ASST has now added 67% in a single week and 86% over the past month, yet the lending market is quietly tightening again — a dynamic that sits uncomfortably alongside a short score still running well above average.
The borrow picture has taken a sharp turn since the previous note. Availability, which had recovered to 24% by August 20, has dropped back to just 9% — roughly one share available for every eleven already out on loan. That is a 53% tightening week-on-week, reversing much of the loosening that briefly opened up last week. The 52-week low for availability was zero, and ASST spent the better part of July and early August pinned there. It is heading back in that direction. Cost to borrow, at 1.70%, is at a 30-day high and up 20% on the week — still far from the kind of level that implies a full borrow squeeze, but the directional move matters. Short interest itself has fallen to 3.1% of free float, down 13% on the week and the lowest level in the 30-day window. Shorts are covering — but the borrow pool is tightening faster than the short interest is falling, which means the remaining holders are competing for fewer available shares.
Options positioning tells a completely different story. The put/call ratio is running at 0.12, barely changed from its 20-day average of 0.12 and a z-score near zero. Call volume dominates overwhelmingly. Against a 52-week PCR high of 1.98, the current reading suggests options traders are not hedging this rally — they are leaning into it. That lopsided call skew, combined with a stock that has more than doubled in a month, describes a market where momentum buyers are in control and downside protection is an afterthought.
The Street is uniformly bullish but trimming targets. Every active analyst carries a Buy rating — HC Wainwright, TD Cowen, Benchmark, B. Riley, and Maxim Group all line up on the positive side. HC Wainwright edged its target down from $37 to $36 on August 11, and TD Cowen cut from $32 to $28 in late July. The mean target now sits at $26.60, which is actually below the current price of $21.39 after adjusting for the week's run — a signal that the stock has outpaced analyst models rather than a sign of fundamental deterioration. The bull case centres on Strive's Bitcoin-focused structured finance strategy and its partnership with Strategy, while bears flag the direct exposure to BTC price volatility and the ongoing risk of dilutive equity raises to fund treasury accumulation. Factor scores reinforce the bullish near-term narrative: EPS momentum ranks in the 96th–98th percentile on both 30- and 90-day windows, and EPS surprise sits at the 99th percentile. The short score, though, remains elevated at 72.3 — down from its recent peak of 74.8 on August 14 but still in a range that signals meaningful bearish structural positioning.
The institutional register adds some texture. FMR added 2.7 million shares to reach an 11.6% stake as of June 30. BlackRock added 1.6 million shares, Goldman Sachs built a near-1.4 million-share position, and Jane Street grew its holding by 1.8 million shares in Q2. Those are not passive-only flows. Vivek Ramaswamy — the company's co-founder — trimmed by 1.4 million shares to 5.7 million, though the timing (May) predates the most recent leg of the rally. On the insider side, a director purchased roughly $200k worth of stock at $12.54 on August 14, a price now well below where the stock trades.
The tension to watch is between the re-tightening borrow pool and the pace of short covering. If availability continues to compress toward zero while short interest remains near 3% of float, the cost-to-borrow trajectory and any further catalyst in Bitcoin pricing become the key variables shaping how this positioning resolves.
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