The 10 most shorted ASX stocks plus the biggest risers and fallers – Week 38
Shorts pile into Nine as Bruce Gordon creeps to 25.94%, Lotus bears rebuild, and Corporate Travel's short trade settles at 17 cents.
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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 31 August and 7 September 2026
Month-on-month changes between 11 August and 7 September 2026
Most covered and rising short tables record week-on-week changes of ~0.5% or more
Most Shorted
Not much change among the most shorted stocks. Lotus' short interest continues to rebuild after unwinding from around 22% in late July to 12% by early August. That unwind followed a 57% one-day collapse when the stock returned from a six-week suspension to finalise a funding package, including a $60 million raise at 22 cents, a 66% discount, which roughly doubled shares on issue. Lotus then surged 43% over the next two sessions, giving shorts plenty of reason to take profits. With short interest building again, investors are clearly betting on more pain.
Ticker | Company | Short % | Week-on-Week | Month-on-Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Lotus Resources | 15.92% | 0.89% | 4.03% | |
Droneshield | 15.42% | 0.06% | -0.36% | |
4DMedical | 12.17% | -0.16% | 0.04% | |
Domino's Pizza | 11.79% | -0.25% | -0.89% | |
Treasury Wine Estates | 11.72% | -0.04% | 0.94% | |
Zip Co | 11.56% | 0.48% | 3.09% | |
PLS Group | 11.20% | 0.11% | 0.80% | |
Flight Centre Travel Group | 11.07% | 0.52% | -0.42% | |
Paladin Energy | 10.95% | 0.30% | -0.49% | |
Iperionx | 10.63% | 0.36% | 0.91% |
Rising Shorts
A big spike in short interest for Nine Entertainment. The catalyst is WIN Group, which bought 47 million shares on market between 27 August and 3 September, lifting its voting power from 22.98% to 25.94%. That sits just under the 3% that holders above 19% can acquire every six months under the creep provision, so Bruce Gordon's vehicle is out of the market until March. The stock has fallen 16% since the announcement on Friday 4 September. Short interest is also building across various tech (Siteminder, Hansen, Electro Optic Systems) and discretionary (Nick Scali, Flight Centre and Sigma) names.
Ticker | Company | Short % | Week-on-Week | Month-on-Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Nine Entertainment | 4.34% | 1.67% | 1.87% | |
Siteminder | 6.96% | 0.95% | 4.08% | |
Lotus Resources | 15.92% | 0.89% | 4.03% | |
Light & Wonder | 1.46% | 0.85% | 0.86% | |
Hansen Technologies | 3.94% | 0.85% | 1.69% | |
Electro Optic Systems | 8.28% | 0.82% | 1.34% | |
Magellan Financial Group | 5.04% | 0.79% | 1.89% | |
Nick Scali | 6.31% | 0.70% | 1.33% | |
Lendlease Group | 8.34% | 0.69% | 2.35% | |
AUB Group | 5.49% | 0.59% | 0.73% | |
Sigma Healthcare | 4.49% | 0.56% | 1.10% | |
Flight Centre | 11.07% | 0.52% | -0.42% | |
Elevra Lithium | 4.18% | 0.50% | 0.78% |
Most Covered
Short interest in Corporate Travel has trended lower for most of this year, down from around 9% to 2.55%, even though the stock has been halted for much of it. The move reflects GCQ Funds Management's Doug Tynan settling his short at 17 cents a share, a 99% discount to the previous close of $16.07. Plenty of fund managers and institutions were caught on the other side and would have been happy to take anything above zero. Outside CTD, agriculture names like GrainCorp and Elders are also seeing short interest decline. Wheat and corn are up 42% and 20% year to date, and ABARES lifted its wheat crop forecast 12% after strong winter rains improved growing conditions.
Ticker | Company | Short % | Week-on-Week | Month-on-Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Corporate Travel | 2.55% | -1.69% | -2.83% | |
Graincorp | 3.49% | -1.50% | 0.58% | |
Lovisa | 1.47% | -1.13% | -2.06% | |
Broken Hill Mines | 0.86% | -0.97% | -0.17% | |
Elders | 10.05% | -0.88% | -0.33% | |
IPH | 8.34% | -0.84% | 0.66% | |
Firefly Metals | 4.13% | -0.84% | -1.87% | |
Neuren Pharmaceuticals | 3.01% | -0.75% | -1.85% | |
Steadfast Group | 1.86% | -0.68% | 0.57% | |
Pinnacle Investment Management | 4.70% | -0.56% | -0.57% | |
Ingenia Communities Group | 3.18% | -0.53% | 0.41% |
