UK short-selling history

The episodes people search for by name, told from the FCA's 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.

• 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