Covering dominated the week ending June 27. Several names saw short interest fall 50–70%, while a handful of fresh short positions emerged in energy, metals, and financials. Borrow costs told a split story — tightening hard in some names, collapsing in others.
Biggest covers:
PSUS led the unwind. Short interest dropped 72% over the month to 267,000 shares. Availability hit 229% of short interest — borrow is loose and exits were orderly.
PYLD saw a 66% weekly collapse in short interest to just 0.35% of free float. That is the lowest reading in months. Covering accelerated sharply through the week.
JCPB shed 55.8% of short interest in a single session. SI fell to 0.43% of float. Cost to borrow dropped to 0.97%, signalling shorts had little reason to hold.
SEM short interest fell 28.7% over the week to 1.83% of float. Borrow cost spiked 86.5% to 0.73% during the exit. Availability sits at 5,363% of short interest. No squeeze risk here — just orderly covering.
Builds worth watching:
MOON saw the sharpest build. Short interest surged 204% in one week to 0.58% of float. Fresh positioning in the junior metals explorer suggests a directional bet.
AES SI jumped 33% in a single session to 4.3% of float. Defensive options positioning ahead of earnings drove the move.
TRLV short interest rose 68% to 295,465 shares, or 0.18% of float. CEO Kimberly Rivers continued aggressive selling. Despite the spike, availability remains at 1,273% — borrow is not the constraint.
CCNE posted the steepest single-session SI jump among financials. Shares shorted rose 49% in one day to 2.05% of float.
NDAQ saw a 22% one-day SI increase to 1.52% of float. The stock fell 4.9% in the same session.
SKYW short interest jumped 34% in a day to 3.95% of float. Airline sector volatility drove the move.
Energy bears mixed. XLE convergence data showed shorts retreating — SI fell 12% as options traders turned bullish. Contrasting that, VLO and USO both flagged caution signals. The USO borrow window snapped back to zero within 48 hours of briefly loosening on June 23. YPF shorts rebuilt positions at the same time options traders turned cautious.
Semis under pressure. SOXQ short interest hit 12.9% of float as borrow tightened further. SOXL saw a 49% single-day SI spike with simultaneous borrow tightening. QTUM borrow costs doubled as the lending pool hit near-record lows — a second signal in the same week.
Financials saw fresh shorts. CCNE, NDAQ, and SKYW all built short interest sharply in single sessions. KeyCorp call buyers pushed back against Scotia's ongoing position trim — a divergence worth monitoring.
Gold and metals ETFs split. RING options signalled bullish defiance during a price slide. OUNZ bulls loaded calls as short sellers chased gold lower. MOON took the opposite path — fresh shorts piling into a junior explorer.
Multiple cross-signal convergences fired this week.
PG&E borrow cost exploded 518%. Options traders simultaneously loaded calls. Borrow stress and bullish positioning rarely align — worth watching closely.
Oracle triggered a three-signal convergence. Bears aligned across short interest, borrow, and options in the same window.
LMT short interest jumped 24% in a single day. The convergence note flagged options as the bigger story. Defensive positioning building before any catalyst.
HTZ borrow costs tripled. At the same time, options traders turned bullish. That split — expensive borrow, bullish options flow — is a classic tension point.
FOUR borrow market froze as call volumes surged. CMPS put-call ratio hit a record low — extreme bullish options positioning.
CMG put-call ratio reached a 52-week high. Bears are using options, not borrow, as their primary tool.
NBIS fired a three-signal convergence with all indicators pointing bearish. SOXQ and SOXL added semiconductor borrow stress to that sector picture.
RBC Bearings saw three signals converge after a 16% monthly rally. KEYS options turned defensive following its own post-earnings run.
This digest is produced from ORTEX short interest data and is provided for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice.
ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
