Why this matters: Cost to borrow CRML has more than doubled in a single week. The lending market, which briefly reopened ahead of earnings on June 25, has slammed shut again — and the squeeze is now tighter than it was before that brief relief.
One week ago, CRML's borrow availability had recovered to roughly 15% — a genuine easing after a month when the lending pool was essentially at zero. That window has closed. Availability has collapsed to 6.8%, meaning fewer than seven shares remain available for every hundred already lent out. Cost to borrow has jumped from ~34% to 80.3% — a 154% rise in five trading days.
The timing matters. CRML reported earnings on June 25. The stock moved +6.8% on the day. Since then, shorts appear to have rebuilt positions aggressively. Short interest has climbed to 19.9% of the free float, up 11.6% on the week.
The prior earnings preview noted bears were "deeply entrenched" but availability had loosened. Both of those have since reversed. Shorts rebuilt. The borrow dried up. The cost doubled.
Short interest is genuinely elevated here. Nearly one in five freely-traded shares is sold short. The one-week increase of 11.6% is notable — it represents a deliberate post-earnings short build, not passive drift.
The ORTEX short score sits at 80.9, placing CRML in the most bearish 20% of all scored stocks. The score has been stable in the 80–81 range for over two weeks. That consistency signals persistent, structured bearish conviction rather than a short-term tactical bet.
Institutional flows add a wrinkle. European Lithium Limited — the largest holder at 31% of shares — trimmed 7.5 million shares as of February. Westrip Holdings, the second-largest, added 2.8 million shares as of late April. BlackRock added 734K shares through May. The holder base is divided.
Analyst coverage is thin and stale. Freedom Broker initiated at Buy with a $15 target in March. Clear Street had initiated at Buy with a $12 target in September 2025. The stock currently trades at $10.27 — below both targets — but the analyst data is more than 39 days old.
Options positioning is not extreme. The put/call ratio of 0.56 sits just above its 20-day mean, with a z-score of 1.0. Options traders are not adding significant directional weight to the bearish narrative.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open CRML on ORTEX →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.
