DJT enters the back half of June with its lending market tightening sharply — even as executives continue to sell and the stock sits near its recent lows at $8.16.
The most notable development this week is in availability. Borrow availability dropped to 35.5% on June 16, down from 53.5% just a day earlier — a fall of nearly 38% in a single week. That reading puts the lending pool well into tight territory, with roughly one share available for every three already borrowed. The 52-week low was 14%, so there is room for further tightening, but the speed of the move is striking. Cost to borrow remains low at 0.80% — off slightly on the week — which means the tighter availability has not yet fed through into meaningfully higher borrow costs. Short interest, meanwhile, has crept back up 4.5% over the week to around 3.9% of the free float. That partially reverses the sharp unwind documented in the previous note, where SI had fallen from above 5% to roughly 3.8% over the course of May. Shorts are rebuilding modestly, and the borrow pool is getting thinner. Options traders are not adding to that pressure — the put/call ratio at 0.71 is slightly below its 20-day average of 0.73, suggesting no unusual demand for downside protection from that corner of the market.
The insider picture is unchanged from the pattern flagged a week ago, and that consistency matters. Every disclosed executive trade across the past 90 days has been a sale. The CFO, CTO, General Counsel, and CEO all sold in May — two rounds across May 13 and May 27 — generating a net of roughly $1.7 million in disposals. None of these are outsized transactions individually, but the unanimity is notable. No officer has bought a single share. The stock has since slid further, closing Monday at $8.16, down 3.3% on the day and about 6% over the past month, so those May sales were made at better prices than are available today. The directional read from insiders has not changed.
The fundamental picture gives little reason for the Street to push back against that insider caution. The ORTEX short score has nudged higher all week, reaching 60.7 on June 16 — up from 58.8 a week ago and trending steadily upward through the month. The factor scores reinforce the bearish lean: the short score ranks in just the 13th percentile of the universe, and the days-to-cover rank sits at the 6th percentile. The ORTEX stock score, detailed in a recent note, remains near 30 — roughly half the peer group average — with momentum at 17 and quality scores similarly depressed. Close peers have had a rough week too: SNAP fell 9.6% on the day and 7.7% on the week, while RUM lost 4.6% on the day and 1.3% over the week. DJT held flat on the week before Monday's drop — a mild relative outperformance, though the absolute level at $8.16 reflects sustained pressure.
Earnings are scheduled for July 31. The two most recent prints produced a modest positive move the next day followed by a five-day decline, and a small bounce followed by a near-7% five-day loss. Neither reaction was dramatic, but the five-day pattern after results has leaned negative. With availability tightening and short interest edging back up, the setup heading into that print — and the path between now and then — is what bears watching next.
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