The 10 Most Shorted ASX Stocks · Week 1, 2025
30 Dec 2024 — 3 Jan 2025
First week of 2025, shorts didn’t spread out — they concentrated. Paladin (PDN) jumped 14.43% → 16.00% (+1.57%) and Boss Energy (BOE) lifted 17.06% → 17.61% (+0.55%), while a rare market-level hedge showed up with IOZ 0.08% → 1.10% (+1.02%). Against an ASX-wide average short of 1.40% and a period average change of +0.05%, these were outsized, deliberate moves.
By Shorted AI Research · Published · Sourced from official ASIC short position reports (T+4 delay). Methodology · Not financial advice.
Two uranium names. Same week. Big adds. PDN’s short interest ripped 14.43% → 16.00% (+1.57%) and BOE pushed further into crowded territory at 17.61% (+0.55%). That’s not housekeeping — that’s a sector call that the uranium equity trade has run ahead of delivery risk.
The leaderboard still reads like a greatest-hits list of crowded battlegrounds — uranium, lithium, and a couple of consumer/rates-sensitive names. BOE (17.61%, +0.55%) is the most shorted equity again. The bear case is simple: execution. Boss is priced around a clean ramp at Honeymoon and progress at Alta Mesa; any slippage, cost creep, or slower-than-hoped production cadence hurts fast. The market will keep cross-checking progress against the company’s own milestones (Dec quarterly results presentation: http://www.bossenergy.com/images/documents/Dec24-Quarterly-Results-Presentation.pdf). PDN (16.00%, +1.57%) was the week’s main event. A move that size says shorts are leaning into valuation and integration/ramp risk after Paladin’s expansion, with delivery at Langer Heinrich doing the heavy lifting for sentiment (Paladin annual report: https://www.paladinenergy.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Paladin-2025AnnualReport-Full-Web.pdf). Lithium remains sticky rather than spiky: PLS (14.26%, +0.24%) and MIN (12.67%, +0.21%) both edged higher. This isn’t a one-week trade — it’s the same “lithium pricing and margins stay under pressure” position that refuses to die. PLS’ quarterly commentary is where the market will keep hunting for unit costs and realised pricing signals (December quarterly advisory: https://1pls.irmau.com/site/pdf/3bba2523-52c7-4c38-bc03-b945945d9698/December-2025-quarterly-activities-report-advisory.pdf?Platform=ListPage). Then the non-resources anchors: DMP (12.41%, +0.22%) and IEL (12.40%, +0.20%). Domino’s sits in the crosshairs of food input costs and competition; IDP wears policy and student-mobility risk. Shorts like building these ahead of guidance-heavy windows. One structural oddity sits above everything: GSBW34 at 132.54% short (flat WoW). That’s an instrument where shorting mechanics can print extreme percentages; it doesn’t belong in the same “company bet” bucket as the equities.
Key financial metrics from recent company reports for the most shorted stocks.
Stocks with the largest increase in short interest this week.
Stocks with the largest decrease in short interest this week.
The risers were clean and loud. PDN: 14.43% → 16.00% (+1.57%). That’s the biggest increase on the board and it reads like institutional conviction — fading the uranium equity run or hedging uranium exposure elsewhere. IOZ: 0.08% → 1.10% (+1.02%). Shorting the ASX 200 ETF isn’t stock-picking. It’s portfolio insurance. Seeing it pop in the first week of January is a tell: someone wanted protection while liquidity is thin and macro headlines can move the tape. SGR: 6.40% → 7.20% (+0.80%). The market is betting the house against the house again — regulatory and balance sheet pressure keeps The Star a natural short. DRO: 4.22% → 4.82% (+0.60%). This looks like expectations management. DroneShield sits in a hot thematic (defence/counter-drone), but contract timing and cash flow rarely run in a straight line (company report: https://www.droneshield.com/s/2025-3q-9acb.pdf). On the cover side, NVX led the unwind: 3.64% → 2.83% (-0.81%). That’s either profit-taking after a rough run for battery materials, or risk reduction ahead of company-specific news flow. MSB eased 3.17% → 2.79% (-0.38%), consistent with biotech shorts trimming ahead of binary catalysts. DYL slipped 10.85% → 10.60% (-0.24%), which matters mainly because it shows rotation inside uranium: the fresh heat was on PDN and BOE, not the whole basket (Deep Yellow annual report: http://www.deepyellow.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025AnnualReport06Oct25NoCoverSheet.pdf).
This week’s tape was a reminder that shorts go where operational reality can embarrass a narrative. Uranium is crowded again: BOE at 17.61% and PDN at 16.00%, both rising in the same week, is the market policing ramp risk and commodity sensitivity. The long-term nuclear story can be intact and the short-term execution trade can still be brutal. Lithium shorts remain glued on: PLS and MIN both higher WoW, with no drama required. The cycle argument doesn’t need a catalyst — it just needs prices to stay weak. And then there’s the broader risk tell: IOZ jumping to 1.10% says someone wanted index protection, not just a few single-name winners. When that happens alongside heavier adds in crowded resources shorts, it’s a very specific posture: hedge the market, press the high-beta trades.
Watch IOZ next week. If short interest builds again from 1.10%, it confirms the January trade is shifting from stock-specific shorts to market-level hedging — and that’s when crowded names like PDN (16.00%) and BOE (17.61%) tend to gap on any operational update.
To hedge the whole market. IOZ moving 0.08% → 1.10% (+1.02%) suggests investors wanted broad ASX protection without selling individual holdings.
Yes. The period average change across the market was +0.05%, so PDN’s +1.57% is an outsized move that signals active positioning.
It means a large portion of the register is positioned for downside. That can amplify moves both ways: bad operational news can accelerate falls, while positive surprises can force rapid covering.
Because the trade is about the lithium price cycle. PLS is 14.26% short (+0.24%) and MIN is 12.67% (+0.21%), consistent with shorts staying positioned for margin pressure.
GSBW34 is not an ordinary operating company equity. Some fixed-income/structured instruments can show extreme short percentages due to how units are created, borrowed, and reported, so it’s not comparable to typical ASX shares.
Track the live rankings on the most shorted ASX stocks page, watch short squeeze candidates, or see market-wide totals in the ASX short selling statistics.
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.
