercharging,” according to its website, sparking concern. That the demand for electric vehicles is slipping. Tesla buyers are no longer eligible for the up to $7,500 US tax credit for electric vehicle buyers, but that incentive could return in 2023, which could be a disincentive to Tesla buying in the US this year.

Tesla shares are down 64.4% for the year, while the S&P 500 is down 19.8% and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP,
-5.88%
is off by a third.