July 14 Reuters Shares of Nikola Corp jumped 14 on Friday, a day after a short squeeze sent the electrictruck maker39;s shares soaring in their busiest trading session on record.

The stock surged nearly 61 to a more than fourmonth high on Thursday after Nikola entered a deal to sell 50 EVs to BayoTech and purchase lowcarbon hydrogen from the firm.

The short squeeze in Nikola, after short sellers rushed to exit bearish bets due to a rise in the stock39;s price, led to a record 317 million shares traded on Thursday.

Last week, Nikola reported a sequential jump in EV sales in the second quarter, a positive sign for the startup that has been grappling with a cash crunch and stiff competition.

Nikola was also the most traded stock among retail traders after Tesla in the previous session, according to J.P.Morgan tracker, indicating continuation of the strong interest in EV stocks from individual investors.

We expect the more aggressive retail punters to add wagers in outofthemoney call options in EV companies and other highbeta retail favorites during this reporting season, Lucas Mantle, analyst at Vanda Research, wrote in a note.

For the week, Nikola shares have surged 57. Among other EV companies, large purchases of outofthemoney call options for Rivian helped the stock39;s record 48 surge last week.

About 22.7 of Nikola shares were in short position on July 12, according to analytics firm Ortex.

The recent price increase in Nikola looks very likely to have been…