AST SpaceMobile entered July with shorts at record levels and a borrow market that briefly hit historic lows. Two days later, the picture has shifted — but only at the margins.
On June 30, availability collapsed to 6.77% — the tightest reading in the stock's 52-week history. That extreme has since partially unwound. As of July 2, availability sits at 27.2%. That sounds like relief. It isn't, in historical context. A month ago, availability was above 50%. The lending market has structurally tightened. The brief period of extreme scarcity has passed, but the pool remains firmly in "very tight" territory.
Cost to borrow tells the same story. It now stands at 1.16%, up 53% over the past week. The absolute rate is still modest for a heavily shorted stock. But the direction is unambiguous — it has roughly doubled since early June, from 0.61% to its current level, tracking the compression in available supply.
Short interest at 25.1% of the free float is essentially unchanged from the 25.4% record set on July 1. Over the past month, SI has grown 40%. Shorts added aggressively through a 22% weekly rally in late June. They have not meaningfully covered since.
The ORTEX short score stands at 70.5, ranking in the 2nd percentile of all stocks. That places ASTS among the most short-pressured names in the universe. The short score rank and utilization rank each sit at the 2nd percentile, according to ORTEX factor data.
The prior reports on July 1 documented the historic extreme — 6.77% availability, record SI, the CEO selling $146 million into the bounce. The update today is more about consolidation than escalation.
Availability has recovered from 6.77% to 27.2% — still tight, but no longer at the historic floor. Short interest has pulled back very slightly, from 25.4% to 25.1%. The stock itself is off 1.1% on the day after a 30% weekly gain. Earnings are next due August 11.
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AST SpaceMobile has now spent three consecutive weeks in a deteriorating pattern — the stock closed at $80.66 on Thursday, down 17% on the week and nearly 40% below the $133 peak it touched in late May, with short…
AST SpaceMobile enters the week in a deteriorating position — the stock is down 7.3% over five sessions to $82.25, sitting 38% below its late-May peak, and short interest has resumed its climb after only the briefest…
