SLE (Super League Enterprise) has gone from a near-zero short position to a severely constrained lending market in under a week. Short interest exploded 4,475% over the past seven days to 3.93% of float. Availability has collapsed to 21.5% — fewer than one share available for every four already borrowed.
The speed of this move is striking. On May 12, short interest sat at just ~11,000 shares. By May 15 it had reached 137,000. By May 18, it stood at 451,880 — a 45-fold increase in six trading sessions.
Cost to borrow has tracked the shift in real time. It sat at 39.1% on May 14. By May 15 it had jumped to 150.4%. The latest reading is 245.6% — up 470% week-on-week and the highest level on record for this name.
That is not a routine repricing. It reflects acute scarcity in the lending pool.
Availability now sits at 21.5%. That puts roughly one share available for every four already on loan. The 52-week low is 3.5%, showing this pool can tighten further — but the direction is clear and it is moving fast.
Over the past week, availability has dropped 94%. The transition was abrupt. On May 13, availability was above 550%. Four trading days later it had fallen to 22.7%.
The ORTEX short score stands at 77.8, up sharply from 52.7 on May 13. The short score's utilisation rank sits at the 6th percentile — meaning SLE is among the most constrained names in the universe on this metric. The short score rank is at the 2nd percentile.
The timing matters. SLE reported earnings on May 15. The stock moved +26% on that day. Prior to that, a May 14 event saw a one-day move of +52.9%.
Short interest was near zero heading into those events. The subsequent surge in borrowing — alongside a 15% single-day decline on May 18 — points to rapid repositioning after the post-earnings pop. Bears moved in quickly once the initial spike faded.
The stock is still up 24% on the week and 20% over the past month despite Monday's selloff.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open SLE 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.
