The lending market for CAFG — the Pacer US Small Cap Cash Cows Growth Leaders ETF — has tightened to its absolute limit. Every share available to borrow is now lent out, and the cost of maintaining a short position has surged nearly 95% in a single week.
Availability for CAFG has dropped to 0%. There are no shares left in the lending pool. That is the tightest the borrow market has been in 52 weeks — matching the 52-week high for full utilization.
Cost to borrow has moved in lockstep. It stood at 9.36% on May 8. By May 11 it had jumped to 17.91%. That is a 95% rise in three trading days. Over the past month, CTB is up 35%.
The ORTEX short score reached 52.6 on May 11. Two weeks ago it sat at 32.3. The rapid rise tracks directly with the tightening borrow conditions.
Short interest as a percentage of free float remains very low at 0.18%. That context matters — the absolute short position is not large. But the rate of change is striking. Estimated short shares doubled over the past week, rising 128% to roughly 1,232 shares.
The FINRA fortnightly report, settled April 30, recorded 1,192 shares short. That figure already aligned closely with the current daily estimate, adding confidence to the trend.
For an ETF with no options activity — put/call ratio has been flat at zero throughout the observed period — the borrow signal is the only active lens available.
CAFG is up 11.7% over the past month. Short sellers entering at these levels are paying a steep price. With availability exhausted and CTB already near 18%, any further increase in short demand would need to source new inventory — or existing borrowers face escalating costs to hold.
Data summary (as of 2026-05-11)
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open CAFG on ORTEX →ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
