SBET Bears Double Down: Short Interest Hits 16.5% as Options Skew Surges

Three independent signals on SBET are pointing the same direction. Short sellers are building. Borrowing costs are jumping. Options traders are buying puts at an unusual pace.

Short interest climbed 12.5% in one week to 16.5% of free float — the highest level in recent months. Over the past 30 days, it's up 30.6%. That's a sustained, deliberate build, not a one-session noise event.

Borrow Market Tightens Fast

Cost to borrow surged 127% in the past week to 1.30%. For context, SBET's CTB spent most of May and early June below 0.55%. The sudden move higher reflects rising demand for borrows as more shares are being shorted.

Availability has tightened sharply. It stood at 83.3% as of June 29 — down 35.8% in a single week. A month ago availability was above 140%. The lending pool is contracting fast. At the 52-week low, availability reached just 8.2%, so there is room to tighten further if this trend continues.

Options Confirm the Skew

The put-call ratio hit 0.378 on June 29. That's 2.73 standard deviations above the 20-day mean of 0.30. The 52-week PCR range runs from 0.269 to 0.682. Current levels are elevated but not extreme by annual standards — yet the statistical distance from the recent mean tells a more pointed story. Put demand has accelerated sharply over the past two weeks, coinciding almost exactly with the short interest and CTB moves.

What Bulls Have to Work With

Analysts remain constructive on paper. TD Cowen and HC Wainwright both initiated coverage at Buy in April with targets of $16 and $10 respectively. Canaccord Genuity holds a $16 target. Citizens has a Market Outperform rating, though it cut its target from $50 to $40 back in March.

The stock now trades at $4.92 — below every analyst price target on record. That's a large gap. Whether analysts revisit their targets or the market closes the distance is the open question heading into the next earnings event on August 10.

The ORTEX short score sits at 68.2. The factor score for short score rank is in the 9th percentile — meaning bearish pressure ranks among the most elevated in SBET's scoring history.

Data Summary

• Short interest: 16.5% of free float, up 12.5% in 1 week, up 30.6% in 1 month
• Cost to borrow: 1.30%, up 127% week-on-week
• Availability: 83.3%, down 35.8% in one week (52-week low: 8.2%)
• Put-call ratio: 0.378, z-score of +2.73 vs 20-day mean
• Price: $4.92, down 19.5% in one month
• Next earnings: August 10, 2026
• Short score: 68.2 (9th percentile short score rank)