Short-selling case studies
The episodes people search for by name, told from the regulators' own published figures rather than from memory: what the short position was, when it peaked, and what the public record says happened around it. Every number is computed from the same data as the company pages. Nothing here is investment advice, and none of it predicts anything.
🇺🇸 US short-selling history
From FINRA data. Market page: /us/history/
- GameStop: the most shorted stock in America, 2019 to 2021
FINRA's twice-monthly counts through GameStop's run as the most heavily shorted large US stock, the January 2021 squeeze, and the unwind that followed.
Peak 98.85% on 15 Jan 2020 · 15 Jan 2019 to 31 Dec 2021
- Bed Bath & Beyond: shorted into bankruptcy, 2022 to 2023
The regulator's figures through the retailer's last two years: the 2022 rally and reversal, a short position that kept growing as the shares fell, and the archive after delisting.
Peak 88.45% on 14 Apr 2023 · 14 Jan 2022 to 28 Apr 2023
- Beyond Meat: the short position that outlasted the hype, 2019 to 2025
From a heavily shorted 2019 IPO to one of the most shorted US stocks for six consecutive years, in FINRA's own twice-monthly figures.
Peak 84.84% on 31 Oct 2025 · 15 Oct 2019 to 31 Dec 2025
- AMC Entertainment: the meme-stock years in the short data, 2021 to 2024
How AMC's short interest read through the June 2021 rally, the preferred-equity units of 2022, the 2023 reverse split and the 2024 share sales, in FINRA's figures.
Peak 27.95% on 30 Apr 2024 · 14 May 2021 to 31 Dec 2024
- Tesla: the great short unwind, 2018 to 2020
The most valuable short position in the world, in FINRA's twice-monthly counts: a quarter of Tesla sold short at the 2019 low, and the two-year unwind into the S&P 500 inclusion.
Peak 25.11% on 31 May 2019 · 12 Jan 2018 to 31 Dec 2020
- Carvana: from near-collapse to the 2023 rally, in the short data
Short interest in the online car retailer through the 2022 fall, the bankruptcy fears of that winter and the debt restructuring and rally of 2023, from FINRA's figures.
Peak 29.44% on 13 Jan 2023 · 14 Jan 2022 to 29 Dec 2023
- Nikola: from the 2020 short report to the Chapter 11 filing
FINRA's twice-monthly counts across four and a half years, from the short-seller report of September 2020 to the company's bankruptcy filing in February 2025.
Peak 42.04% on 14 Feb 2025 · 31 Jul 2020 to 14 Feb 2025
- Silvergate: a bank wound down, in the short data
FINRA's counts through the crypto-focused bank's final fifteen months, from the November 2022 failure of FTX to the March 2023 decision to wind the bank down.
Peak 66.82% on 28 Feb 2023 · 14 Jan 2022 to 28 Apr 2023
- Novavax: four years of a very large short position, 2021 to 2024
FINRA's twice-monthly counts through the vaccine maker's authorisations, its 2023 going-concern disclosure and the licensing agreement announced in 2024.
Peak 47.13% on 15 Sep 2023 · 15 Jan 2021 to 31 Dec 2024
- Peloton: the short position from the pandemic boom to the 2024 peak
FINRA's twice-monthly counts through the treadmill recall, two chief executive departures and successive job cuts, ending at the highest short interest in the company's record.
Peak 19.72% on 15 Jul 2024 · 15 Jan 2021 to 31 Dec 2024
- Plug Power: the short position through a restatement, a going-concern warning and a federal loan
FINRA's twice-monthly counts for the hydrogen company from the March 2021 restatement to the 2025 peak, through the November 2023 going-concern warning and the Department of Energy loan guarantee.
Peak 33.23% on 30 Sep 2025 · 15 Jan 2021 to 31 Dec 2025
- Lucid: the short position from the SPAC listing to the 2026 high
FINRA's twice-monthly counts for the electric-vehicle maker from its first settlement after the Churchill Capital merger, through two production-target cuts in 2022, to the highest reading in its record.
Peak 19.20% on 31 Aug 2026 · 15 Oct 2021 to 31 Aug 2026
- Rivian: the short position from the IPO to the Volkswagen joint venture
FINRA's twice-monthly counts for the electric-truck maker from its first settlements after the November 2021 listing to the late-2024 peak that followed the Volkswagen joint venture.
Peak 14.81% on 29 Nov 2024 · 14 Jan 2022 to 31 Dec 2025
- Upstart: the most shorted lender of 2023
FINRA's twice-monthly counts for the AI lending platform from its 2021 listing through the 2022 guidance cuts to a peak near 40% of shares outstanding in early 2023.
Peak 39.29% on 15 Feb 2023 · 14 May 2021 to 31 Dec 2024
- Virgin Galactic: the short position from Branson's flight to the 2026 high
FINRA's twice-monthly counts for the spaceflight company from the July 2021 Unity 22 flight, through the first commercial flight and the 2024 reverse split, to the highest reading in its record.
Peak 41.82% on 30 Jun 2026 · 15 Jan 2021 to 31 Aug 2026
🇬🇧 UK short-selling history
From FCA data. Market page: /uk/history/
- Ocado: the most shorted FTSE stock, 2016 to 2019
The named positions the FCA published against the online grocer through its most shorted years, reconstructed from the old register, and how the 2018 Kroger deal changed them.
Peak 21.37% on 1 Jul 2016 · 4 Jan 2016 to 20 Dec 2019
- Metro Bank: the short position through the 2019 risk-weighting error
The named positions the FCA published against the bank as it disclosed a loan classification error in January 2019, raised new equity and changed its leadership.
Peak 12.49% on 3 May 2019 · 2 Jan 2018 to 16 Dec 2020
- Marks and Spencer: the short position through the store closure years
One of the largest named short positions on the London market in 2018, reconstructed from the FCA's old register, and how it fell away after the 2019 Ocado joint venture.
Peak 12.11% on 1 Jun 2018 · 4 Jan 2017 to 11 Nov 2020
- ASOS: the short position through 2022 and 2023
From almost nothing at the start of 2021 to one of the London market's larger named positions in late 2022, reconstructed from the FCA's old register.
Peak 9.46% on 26 Oct 2022 · 8 Jan 2021 to 27 Dec 2023
- Hammerson: the named short positions through the 2020 closures and rights issue
The named positions the FCA published against the shopping-centre owner through the pandemic closures and the August 2020 rights issue, reconstructed from the old register.
Peak 26.49% on 24 Sep 2020 · 8 Apr 2019 to 20 Dec 2021
🇦🇺 Australian short-selling history
From ASIC data. Market page: /au/history/
- PLS Group: the largest short position on the ASX, 2022 to 2025
ASIC's daily reports through the lithium downturn, when the Pilgangoora producer carried the largest reported short position of any company on the Australian market.
Peak 22.50% on 8 Aug 2024 · 4 Jan 2022 to 31 Dec 2025
- Core Lithium: the short position around the Finniss suspension
ASIC's daily reports through 2023 and 2024, when a small Northern Territory lithium producer suspended mining and the reported short position peaked and then unwound.
Peak 13.83% on 10 Jan 2024 · 3 Jan 2023 to 30 Jun 2025
- Flight Centre: the pandemic in the short data, 2019 to 2021
ASIC's daily reports through the closure of Australia's international border in March 2020, the equity raising that followed and the two years after it.
Peak 10.64% on 21 May 2021 · 3 Jun 2019 to 30 Jun 2021
- Liontown: the short position through the Albemarle approach and first production
ASIC's daily aggregate for the lithium developer as Albemarle proposed a takeover in 2023 and withdrew it, and as Kathleen Valley reached first production in 2024.
Peak 12.11% on 14 Aug 2024 · 3 Jan 2023 to 31 Dec 2024
🇫🇷 French short-selling history
From AMF data. Market page: /fr/history/
- Casino Guichard-Perrachon: six years of short positions to the 2024 restructuring
The AMF's named disclosures against the French grocer from 2018 through the safeguard proceedings and the financial restructuring completed in March 2024.
Peak 15.18% on 31 Aug 2018 · 1 Jan 2018 to 27 Mar 2024
- Atos: the short data through the 2024 financial restructuring
The AMF's named disclosures against the IT group from the start of 2024 to the eve of its debt-for-equity restructuring, and why the record stops where it does.
Peak 19.44% on 6 May 2024 · 1 Jan 2024 to 5 Dec 2024
🇳🇱 Dutch short-selling history
From AFM data. Market page: /nl/history/
- Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield: the 2020 short position and the shareholder vote
The AFM's named disclosures against the shopping-centre owner through 2020, when a proposed capital increase was put to shareholders and voted down.
Peak 16.58% on 12 Oct 2020 · 5 Feb 2020 to 31 Dec 2021
- Alfen: the short position around the June 2024 guidance cut
The AFM's named disclosures against the charging and grid-equipment maker before and after it lowered its 2024 outlook, and through the following year.
Peak 17.08% on 11 Sep 2024 · 1 Jan 2024 to 30 Jun 2025
🇪🇸 Spanish short-selling history
From CNMV data. Market page: /es/history/
- Grifols: the short data around the January 2024 research report
The CNMV's named disclosures before and after the short-seller report published in January 2024 and the supervisor's review of the company's reporting that followed.
Peak 4.38% on 14 Mar 2024 · 1 Jun 2023 to 31 Dec 2024