STAK has rallied 125% in a week. Short sellers are paying a steep price to stay in the trade.
The cost to borrow STAK hit 168.9% APR on May 13. That's up 73% in a week alone. A month ago, CTB briefly touched 270–358% in early April before collapsing to the 50–70% range in late April. It has now reversed sharply back toward those extreme levels.
That repricing is fast. CTB moved from 70% on May 11 to 124% on May 12, then to 169% on May 13. Shorts are paying roughly $4.60 annualised for every $1 of position — and that rate is climbing by the day.
Availability has compressed significantly alongside that rally. The borrow pool is now at roughly 10% availability — only one share remains available for roughly every nine already out on loan. That compares to a very loose market on April 30, when utilization was just 6.6%, implying an extremely wide pool. Within two weeks, that has flipped to near-peak tightness.
The 52-week peak sits at 100% utilization. STAK reached exactly that level on April 3 — the same week CTB hit 358%. The current trajectory echoes that episode.
Short interest tells a conflicted story. Shares short dropped from ~788K on May 4 to a low of ~415K on May 11 — a 47% reduction in under a week. Then the rebuild began. By May 13, short interest had climbed back to 518,731 shares, up 8.5% in a single session.
That means new shorts are entering while the stock is up 125%. They are doing so at a CTB of 169%. Either they are hedging, or they believe the rally is exhausted. Either way, it is an expensive conviction bet.
The ORTEX short score stands at 67.8 — elevated, placing STAK in roughly the top 10% of stocks for short-side pressure based on combined lending market signals.
Ownership context matters here. Chuanbo Jiang holds 40% of shares outstanding. A further 7.8% is held by Huyun Gao. That leaves a very thin tradeable float. Institutional holders beyond those two insiders are minimal — Citadel holds just 54K shares.
A thin float amplifies both the rally and the squeeze dynamics in the borrow market. When shares are concentrated, the supply available to lend is structurally limited. That structural tightness underpins why CTB can spike this violently even on relatively modest short interest volumes.
What to watch: CTB history shows STAK can spike above 250%. The current 169% level, combined with daily short rebuilding and tightening availability, puts that ceiling back in view.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open STAK 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.
