Short sellers are pressing hard on a handful of US names this week. The signals — elevated short interest, near-zero share availability, and rising borrow costs — paint a picture of traders positioning defensively against several stressed stocks.
WOLF sits at a staggering 98.2% short interest as a percentage of free float. That is nearly the entire tradable float sold short. Borrow costs run at 12.4% APR. Share availability has hit zero. Traders are running out of room to add new short positions.
SOUN tells a similar story. Short interest at 38.2% of free float. Cost to borrow reaches 23.7% — the highest among mid-cap US names tracked. Availability is also at zero. That squeeze pressure is real.
On a week-over-week basis, COLM — Columbia Sportswear — saw short interest jump by 3.6 percentage points in seven days. It now sits at 16% of free float. That pace of accumulation stands out.
RHI — Robert Half — also drew fresh bearish interest. Short interest climbed from 26.2% to 29.1% of free float over the same period.
The broader backdrop matters too. Headlines flag Iran-related geopolitical risk. Gold is sliding. Bond markets are volatile. Traders appear to be leaning defensively across multiple asset classes. Borrow markets reflect that caution directly.
This is not financial advice. Short interest data sourced from 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.
