STORY: Nvidia short sellers have raked in nearly $5 billion in profits - at least on paper - from the AI chip designer's sharp selloff over the past three sessions.

That's according to data analytics firm Ortex Technologies.

The stock's meteoric rise culminated on June 18, when Nvidia eclipsed Microsoft as world's most valuable company.

Short-sellers saw the milestone as an opportunity to bet against the tech firm.

Since then, Nvidia has handed the title of most valuable company back to Microsoft, after a 3-day slump in shares wiped $430 billion off its market capitalization.

Some attributed Nvidia's sharp pullback to investors rotating out of high-flying AI stocks and into other sectors as 2024 approaches the half-way mark.

Despite the declines, optimism around Nvidia's role in powering the artificial intelligence boom has driven the stock up 145% this year, the second-best performer on the S&P 500.

Nvidia's recent slide ended Tuesday morning... with shares rising roughly 5%.