Cost to borrow VSME just fell off a cliff. VS Media Holdings saw its lending rate drop from 259% to 39% in a single week — an 82% collapse that signals a sharp reversal in short-seller demand.
For most of April, borrowing VSME shares was extraordinarily expensive. Cost to borrow peaked above 319% on April 13 and held above 215% through April 21. That kind of rate signals intense competition for a limited supply of shares.
Then on April 28, the rate snapped to 38.9%. That's not a gradual easing — it's a near-instantaneous repricing.
The driver is clear. Short interest fell 22% in one week to just 0.13% of free float. Over the past month, it is down 43%. Shorts have been covering aggressively, and with far fewer borrows outstanding, there is simply less pressure on available supply.
Despite the CTB collapse, the lending market has not fully normalised. Availability remains tight. The borrow pool is still heavily utilised, sitting at 92.3% as of April 28 — just off the 52-week high of 100% hit earlier this month.
That means while the rate has fallen sharply, most available shares are still on loan. The borrow market has loosened in price, not yet in volume. Short sellers who already hold positions remain in them. New shorts, however, are now much cheaper to initiate.
The ORTEX short score for VSME stands at 63.2 as of April 28. It has been declining steadily over the past two weeks, down from 65.5 on April 15. That drift reflects the unwinding of short positions and easing borrow pressure — consistent with the CTB move.
At a short score rank of 10th percentile for its sector, VSME is still relatively elevated. But the direction is clearly lower.
The CTB and SI data together tell a coherent story. VSME entered April with a very tight borrow pool — availability near zero, CTB above 300%, short interest near its peak. Something prompted shorts to cover rapidly through mid-to-late April. As short interest fell, borrow demand dropped, and the rate collapsed in a single session.
The stock itself has not benefited. VSME is down 3.4% in one day, 5.3% over the week, and 9% over the past month, closing at $0.93.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
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