Bears Circle Reddit as UAL Borrow Costs Spike

Short sellers turned up the heat on a handful of well-known names this week. Reddit saw the biggest surprise move among large caps.

Short interest in Reddit jumped to 17.6% of free float — up 4.2 percentage points in just seven days. The social media giant, often a talking point on its own platform, is now one of the most actively shorted mid-to-large cap stocks in the US.

United Airlines grabbed attention too. ORTEX data shows UAL's cost to borrow surged 192% in a week to 0.42%. While still historically low, that pace of change signals rapid short-seller accumulation. It comes as bond market turbulence rattles travel-sector sentiment.

Semiconductor name Wolfspeed remains the most heavily shorted stock above $500M market cap. Its SI % FF sits at 83.4%, with shares down 63% over three months. Hertz follows at 62.5% — another distressed name well-known to short sellers.

In software, EverCommerce carries the highest short score among stocks over $1B. Its cost to borrow hit 38.98% — the steepest in the screen — with DTC of 20 days.

Bath & Body Works posted a notable 2.7 percentage point SI increase this week. Retail bears are clearly active heading into the back-to-school period.

SoundHound AI holds 40% SI % FF with a CTB of 8.3% — bears remain firmly positioned in the AI voice space despite the broader AI rally.

This is not financial advice.