Week 44, 2025 (27 Oct 2025 — 31 Oct 2025)
Week 2025-W44 was defined by a sharp rotation: shorts piled into DMP, lifting it to 16.86% (+2.32% WoW), while BOE stayed the most shorted name but saw a chunky cover to 20.72% (-2.27%). The biggest single move was ARU, where short interest jumped from 0.77% to 4.53% (+3.76%), a rare one-week spike.
The loudest signal this week wasn’t the usual uranium-vs-lithium tug-of-war — it was the speed of the moves. ARU’s short interest surged +3.76% in a week (0.77% → 4.53%), while BOE saw a meaningful unwind (-2.27% to 20.72%) even as it remains the most shorted stock on the ASX. When you see that kind of dispersion in a week where the period average change is basically flat (-0.05%), it screams stock-specific positioning rather than a broad risk-on/risk-off shift.
BOE (20.72%, -2.27%) is still the market’s favourite uranium short, but the covering is real. The most likely read is shorts taking profit or reducing risk as BOE continues to move from story stock to operating reality (production ramp-up at Honeymoon and progress at Alta Mesa). High short interest can persist, but big weekly drops usually mean the easy money has been made — or the borrow is getting crowded. DMP (16.86%, +2.32%) is the week’s standout in the top 10. A +2.32% lift at this already-elevated level is aggressive. This looks like earnings positioning and margin scepticism: food input costs, discounting pressure in quick service, and the market’s low tolerance for any wobble in same-store sales or franchisee health. DMP’s global footprint also leaves it exposed to currency and uneven consumer demand across regions. PLS (14.67%, -1.38%) continues to see shorts step back. That doesn’t mean lithium is “fixed”; it more likely means the trade is crowded and shorts are banking gains. PLS has also had corporate housekeeping in the background (board change flagged in its December quarterly advisory: https://1pls.irmau.com/site/pdf/3bba2523-52c7-4c38-bc03-b945945d9698/December-2025-quarterly-activities-report-advisory.pdf?Platform=ListPage), and any hint of discipline on costs/capex can force shorts to trim. Elsewhere in the top 10, PNV (10.51%, +0.32%) and TLX (10.13%, +0.25%) are classic “high expectations” shorts: great stories, but the market punishes any execution risk in healthcare when valuations are full and catalysts are binary.
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.
ARU (+3.76% to 4.53%) is the week’s cleanest ‘tell’. Rare earths are a policy darling, but the market is ruthless on funding, timelines and permitting. ARU has been progressing Nolan’s and publishing compliance/annual reporting (see its annual report: https://www.arultd.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/L10013-Annual-Report-2024-25.pdf). A sudden short spike like this often lines up with traders leaning against a rally, or positioning for capital-raising risk that tends to follow big development milestones. IPH (+1.21% to 9.35%) looks like management-transition risk being priced. The company has flagged CEO Andrew Blattman’s retirement (https://www.iphlimited.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/2978820.pdf) and delivered FY25 results (https://www.iphlimited.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2932588.pdf). Shorts typically like these setups when they think “good numbers” are peak-cycle and the next phase is tougher organic growth. BSL (+1.01% to 5.95%) reads as macro positioning. Steel is a China-sensitive, cycle-exposed trade; if you’re bearish on construction demand or worried about spreads rolling over, BSL is a liquid way to express it. On the cover side, CUV (-2.93% to 6.23%) is a big de-risking move. With biotech, sharp short covering often means either a catalyst passed without disaster or the borrow got too crowded for the remaining upside. CUV’s own reporting cadence and pipeline updates (latest annual report: https://www.clinuvel.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/clinuvel-ar25-digital-20250828.pdf) can force shorts to reduce exposure when headline risk is asymmetric. MIN (-1.95% to 6.82%) and ILU (-1.52% to 9.06%) suggest some profit-taking across the materials complex. MIN’s exposure to lithium and iron ore makes it a two-way macro bet; after a strong run in the short thesis earlier in the cycle, traders often trim when commodity narratives get noisy.
Two sector patterns stand out. First, consumer-facing names are being treated very differently: shorts are leaning harder into DMP (and to a lesser extent FLT at 10.66%, +0.13% and GYG at 12.53%, -0.11%), which suggests the market is picking its spots rather than blanket-shorting discretionary. DMP’s jump says investors are more worried about margin structure and competitive intensity than they are about “the consumer” in general. Second, resources shorts are rotating rather than disappearing. Lithium shorts are easing (PLS down, MIN down), while rare earths (ARU) and steel (BSL) are seeing fresh pressure. That’s consistent with traders moving from the well-worn lithium price pessimism into other parts of the China/industrial complex where expectations may still be too optimistic. Meanwhile uranium remains crowded at the top: BOE and PDN (12.19%, +0.03%) are still heavily shorted, but BOE’s cover hints the market is less confident pressing the trade at these levels.
Next week, watch for any company updates that force positioning changes: DMP’s next trading/earnings checkpoint is the obvious risk for a 16.86% short, while ARU’s funding/permitting narrative is now under a microscope after that +3.76% spike. Macro-wise, any sharp move in China-linked commodity signals will matter most for BSL, MIN, ILU and PLS.
BOE is still number one at 20.72% short, even after a large weekly fall of -2.27%.
ARU jumped from 0.77% to 4.53%, a +3.76% move — the biggest rise in the dataset.
The most likely read is earnings and margin positioning: DMP is exposed to food cost inflation, discounting pressure and competitive fast-food conditions, so any guidance risk attracts shorts.
Not necessarily. PLS fell -1.38% to 14.67%, which looks more like profit-taking and crowding relief than a clean reversal in the lithium thesis.
Often it’s shorts reducing catalyst risk or locking in gains; in biotech, a single update can move the stock hard, so positioning can change quickly.
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.