The 10 most shorted ASX stocks – Week 19

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 compare:

• Week-on-week (WoW % Chg) changes between 24 April and 1 May

• Month-on-month (MoM % Chg) changes between 2 April and 1 May

Most Shorted ASX Companies

The most shorted companies on the ASX. Source: ASIC

Key themes and takeaways

The top five most shorted stocks remain unchanged compared to last week. In the last month, the only change in the top five is that Flight Centre Travel (ASX: FLT) and Liontown Resources (ASX: LTR) have switched places in the number 4 and 5 spots.

Pilbara Minerals' (ASX: PLS) short interest has ticked up to 21.79% from 20.63% at the beginning of the month. Short interest in Idp Education (ASX: IEL) has also picked, up 2% over the month, as the share price has continued to slide.

IEL six-month chart (Source: Market Index)

Westgold Resources (ASX: WGX) was the big mover, jumping into the top 10 as short interest surged more than 4.5% over the month. The pickup in short interest followed the third quarter production update in early April, which coincided with a sharp fall in the share price.

WGX six-month chart (Source: Market Index)