July 2025
July’s short data has a clear message: traders are leaning hard into uranium and lithium again. BOE is now the most shorted name on the ASX at 18.30% (+3.24% MoM) and PLS jumped to 16.33% (+3.10%), while JHX saw a brutal short-covering squeeze down to 3.03% (-6.56%).
The standout this month is BOSS Energy (BOE): short interest jumped +3.24% to 18.30%, the highest on the board. That’s not a gentle drift higher — it’s a proper reload. When a stock is already heavily shorted and still attracts another three points of selling, it usually means the market is questioning either the near-term execution story or the commodity price that underwrites it (or both).
Uranium is dominating the top of the table. BOE (18.30%, +3.24%) and Paladin (PDN) (17.32%, +1.30%) are now #1 and #2 most shorted. The most likely read is positioning against the “ramp-up goes to plan” narrative: BOE is ramping Honeymoon and progressing Alta Mesa, and shorts are effectively betting that timelines, costs, or realised pricing disappoint versus what’s implied in bullish uranium equities. BOE’s own materials (see the company releases: http://www.bossenergy.com/images/documents/Dec24-Quarterly-Results-Presentation.pdf and http://www.bossenergy.com/images/media/2973720.pdf) frame the growth pathway — shorts are saying the market has already paid for it. Lithium is the other big cluster. Pilbara Minerals (PLS) is now 16.33% short (+3.10%), Liontown (LTR) sits at 13.13% (+0.54%), and Mineral Resources (MIN) remains elevated at 12.56% despite a -1.28% pullback. This looks like a sector thesis rather than company-specific drama: traders are leaning into lithium price sensitivity and the risk that any recovery in spodumene pricing is slower than equity holders want. MIN’s small short reduction suggests some are taking profit or reducing exposure into company-specific catalysts, but the stock is still heavily targeted. Outside resources, IDP Education (IEL) at 12.22% (+0.74%) and Lifestyle Communities (LIC) at 11.85% (+1.80%) show shorts still like rate- and policy-sensitive earnings. IEL is a classic “policy headline” short: student flows, visa settings, and currency swings can move earnings quickly. LIC’s jump reads like a rates-and-housing affordability trade — higher-for-longer funding costs and consumer caution are poison for housing-adjacent growth stories.
Stocks with the largest increase in short interest this month.
Stocks with the largest decrease in short interest this month.
The biggest riser outside the usual suspects is Cettire (CTT): 4.77% to 8.52% (+3.75%). That’s a sharp move for a small cap retailer (market cap $193m) and screams earnings positioning. Luxury e-commerce is brutally sensitive to consumer confidence, discounting, and freight/FX — and shorts tend to move early when they think margins are about to get squeezed. Back in resources, Iluka (ILU) rose from 4.08% to 6.24% (+2.17%). Mineral sands pricing and demand expectations can turn quickly, and this looks like a macro bet that industrial demand (and pricing power) is softer than the market is assuming. Alkane (ALK) also saw shorts double from 2.13% to 4.16% (+2.04%). Given ALK’s mix of gold/copper/rare earth exposure, that move looks less like “gold is broken” and more like project and funding risk being repriced — the kind of stock shorts target when timelines and capex assumptions matter. On the cover side, James Hardie (JHX) is the month’s cleanest unwind: 9.59% down to 3.03% (-6.56%). That’s not a trim — that’s a rush for the exits. The simplest explanation is that the short thesis got crowded and then stopped working, forcing covering into strength or ahead of a catalyst. Ramelius (RMS) also saw heavy covering (6.34% to 1.90%, -4.45%), and Spartan (SPR) collapsed to basically unshorted (3.08% to 0.07%, -3.01%). When shorts vanish that quickly in miners, it’s often because a corporate action, a strong operational update, or a sharp commodity move makes the risk/reward asymmetric the wrong way.
Zooming out, the pattern is clear: the ASX short book is still a resources-and-rates story. Uranium shorts are concentrated at the top (BOE, PDN, plus SLX at 11.49% +0.28%), suggesting the market is less convinced by the “nuclear renaissance” equity pricing than the headlines imply — especially for names where execution and regulatory pathways matter. Lithium remains the other punching bag (PLS, LTR, MIN), consistent with a view that the cycle is still working through oversupply and that equity valuations can’t outrun spot pricing forever. Meanwhile, rate sensitivity is alive in the shorts: LIC’s +1.80% jump is a reminder that anything tied to housing affordability and consumer balance sheets stays vulnerable if bond yields stay sticky. And in consumer-facing growth (CTT), shorts are moving early and aggressively when they smell margin pressure. The broader market stats back up how concentrated these bets are: the average short across 629 stocks is just 1.28%, yet BOE is at 18.30%. This is a market where a handful of crowded shorts are doing most of the talking.
Next month, watch for commodity price swings (uranium and spodumene in particular) to either validate or punish the crowded positioning in BOE/PDN and PLS/LTR/MIN. Also keep an eye on any company updates that touch production ramp-ups or guidance — that’s where heavily shorted names tend to gap.
It means 18.30% of BOE’s shares on issue are reported as sold short — a very high level that can amplify moves both ways if news forces shorts to cover or encourages them to press.
The numbers suggest a sector-wide trade: shorts are likely betting that uranium equities have run ahead of near-term fundamentals, and that execution/regulatory risk around production and enrichment narratives is being underpriced.
Yes — a three-point monthly lift in a large cap like PLS is a strong signal that traders are leaning harder into the lithium price and margin pressure thesis.
It signals aggressive short covering — either the bearish thesis weakened or the risk of being short into a catalyst became too high, so positions were closed quickly.
BOE investor materials are linked at http://www.bossenergy.com/images/documents/Dec24-Quarterly-Results-Presentation.pdf and http://www.bossenergy.com/images/media/2973720.pdf; MIN’s FY25 results are at https://cdn.sanity.io/files/o6ep64o3/production/b23c9b1f93dbe5cc41520061cafecf0c1d214c77.pdf; PDN’s annual report is at https://www.paladinenergy.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Paladin-2025AnnualReport-Full-Web.pdf.
Data sourced from ASIC short position reports (T+4 delayed). This report is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Short selling data may not reflect real-time market conditions.