RE:RE:So corruptThe cause of the underperformance is most likely due to GDXJ manager Van Eck Associates, lending out the shares of EQX.
Before EQX was included in GDXJ, the price of EQX rises more sharply than GDXJ.
After EQX was included in GDXJ from March 2020 onwards, EQX rises in lockstep with GDXJ. After the peak of gold price in Aug 2020 last year, EQX actually tanked harder than GDXJ, and in fact the gap is increasing with each passing day till today.
Finviz shows the outstanding number of shares shorted now reached volume of 3 trading days. Shares loaned out by GDXJ is most likely the reason why EQX is shorted.
Passive ETF managers do not care about your holdings, and they have full ownership power over the shares, including lending. They are just here to make money from the "passive" label. This is my best guess about why EQX is underperforming.
None of the bullish precious metals stocks which have 0 shares for borrowing, that I trade, have this issue of underperforming the precious metal price. On Interactive Brokers, there are 2.56 million EQX shares available to borrow (2 days of trading volume).