SNAL stock more than doubled in a single session after an earnings beat. Short sellers are now trapped in the tightest borrow market of the year.
Short interest hit 72.2% of free float as of May 15. That is up 272% in a single day. Cost to borrow has rocketed to 199.2% — more than triple its level from just 48 hours earlier. Availability has collapsed to exactly 0%. Every share in the lending pool is currently lent out.
The setup coming into last week looked bearish-but-easing. Short interest had dropped 59.8% in the week to May 14. Cost to borrow had fallen sharply from April peaks above 177% to just 29.5% on May 13. Availability recovered to 83% on the same day. The borrow market had loosened considerably.
Then earnings hit on May 13. The stock jumped 115% the following session. Short sellers scrambled to cover. New shorts piled in on the other side.
The result: short interest surged from roughly 11% of float on May 14 to 72% by May 15. Cost to borrow went from 29.5% to 199.2% in two days. Availability dropped from 83% to zero in the same window.
The distinction matters. A short squeeze requires short sellers to buy back shares, forcing the price higher in a feedback loop. What ORTEX data shows here is a borrow squeeze — the lending pool is exhausted, meaning new short positions cannot be opened and existing shorts face the risk of forced recall if lenders pull inventory.
The ORTEX short score sits at 81.1 out of 100. The utilization rank is in the 2nd percentile — meaning almost no stock in the universe has tighter borrow conditions relative to its history. Days-to-cover rank is 87th percentile.
Zero availability does not automatically produce a squeeze. But it removes the safety valve. Any increase in recall pressure — or a second leg up in the stock — would leave shorts with no room to maneuver.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open SNAL 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.
