Short sellers were active the week of July 13. Borrow costs exploded on several names, led by a leveraged ETF tracking Micron hitting 441% of float. Earnings season drove positioning on both sides — bears loaded up on some names while covering hard on others.
MUU dominated the week. Short interest hit 441% of free float — up 24% in a single day. Availability collapsed to 13%. The leveraged Micron ETF is deep in borrow-market stress. A convergence signal flagged this name earlier in the week when SI stood at 355% of float and the borrow market locked up.
HQ saw short interest surge 60% in one week to 1.6 million shares. Cost to borrow spiked to 268% — the highest since June. Availability sits at 479% of short interest, so borrow remains accessible despite the elevated cost.
AXTI short interest climbed to 25.1% of free float. That is up 40% in one week. Bears appear to be positioning ahead of July 30 earnings. Borrow availability is abundant at 380%.
TNGX short interest rose 31.7% in a week to 30.8% of float — the highest level in recent sessions. No earnings catalyst was cited. Bears are building into an already-elevated position.
TNL shorts grew 38.5% in one week. SI reached 10.3% of free float — the highest since early June. The move came as the stock rallied, suggesting bears are fading the move.
PAYO saw a 35.6% weekly short interest increase to 4.5% of float. Borrow availability is extremely loose at 7,607%, meaning there is no squeeze risk here at current levels.
TXG went the other way. Short interest fell 21% in a week to 15.3% of free float. The stock rallied past analyst targets. Covering accelerated.
ARWR also saw bears retreat. Short interest dropped 25.7% to 5.8% of float. Cost to borrow is just 0.55% — a sign shorts are exiting voluntarily, not being squeezed.
CXW short interest plunged 29% in a week to 1.69% of float — the lowest level in months.
KTOS shorts fell 21.5% to 5.9% of float. Bears unwound positions ahead of August earnings.
This week's activity was spread across sectors with no clean GICS cluster. The dominant theme was earnings positioning. Bears built into AXTI ahead of July 30 results. Convergence signals flagged GM bears loading up into July 21 earnings and STX bulls piling in ahead of a July 23 print. SYY bears retreated ahead of July 28 earnings. The direction varied by name — but earnings dates drove the positioning across the board.
ETF short activity was notable. MUU hit extreme stress levels. BOTZ saw borrow tighten as shorts covered. IWO borrow market seized up as options traders turned bullish. Leveraged and thematic ETFs attracted outsized short-side attention this week.
Several names triggered multi-signal convergence alerts this week.
MUU appeared twice. First when short interest hit 355% of float and the borrow market locked up. Then again as SI surged to 441% with availability at 13%. Both short interest and borrow signals aligned.
QUBT also triggered two convergence alerts. Borrow market availability hit zero. Options pressure joined the locked borrow market. Both signals point the same direction.
NI (NiSource) saw options hedging spike as shorts built positions. Short and options data converged.
EQPT flagged a split market — options signals diverged while short interest hit maximum pressure.
CSWC borrow cost tripled overnight. The convergence signal captured the abrupt tightening.
EVCM borrow cost doubled overnight as availability hit a year low. A sharp borrow-market dislocation.
RBRK and ENSG both showed bulls taking control as shorts covered — options and short covering aligned on the bullish side.
REPL options alarm added to an existing short-seller retreat signal.
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.
