New trends in the electric car sector have caused investors to take notice, especially of Global X Lithium and Battery Tech ETF (NYSE:$LIT). LIT is an exchange trade fund specializing in the booming lithium market.

The cause is likely recent developments in the lithium market. Lithium is a vital component of the rechargeable batteries that power everything from your personal electronics to electric cars. Continued reliance on those devices has created a substantial demand for the silvery alkali metal.

Technological advances have also increased the practicality of lithium batteries. Lithium batteries have seen their cost halved in the last three years. Director of LIT, Jay Jacobs, says this has caused an inflection point.

Recent political reforms have also affected sales. The Chinese government recently announced that they intended to drop their reliance on fossil fuel powered vehicles in favor of the electric substitute. Despite stating that they had a timetable, the Chinese government did not elaborate on its plan. China is not the only one to steer their country towards electric cars, however.

From September 11 until Tuesday’s close, a staggering total of around $143 million was invested into LIT, with $49.8 million on Tuesday alone. That accounts for nearly 10% of the $651 million fund.

ETF Researcher Todd Rosenbluth stated that this sort of interest in a narrowly focused ETF is extremely rare. However, the impressive gain has also attracted the attention of short sellers. The measure of short interest, Percentage Shares Out on Loan, indicated that short interest was at 4.7% higher in the last four weeks than the last two years.

However, LIT believes that lithium will continue to be a strong market over the long term.

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