Why this matters — Three distinct ORTEX data signals have converged on Lucid Group simultaneously: short interest is rising, utilisation is pinned at its 52-week high, and borrowing costs have collapsed 66% over the past month. The combination creates an unusual tension — shorts are adding exposure at the cheapest cost in weeks, even as every available share to borrow is already on loan.
Short Interest Rising Short interest climbed to ~45M shares as of April 24, representing 13.9% of free float. That is up 4% over both the past week and the past month. The peak this cycle hit 48.7M shares on April 23 — roughly 15% of float. FINRA's fortnightly data puts confirmed short interest at 40.3M shares as of April 15 settlement.
Utilisation at Maximum Utilisation has sat at 100% for the vast majority of sessions since mid-March. April 24 marks the 24th consecutive session at the 52-week high. Every share available to borrow is on loan. New short positions are extremely difficult to open.
Cost to Borrow Collapsing Despite that fully saturated borrow market, CTB has plunged. It peaked above 33% on April 14. By April 24 it had fallen to 8.64%. That is a 65.8% drop over the month. Shorts who held through the price decline are now paying far less to maintain positions.
Analysts have turned sharply more cautious. TD Cowen cut its price target from $19 to $10 on April 15. Baird trimmed from $14 to $12 the same day. Both maintained neutral ratings. The mean analyst target of $12.77 sits 104% above the April 24 close of $6.25 — but the direction of recent revisions is consistently downward. Insiders sold net $1.05M worth of stock in the 90 days to March 5, with both the Acting CEO and CFO selling in early March at $10.27. The ORTEX short score stands at 77.5 out of 100. Utilisation ranks 1st percentile — the most extreme reading in the database.
Utilisation has touched 100% repeatedly since mid-March, with only brief dips to 97–98%. The current streak of 24 consecutive fully-lent sessions matches the 52-week high. Each prior 100% episode coincided with CTB well above current levels, suggesting the borrow market has structurally eased even as demand for short positions has not.
This is not financial advice. ORTEX data is for informational purposes only.
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