The lending market for HPAI has tightened sharply. Cost to borrow hit 198% on May 11 — nearly double the prior week's level. Short positions jumped 180% in a single day.
CTB stood at 72% on May 4. It climbed to 108% by May 8. By May 11 it reached 198% — a 174% rise in one week.
That pace is striking even for a micro-cap name. Borrowing HPAI shares now costs lenders nearly two times the stock's value annually. That's a meaningful drag on any short thesis.
Availability has tightened to near zero. With utilization at 95.83% — close to the 52-week peak of 99.51% — almost every share in the lending pool is already out on loan.
Fewer than one share remains available for every twenty already borrowed. That extreme tightness is what drives CTB to triple-digit territory. New shorts must pay a steep premium to access the remaining pool.
The utilization rank sits in the 7th percentile globally. That places HPAI among the most squeezed lending markets across the platform right now.
At 0.93% of free float, absolute short interest remains modest. But the trajectory is sharp. Shares short rose 387% over the past week — from roughly 63,000 to 346,000.
ORTEX's short score stands at 62.7, rising from 55.7 on May 5. The score moved in step with the borrow cost surge. That alignment across three metrics — CTB, availability, and short score — is what triggered this convergence alert.
HPAI reports next earnings on June 26. The stock rose 28% on May 11 alone. With borrowing this expensive and availability this tight, any further price move in either direction will stress the lending market further.
Data summary
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