Blog Market analysis
Data stories from the ASIC short-position feed: the most shorted stocks, sector rotations, squeeze candidates and what crowded bear positioning revealed before the news caught up.
7 articles
ASIC's report for 15 October 2026 shows 262.2 million CBA, Westpac, NAB and ANZ shares sold short, valued at $15.1 billion, against 71.4 million and $4.1 billion a year earlier. Bank by bank: the build, the records, the regionals and what a bank short costs to hold.
Ben Ebsworth
Where six months had passed since an ASX stock's reported short interest peaked at 5% or more, 52.3% of 86 campaigns trailed the S&P/ASX 200 total return from the peak date, and 64.7% of 85 from ASIC's publication four business days later. A study of 155 campaigns, with build and unwind times.
Ben Ebsworth
DroneShield starts October as the most shorted company on the ASX at 15.07%, with Boss Energy, Lotus Resources and Iperionx behind it. The October 2026 edition of the short list, from ASIC data to 30 September: the top ten, the four-week builders and coverers, the uranium, lithium and defence clusters, and the positions that would take weeks of ordinary trading to unwind.
Ben Ebsworth
Ten ASX stocks carry short interest above 10% of issued capital right now — but crowded shorts alone don't make a squeeze. Here's the four-part checklist, the live screen from ASIC data, and what Zip and Pilbara Minerals teach about how squeezes actually unfold.
Ben Ebsworth
Two weeks after we mapped ASX energy shorts, the tape rotated: Beach bears banked profits, Karoon bears reloaded, and Santos shorts tripled off a record low — all before US strikes on Iran reignited the oil risk premium.
Ben Ebsworth
Lotus Resources tops the ASX short list at 22.81% of issued capital — shorts have added 12.4pp in 90 days. Three uranium names, Domino's, DroneShield, Telix and Flight Centre fill out July's ten most crowded bear positions, from official ASIC data.
Ben Ebsworth
The Iran war sent Brent to US$120+ and back. Yet ASX short sellers didn't pile into oil — they piled into Beach Energy. Here's what the short data reveals about how the pros really played the 2026 oil shock.
Ben Ebsworth