Bears have piled into a familiar batch of volatile, heavily bet-against names, and nowhere is the wager bigger than on Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG). More than 80% of its float is sold short, the steepest ratio on the market’s current top-10 short-interest list, per Benzinga Pro data.
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Four more names clear the 50% mark: rental-car giant Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR) at 56.09%, hotel chain Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE:CHH) at 54.94%, furniture retailer RH (NYSE:RH) at 53.06% and cable operator Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) at 51.57% — a threshold that has sparked several sudden squeezes this year.
Few tickers illustrate that risk better than Avis, which rocketed more than 600% over a few weeks in an April short squeeze and hasn’t seen bears back off since.
Top 10 Most Shorted Stocks
The list below, limited to companies with market caps over $2 billion and floats above 5 million shares, reflects Benzinga Pro figures as of Aug. 26.
| COMPANY | TICKER | SHORT % OF FLOAT |
| Venture Global | NYSE:VG | 78.80% |
| Avis Budget Group | NASDAQ:CAR | 56.09% |
| Choice Hotels International | NYSE:CHH | 54.94% |
| RH | NYSE:RH | 53.06% |
| Charter Communications | NASDAQ:CHTR | 51.57% |
| Andersen Group | NYSE:ANDG | 48.09% |
| GeneDx Holdings | NASDAQ:WGS | 40.72% |
| Ondas Holdings | NASDAQ:ONDS | 40.65% |
| CleanSpark | NASDAQ:CLSK | 40.14% |
| SoundHound AI | NASDAQ:SOUN | 39.86% |
Not Every Name is Trending the Same Way
GeneDx Holdings is the freshest face on the list. The rare-disease genetic testing company has more than doubled off its May low, helped by oversold buying and disclosed purchases by ARK Investment Management, yet bears still control roughly 41% of its float.
Charter Communications keeps climbing in the opposite direction: short interest has risen for several straight reporting periods as investors bet that the cable giant’s subscriber losses will continue to weigh on the stock.
Andersen Group tells the opposite story. Short interest in the newly public advisory firm spiked toward 58% of its float in mid-August after a second-quarter earnings beat was met with an unexpected sell-off, but that pressure has since eased to just under 48%.
Reminders:
- Highly shorted stocks are battlegrounds where negative fundamentals meet speculative trading.
- Short squeezes can deliver huge, fast gains, but at high risk and volatility.
- Monitoring the short interest leaderboard can help identify which stocks might be the next to see a short squeeze, but timing such trades remains extremely challenging.
- Always conduct due diligence, as the volatility often reflects big underlying risks and business uncertainty.
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