The 10 most shorted ASX stocks plus the biggest risers and fallers – Week 24
Lotus shorts keep climbing toward a fifth of the register, bearish bets in PLS Group jump and Polynovo shorts dip to a fresh one-year low.
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Mentioned
Welcome back to the Short Seller Series – A recap of the most heavily shorted stocks on the ASX and those experiencing significant changes to short interest over the past week.
Short selling data is four days behind today's date because reporting is not mandatory until three business days after the trade. The tables below will compare:
Week-on-week changes between 25 May and 1 June 2026
Month-on-month changes between 4 May and 1 June 2026
Most covered and rising short tables record week-on-week changes of ~0.5% or more
Most Shorted
This marks another week of aggressive shorting against Lotus Resources, with short interest soaring from 8.8% at the start of the year to nearly one-fifth of the entire register. As in prior weeks, there have been no market-sensitive announcements recently. The key event remains the 30 April announcement, where the company retracted prior production, grade and recovery results. Macquarie's latest note (4 May) flagged an $85 million cash balance at 31 March against $38 million of operating cash spend in the March quarter, implying only a couple of quarters of runway before potential financial strain. The market is clearly betting on a negative outcome, though at such high short interest, things could get squeezy.
Ticker | Company | Short % | Week-on-Week | Month-on-Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Lotus Resources | 19.90% | 1.39% | 4.79% | |
Domino's Pizza | 15.24% | -0.04% | -0.62% | |
Telix Pharmaceuticals | 15.08% | 0.59% | -0.49% | |
Boss Energy | 14.00% | -0.02% | 0.69% | |
Treasury Wine Estates | 12.93% | -0.78% | 0.45% | |
Guzman Y Gomez | 12.50% | -0.09% | -1.52% | |
Droneshield | 11.41% | 0.53% | 0.60% | |
CAR Group | 11.18% | -0.28% | 0.82% | |
PLS Group | 10.89% | 4.40% | 4.33% | |
Flight Centre Travel Group | 10.77% | -0.58% | 0.07% |
Rising Shorts
There's also a notable spike in PLS short interest, which is often more a short against the broader lithium sector than a bet against the company itself. The lithium sector remains relatively opaque, and PLS is one of the largest and most liquid pure plays out there. Chinese lithium carbonate futures have pulled back sharply in recent weeks, down around 25% from mid-May highs of 209,880 yuan a tonne to a recent low of 157,180 yuan.
Macquarie's channel checks point to elevated speculative participation on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange, with the futures market "tail wagging the dog" of physical fundamentals
Lithium prices are seen whipsawing near-term, with Zimbabwe spodumene set to rebound in July and August after weakness in May and June, before potential logistics constraints from tight Zimbabwean diesel supply by end-CY26
Morgan Stanley says higher prices are starting to incentivise a supply response led by Australian restarts and brownfield expansions, though near-term additions aren't large enough to close its estimated 117kt market deficit for 2026
Ticker | Company | Short % | Week-on-Week | Month-on-Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
PLS Group | 10.89% | 4.40% | 4.33% | |
Metals X | 2.70% | 1.80% | 1.73% | |
Lotus Resources | 19.90% | 1.39% | 4.79% | |
4DMedical | 10.55% | 1.30% | 4.32% | |
ASX | 3.37% | 1.05% | 0.51% | |
Elders | 9.06% | 0.88% | 3.02% | |
Elsight | 0.97% | 0.81% | 0.81% | |
Endeavour Group | 10.21% | 0.72% | 1.13% | |
Stockland | 1.65% | 0.63% | 0.81% | |
Scentre Group | 0.87% | 0.60% | 0.32% | |
Telix Pharmaceuticals | 15.08% | 0.59% | -0.49% | |
AUB Group | 5.66% | 0.58% | 0.05% | |
Centuria Capital Group | 1.18% | 0.55% | 0.74% | |
Idp Education | 4.07% | 0.54% | -0.18% | |
Transurban Group | 1.78% | 0.54% | 0.57% | |
Droneshield | 11.41% | 0.53% | 0.60% | |
Beach Energy | 9.51% | 0.53% | 0.82% | |
Supply Network | 4.47% | 0.53% | 0.61% |
Most Covered
Elsewhere, the themes are sporadic, spanning turnaround plays (CCP, TWE), resources (ARU, VUL, ELV, NEM) and stocks sold to oblivion (IMM, BAP, LLC, HVN and GNC).
Polynovo is a peculiar one, with short interest falling to its lowest since March 2025, despite no market-sensitive news since its 1H26 result. The stock staged an abrupt 14.8% rally on Thursday 14 May, off 8.6 million volume (~350% above average). The company received an ASX query but said it wasn't aware of any details that could have driven such a material move.
Ticker | Company | Short % | Week-on-Week | Month-on-Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Polynovo | 8.08% | -3.07% | -6.25% | |
Arafura Rare Earths | 2.75% | -2.56% | -0.58% | |
Myer | 3.65% | -2.30% | -2.76% | |
Credit Corp Group | 4.23% | -1.98% | -1.46% | |
Bapcor | 9.57% | -1.37% | -0.17% | |
Pinnacle Investment Management | 4.09% | -1.36% | -1.76% | |
Block | 0.86% | -1.25% | -0.13% | |
Lendlease Group | 5.30% | -1.02% | 0.96% | |
Immutep | 1.95% | -0.98% | -0.02% | |
BWP Group | 1.53% | -0.81% | -0.73% | |
Treasury Wine Estates | 12.93% | -0.78% | 0.45% | |
Vulcan Energy Resources | 4.50% | -0.77% | -0.57% | |
Wisetech Global | 7.13% | -0.74% | -0.47% | |
Reliance Worldwide | 2.61% | -0.68% | -0.39% | |
Elevra Lithium | 2.77% | -0.62% | -2.47% | |
IPH | 8.60% | -0.61% | -1.16% | |
Nanosonics | 8.35% | -0.59% | -2.02% | |
Flight Centre Travel Group | 10.77% | -0.58% | 0.07% | |
Electro Optic Systems | 3.31% | -0.57% | -0.29% | |
Newmont Corporation | 1.80% | -0.56% | 0.58% | |
Zip Co | 10.67% | -0.55% | -1.23% | |
Harvey Norman | 0.93% | -0.53% | -0.67% | |
Graincorp | 2.26% | -0.52% | -1.22% |
