The 10 most shorted ASX stocks plus the biggest risers and fallers – Week 44
Shorts creep into lithium and uranium as materials slide into a bear market, while Maas Group gets caught in the Firmus fallout.
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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 12 and 20 October 2026
Month-on-month changes between 21 September and 12 October 2026
Most covered and rising short tables record week-on-week changes of ~0.5% or more
Most Shorted
There hasn’t been much movement at the top of the table, besides an uptick in short interest for PLS Group and Paladin Energy. That tracks with the broader selloff in resources, with the ASX 200 materials sector finishing last Friday just shy of 20% below its 25 August record high. The sector is effectively in a bear market, and shorts are creeping into some of the largest and most liquid lithium and uranium names. Paladin tanked 9.3% on 14 October after September quarter production fell 18% to 1.00Mlb, short of estimates of 1.20Mlb. Costs also blew out, with production costs up 19% on the prior quarter to US$61.6/lb, well above FY27 guidance of US$44-48/lb.
Ticker | Company | Short % | Week-on-Week | Month-on-Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Droneshield | 15.93% | -0.30% | 1.63% | |
Lotus Resources | 15.78% | 0.22% | 0.98% | |
Boss Energy | 14.94% | -0.17% | 2.15% | |
PLS Group | 13.60% | 0.71% | 1.86% | |
Zip Co | 13.31% | 0.41% | 2.35% | |
Paladin Energy | 13.23% | 1.41% | 2.65% | |
Iperionx | 12.50% | -0.38% | 0.11% | |
Lynas Rare Earths | 12.02% | 0.21% | 1.78% | |
Electro Optic Systems | 11.05% | 0.20% | 0.53% | |
Telix Pharmaceuticals | 10.79% | 0.10% | 0.18% |
Rising Shorts
Maas Group’s short interest jumped after the Firmus deal unravelled and sent its shares down ~50%. The Dubbo-based industrial group invested $410 million for a 3.2% stake in Firmus this year, and its subsidiary JLE Group has secured over $1.2 billion worth of electrical infrastructure work tied to Firmus’ AI factories. Firmus formally withdrew its ASX listing on 9 October, citing market volatility, and Maas shares dropped more than 31% that week. Shorts piled in after 13 October, by which point the stock had already tumbled 47% in just over a week.
Elsewhere, shorts continue to build across beaten-up resources names, including lithium (PLS, Liontown, Elevra, Core Lithium), uranium (Paladin, Bannerman, Deep Yellow) and critical minerals (Vulcan, Alpha HPA). Wealth platforms Generation Development, Hub24 and EQT Holdings also made the list.
Ticker | Company | Short % | Week-on-Week | Month-on-Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Maas Group | 2.53% | 2.23% | 1.83% | |
Generation Development Group | 9.07% | 1.55% | 2.33% | |
Paladin Energy | 13.23% | 1.41% | 2.65% | |
Elevra Lithium | 7.90% | 1.35% | 1.78% | |
Liontown | 8.26% | 1.07% | 2.56% | |
Silver Mines | 2.76% | 1.00% | 1.30% | |
Vulcan Energy Resources | 9.12% | 0.97% | 1.61% | |
Ingenia Communities Group | 5.76% | 0.91% | 0.55% | |
EQT Holdings | 1.97% | 0.82% | 1.26% | |
Core Lithium | 5.30% | 0.75% | 2.71% | |
Kingsgate Consolidated | 1.81% | 0.72% | 0.86% | |
PLS Group | 13.60% | 0.71% | 1.86% | |
Bannerman Energy | 5.67% | 0.68% | 1.96% | |
Alpha HPA | 7.46% | 0.67% | 1.24% | |
Deep Yellow | 9.99% | 0.66% | 1.45% | |
Superloop | 1.55% | 0.62% | 0.68% | |
Mesoblast | 8.34% | 0.61% | 0.99% | |
EQ Resources | 1.66% | 0.56% | -1.18% | |
Vicinity Centres | 4.49% | 0.52% | 1.06% | |
Hub24 | 2.04% | 0.50% | 0.87% |
Most Covered
The ASX has seen a sharp rotation in recent weeks, with investors dumping materials for defensive pockets of the market like utilities, healthcare and staples. Discretionary stocks have also bounced, with the ASX 200 consumer discretionary sector up 8% over the past month after a ~16% drawdown between 6 August and 22 September. That’s taken some pressure off the quick service restaurants, with shorts easing in Domino’s and Guzman y Gomez.
Elsewhere, covering was spread across a mixed bag of names including Artrya, Rio Tinto, Treasury Wine Estates and Super Retail.
Ticker | Company | Short % | Week-on-Week | Month-on-Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Domino's Pizza | 10.45% | -1.69% | -1.26% | |
Guzman Y Gomez | 4.36% | -1.21% | -1.67% | |
Artrya | 8.92% | -1.13% | 3.07% | |
Rio Tinto | 8.76% | -0.89% | -1.03% | |
Nufarm | 0.99% | -0.86% | -0.40% | |
Digico Infrastructure REIT | 4.27% | -0.86% | -1.89% | |
Treasury Wine Estates | 9.61% | -0.78% | -1.11% | |
Rural Funds Group | 2.64% | -0.71% | -0.38% | |
Nine Entertainment | 4.95% | -0.69% | 0.71% | |
Brazilian Rare Earths | 1.32% | -0.67% | -0.94% | |
Pexa Group | 5.84% | -0.66% | -0.69% | |
Smartgroup Corporation | 2.08% | -0.62% | 0.08% | |
Pmet Resources | 1.49% | -0.61% | -0.82% | |
IPH | 8.44% | -0.59% | -0.33% | |
Cleanaway Waste Management | 2.12% | -0.59% | -0.15% | |
WA1 Resources | 2.79% | -0.59% | 0.26% | |
Lendlease Group | 8.36% | -0.58% | -0.26% | |
Cochlear | 1.27% | -0.58% | -0.75% | |
Super Retail Group | 4.73% | -0.53% | -0.08% | |
Arena REIT | 3.46% | -0.53% | 0.24% | |
Universal Store Holdings | 1.65% | -0.53% | -0.83% | |
Nib Holdings | 2.30% | -0.50% | -0.59% |
