UZX (Linkage Global Inc) has seen a dramatic shift in its lending market over the past week. Short interest jumped 509% in seven days. Cost to borrow has tripled. Availability has collapsed.
The cost to borrow UZX hit 33.57% on May 18. That is up 246% from 9.70% just one week prior. The move happened in a single day — CTB sat at 10.30% on May 15, then vaulted to 33.57% overnight.
Availability tells the same story. It sat at just 24.7% on May 18. That means only one share is available to borrow for every four already lent out. One week ago, availability was at 6.3% — the tightest point in the 52-week window — before briefly recovering and then tightening again. The 52-week low availability reading of 6.3% shows how extreme this lending market has become.
The short interest numbers are striking in their velocity. On May 7, just 5,376 shares were short. By May 18, that figure had reached 427,352 shares — a 509% weekly increase and a roughly 22,000% monthly surge. SI now stands at 4.2% of free float, up from near zero.
That kind of ramp in short positioning, against a shrinking borrow pool, is precisely what drives CTB spikes of this magnitude.
The ORTEX short score reached 72.4 on May 15, up sharply from 31.6 on May 7. The days-to-cover rank sits at the 91st percentile.
The stock has lost ground throughout this period. UZX fell 22.9% on May 18 alone. It is down 46.2% over the past week and 73.3% over the past month. The close on May 18 was $0.3176.
This is a micro-cap Nasdaq-listed broadline retail name. Institutional ownership is heavily concentrated — the top holders include insiders and closely-held entities with no reported changes. Institutional float is thin.
Availability at 24.7% remains tight. Any further demand for borrows — or forced covering by existing short sellers — will push CTB and availability in opposite directions fast. The 52-week low of 6.3% availability, hit just three days ago, shows how quickly conditions can deteriorate in a name this small.
Data summary
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