Options traders are piling into calls on ASPI. At the same time, the stock's lending market is under serious strain. Both signals are pointing in the same direction — with August 14 earnings just eight days away.
The put-call ratio hit 0.26 on August 5. That is the lowest reading in three years. The 20-day average sits at 0.28 — the current level is 3.0 standard deviations below that mean. Traders are buying calls at an unusually aggressive pace, effectively betting on upside into the earnings date.
The earnings history gives some context. Over the past four results, ASPI moved +5.5%, +6.8%, +20.2%, and -2.6% on the day. The 5-day post-earnings moves were even larger — the April 2026 print triggered a 27.6% gain over the following week, the May print a 47.7% gain. This name moves hard after earnings.
Short sellers face a very different picture. Availability — the share of borrowable stock still unlent — has dropped to just 8.9%. That means roughly one share is available for every eleven already lent out.
The borrow cost reflects it. Cost to borrow jumped to 1.73% on August 5, up 909% in one week. A month ago it stood at 0.57%. The lending pool has tightened sharply.
Short interest is not small here. At 22.1% of free float, ASPI is one of the more heavily shorted names on Nasdaq. That position has been building since early July — up 4.4% over the past month. With availability this tight, adding to short positions is increasingly expensive.
The ORTEX short score stands at 73.5. The EPS momentum rank sits at the 97th percentile over 30 days. Short sellers and call buyers are betting against each other ahead of the same catalyst.
The earnings print on August 14 lands in a market where borrow availability is thin and options positioning is heavily skewed toward calls. Insiders sold over $3.9m net in the 90 days through July 1 — including the CEO across three consecutive June trading days — which sits in contrast to the bullish options flow. That divergence between insider selling and call-buyer conviction is the clearest tension in this setup heading into next week.
Data summary
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