Bears Pile In: GME, Hertz, Chewy in Focus

Short sellers had a busy week. GME short interest climbed to 14.8% of free float, up nearly 2 percentage points in just seven days. That puts GameStop back on traders' watchlists as social buzz around the meme stock refuses to die.

HTZ remains one of the most-shorted names in the US market. Short interest sits at 82% of free float — though bears trimmed slightly, down 2 pp week-on-week. Availability is effectively zero, signalling extreme crowding. Days to cover stands at over 12.

CHWY tells a similar story. SI is 78% of free float, easing from 80% last week. The pet retailer carries a short score of 59 and nearly 81% SI % FF per the extremes screen. Short availability remains high at 385%, suggesting room for more shorting.

WOLF saw the biggest weekly short squeeze setup of the popular names. SI fell 3.5 pp to 77% of free float — but at nearly 5x days to cover, any sharp move higher could force rapid covering.

Across the Atlantic, OCDO jumped sharply. SI hit 20.7% of free float, up from just 4% a week ago — a 16.6 pp spike. The UK grocery tech firm saw heavy new short positioning as sentiment soured.

Cmb.Tech NV was the biggest global mover. SI surged to 23.3% of free float from just 0.5% — a near 23 pp jump in seven days. The Belgian shipping group now faces a wall of bearish interest.

EVCM carries the highest ORTEX short score at 95.9, with SI at 16% and cost to borrow at 41%. Only 3% availability of short interest remains — a squeeze trigger if buyers show up.

Data sourced from ORTEX as of August 4, 2026. Not financial advice.