Why this matters: Short interest in SECZ nearly tripled in a week. Borrow costs spiked to a record 133%. Now both are pulling back — and the options market is firmly on the bull side.
Two convergence reports last week documented an extraordinary dislocation. Availability crashed to 0.06%. Cost to borrow hit 133%. Short interest jumped from ~3M shares to over 9M in days.
The picture has shifted materially.
Cost to borrow peaked at 133% on September 21. By September 25 it had fallen to 54%. That is still up 288% over seven days — but the acute squeeze pressure is easing.
Availability has recovered to 1.7% from near-zero. That remains critically tight. For every 60 shares already borrowed, just one is left in the lending pool. But the direction has reversed.
Short interest itself is still climbing. Estimated shares short hit 9.9M on September 25 — up 239% over the past week and 7.6% in a single day. The borrowing rush may be cooling. The positioning is not.
The put-call ratio stood at 0.35 on September 25. That is 2.6 standard deviations above the 20-day mean of 0.18. Call demand has consistently outpaced puts all week, even as short interest nearly tripled around it.
The stock has gained 47% in one week and 137% over the past month. The options market is not fading that move.
Two camps have staked out opposing views on SECZ — and both are adding exposure.
Analysts are uniformly bullish. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated at Overweight with a $21.20 target on September 21. Rosenblatt raised its target the same day. The mean target across four Buy-equivalent ratings sits at $13.70. The stock closed at $15.96 on September 25 — above every analyst target on the board.
The short side is not retreating. Nearly 9.9M shares remain short. FINRA's last fortnightly print, settled September 15, showed only 3.2M shares — suggesting most of the new short interest was added after that settlement date.
Blockchain Capital and CEO Carlos Domingo both filed Schedule 13D disclosures in July, each holding above the 5% threshold. ARK Investment Management holds 1.4%. These are long-side holders who built positions before the stock doubled. Their presence limits the available float further.
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