Short Sellers Pile In On Housing, Energy

Short interest in Dream Finders Homes jumped 9.6 percentage points in just five days to 42.2% of free float. That is one of the largest single-week moves across US-listed small caps right now. Homebuilders are back in the crosshairs as rate expectations stay elevated.

Talen Energy saw its SI % FF nearly double, rising 5.3 points to 10.8%, a striking move for a power company that had looked relatively clean on short positions.

On the crypto mining side, CleanSpark sits at 32.8% short with zero shares available to borrow. No borrow left means a squeeze could be violent if sentiment turns.

Upstart Holdings heads into earnings with short pressure still high. ORTEX noted options markets are turning bullish despite the bearish positioning. That divergence is worth watching.

Shorts covered hard in Ibotta, where SI dropped 7.9 points to 37%. Globant and Xencor also saw meaningful cover, each shedding more than 7 points.

EverCommerce carries the highest short score in the database at 97, with 23.5 days to cover and almost no borrow left. Hertz remains deeply shorted at 73.5% with a cost to borrow of 40%.

On the index front, ORTEX Rebalance Radar flags Life Time Group at 90% deletion odds from the Russell 2000, carrying $901M of potential forced selling.