Stock Market Today, March 17: SoFi Technologies Falls After Short Seller Alleges Aggressive Financial Engineering

By Josh Kohn-Lindquist – Mar 17, 2026 at 5:09PM ESTExpandNASDAQ: SOFISoFi TechnologiesToday's Change(-1.45%) $-0.26Current Price$17.38Key Data PointsMarket Cap$22BDay's Range$16.49 - $18.2552wk Range$8.60 - $32.73Volume5MAvg Vol58MGross Margin61.06%SoFi Technologies (SOFI 1.45%), an online personal finance platform, closed Tuesday at $17.37, down 1.47%. Shares moved lower after a new short-seller report alleged aggressive financial engineering and misstated debt. Investors are watching how SoFi defends its accounting and executes on its Mastercard stablecoin partnership. Trading volume reached 157.5 million shares, coming in about 167% above its three-month average of 59 million shares. SoFi Technologies IPO'd in 2021 and has grown 42% since going public.How the markets moved todayThe S&P 500 added 0.27% to finish Tuesday at 6,717, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.47% to close at 22,480. In financial technology, peers LendingClub closed at $14.12, up 1.77%, and Upstart ended at $27.83, up 0.14%, as investors assessed lending and credit trends.What this means for investorsWell-known short-selling firm Muddy Waters released a short report on SoFi this afternoon, prompting the stock to temporarily sink 6% before rallying most of the way back today. There are several interesting items in the report, but the headliner is that Muddy Waters believes SoFi’s actual personal loan charge-off rate is closer to 6.1% than the 2.9% figure the company states.The short-selling firm also raised a few questions about SoFi’s balance sheet, its fair-value process for personal loans, and the company’s shareholder “dilution treadmill.” I’m a SoFi shareholder, so this news certainly needs to be monitored, but I’m not panicking over it yet. Investors should give management time to respond to the report and reassess afterward.Read NextMar 17, 2026 •By Rick OrfordGreat News for SoFi Investors: This Mastercard Deal Could Be Bigger Than It LooksMar 10, 2026 •By Jennifer SaibilCould Investing $10,000 in SoFi Stock Make You a Millionaire?Mar 8, 2026 •By Adam Spatacco1 Million Reasons to Buy SoFi Stock Like There's No TomorrowMar 6, 2026 •By Jason HallWhere Will SoFi Technologies Stock Be in 10 Years?Mar 5, 2026 •By Neil PatelIs SoFi Technologies Stock Your Ticket to Becoming a Millionaire?Mar 5, 2026 •By Prosper Junior Bakiny2 Growth Stocks Down 33% and 8% This Year to Buy and Hold for a DecadeAbout the AuthorJosh Kohn-Lindquist is a contributing Motley Fool stock market analyst covering consumer goods, industrials, and technology stocks. Previously, Josh was a senior mutual fund accountant at Gemini Fund Services. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of South Dakota.TMFJorykoX@JorykoliStocks MentionedSoFi TechnologiesNASDAQ: SOFI$17.38(-1.45%)-$0.26*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.