The 10 Most Shorted ASX Stocks · Week 13, 2025
24 Mar 2025 — 28 Mar 2025
The week’s cleanest signal was JHX: short interest jumped from 0.78% to 3.25% (+2.47%) in one hit. Uranium stayed crowded at the top — BOE is still #1 at 23.68% (‑0.74%) — but the real aggression was in PDN, up to 16.26% (+1.74%). Across 651 stocks, average short interest held at 1.25% with the period’s average change barely positive (+0.03%).
By Shorted AI Research · Published · Sourced from official ASIC short position reports (T+4 delay). Methodology · Not financial advice.
JHX went from a rounding error to a target. In a single week, shorts jumped 0.78% → 3.25% (+2.47%). That’s not a drift higher — that’s a desk deciding the housing-linked global cyclicals are where you swing, especially when rates won’t behave.
BOE (23.68%, -0.74%) stays welded to the top of the table, but the small unwind matters: some shorts are banking profit rather than pressing. The bet hasn’t changed — execution. BOE is ramping Honeymoon and pushing Alta Mesa, and the market’s happy to fade any restart story where timelines and costs can slip (see BOE’s Dec-24 quarterly results presentation: http://www.bossenergy.com/images/documents/Dec24-Quarterly-Results-Presentation.pdf). PDN (16.26%, +1.74%) is the opposite flow: shorts piled in. For a large-cap uranium name, +1.74% in a week is a statement. The simplest read is the sector trade getting more stock-specific — PDN now wears both uranium price sensitivity and post-deal integration risk after the Fission acquisition (PDN annual report: https://www.paladinenergy.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Paladin-2025AnnualReport-Full-Web.pdf). The lithium complex remains a grind. PLS (12.57%, +0.07%) barely moved, but MIN (12.05%, +0.43%) and LTR (10.34%, +0.32%) ticked higher — the kind of steady accumulation that tells you the market still doesn’t trust the earnings floor. MIN’s short build is the more revealing one because it’s not a pure-play punt; it’s a bigger, diversified operator being treated like a macro commodity expression (MIN FY results: https://cdn.sanity.io/files/o6ep64o3/production/b23c9b1f93dbe5cc41520061cafecf0c1d214c77.pdf). Outside resources, the consumer names stay on the grill: DMP at 11.69% (+0.15%) and CTT at 9.93% (+0.49%). No drama in the weekly change — just persistent disbelief that margins and demand will both cooperate at the same time. IEL (12.08%, -1.07%) was the cleanest unwind in the top 10. It’s still heavily shorted, but direction matters: shorts reduced risk here while adding elsewhere.
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.
JHX (+2.47% to 3.25%) was the week’s loudest repositioning. A move from sub-1% to above 3% in one week is rare for a $19.6B name. This reads like a rates-and-cycle trade: building products are leveraged to construction activity, and when yields stay higher, the market starts leaning against anything tied to housing volumes and renovation spend. PDN (+1.74% to 16.26%) was the other big swing. When shorts add that quickly in a crowded sector, it’s usually positioning into a catalyst — or a view that the long side has become complacent. ZIP (+1.52% to 4.59%) is classic consumer-credit caution. The recent capital structure admin (cessation/unquoted securities notices) keeps the share count and dilution maths front-of-mind — exactly the kind of detail shorts like to weaponise (ZIP cessation notice: https://yourir.info/ezapi/announcements/dbc6d3e76afbc820/2A1648337/ZIP_Notification_of_cessation_of_securities_ZIP.pdf). HLI (+1.39% to 2.07%) and CTD (+1.03% to 7.29%) also saw meaningful adds. CTD’s move lands in a market already focused on balance sheet settings (CTD debt facilities amendment: https://investor.travelctm.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Agreement-to-Amend-Debt-Facilities.pdf). On the cover side, ADT (7.46% → 5.94%, -1.52%) and OPT (4.46% → 3.38%, -1.08%) saw real short covering. ADT’s drop is consistent with traders taking money off the table as the Vares project edges closer to delivery; OPT’s cover fits biotech reality — timing binary outcomes is a good way to get carried out.
This week’s tape splits into two trades. Trade one: uranium as a stock-picker’s battleground. BOE (23.68%) is still the market’s favourite short, PDN (16.26%) is where the fresh heat went, and DYL (11.52%, -0.18%) eased slightly. That divergence says the market isn’t running one blunt “uranium down” macro call — it’s pricing execution, valuation and deal risk name by name. Trade two: rate-sensitive cyclicals getting tagged. JHX’s spike and LIC’s grind higher (10.17%, +0.92%) both rhyme with the same setup: higher-for-longer yields make long-duration cashflows and housing-adjacent models easier to short and harder to defend. Meanwhile, lithium shorts stayed sticky across PLS/MIN/LTR — not a capitulation, not a squeeze. Just weight.
Watch BOE and PDN into April quarterlies/operational updates: with BOE still at 23.68% short and PDN now 16.26% after a +1.74% weekly jump, any clean production or integration progress is the one thing that can force urgent buybacks.
Boss Energy (BOE) at 23.68% short, down from 24.43% last week (‑0.74%).
James Hardie (JHX): 0.78% to 3.25%, a +2.47% increase week-on-week.
The sector combines high volatility with execution risk. BOE is ramping Honeymoon and advancing Alta Mesa, while PDN is managing production delivery plus integration risk after acquiring Fission — conditions that attract both hedging and outright shorts.
IDP Education (IEL) fell from 13.14% to 12.08%, a -1.07% move.
No. High short interest (for example BOE at 23.68%) only turns into a squeeze if a catalyst forces shorts to buy back quickly; otherwise, elevated shorts can persist.
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.
