Short sellers piled back into GME on May 4. A 25% single-day jump in short interest pushed the float-adjusted figure to 15.5%. That move snapped a month-long retreat and put borrowing costs under fresh pressure.
Short interest had been sliding. It fell from roughly 64 million shares in early April to just under 56 million by late April — a gradual unwind. Then May 4 broke that trend sharply. Shares short jumped to nearly 70 million in a single session, the highest level in over a month.
Cost to borrow followed. It stood at around 0.57% on May 1. By May 4 it hit 1.20% — an 80% weekly rise and the sharpest spike in the 30-day window. The lending market reflects that pressure. Availability has tightened to approximately 25% of outstanding short interest, meaning roughly one share remains available for every four already lent. That's a meaningful squeeze on borrow supply compared to conditions just days earlier.
The ORTEX short score sits at 76.2, placing GME in the top 3% of stocks by short positioning intensity. Days to cover stands at 9.4, per the most recent FINRA fortnightly data.
The options market is running in the opposite direction. The put/call ratio stands at 0.27 as of May 4 — below the 20-day mean of 0.30. That's well off the recent spike flagged in early pulse data and near the 52-week low of 0.24. Call volumes dominate. Options positioning looks bullish while the lending market tightens — a split signal worth watching.
One piece of context underpins the picture. In January 2026, CEO and Chairman Ryan Cohen bought 1 million shares across two days, spending roughly $21.4 million. That cluster of buying — alongside purchases from the Lead Independent Director — drove 90-day net insider buying to over $22 million. Cohen now holds approximately 8.6% of shares outstanding. The institutional base is also building: Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street all added shares in Q1 2026.
Wedbush's lone analyst, Michael Pachter, carries an Underperform rating with a $13.50 target — roughly 43% below the current price of $23.84. That gap between the bear-case Wall Street view and the CEO's own buying spree defines the stock's enduring tension.
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