Why this matters — Three distinct ORTEX short-side signals converged on CREG within 24 hours. Cost to borrow, short interest, and utilisation all flashed extreme readings as the stock's borrowing market tightened and short sellers reduced positions.
Short interest collapsed 33% in one week. ORTEX data shows CREG's short interest dropped to 7.8% of float on April 22nd, down from a recent peak of 13% on April 16th. That's a decline of over 1 million shares in five trading days. Short sellers covered aggressively as the stock became harder to borrow.
Cost to borrow surged to 650%. Borrowing costs jumped 73% week-over-week to 650% APR on April 22nd. The spike reflects extreme scarcity in the lending market. Just one month ago, CTB sat below 140%. The rate topped 680% intraday on April 20th before settling at 650%.
Utilisation sits near 97%, close to 52-week high. Nearly all available shares to borrow are on loan. Utilisation hit 99.31% on April 21st, the highest level in a year. It remains elevated at 96.69%, indicating continued lending stress. From March 16th to mid-April, utilisation climbed from 35% to near-maximum.
CREG saw a similar convergence in mid-March. Short interest spiked from under 100,000 shares to over 1.4 million between March 16th and March 20th. CTB jumped from 50% to 256%. Utilisation surged from 35% to 98%. That pattern preceded a short-covering wave in early April as shares became too expensive to hold.
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