5 Short Squeeze Candidates To Watch: Insignia Systems, American Virtual Cloud Top List Again, Reliance Global Rejoins

Potential short squeeze plays gained steam in 2021 with new retail traders looking for the next huge move.

A short squeeze can occur when a heavily shorted stock rises in value instead of falling. Short sellers could be looking to close out their position and can face a loss if they have to buy back the shares they initially borrowed at a higher price.

A squeeze can occur when short sellers are forced into buying to cover their position, which can cause shares to go much higher on many occasions.

Fintel Data: Data from Fintel, which requires a subscription, provides a look at several of the top shorted stocks and data showing how likely a short squeeze is to occur.

Here’s a look at Fintel’s top five short squeeze candidates for the week of Jan. 10.
Insignia Systems: Digital advertising company Insignia Systems Inc ISIG tops the short squeeze leaderboard for the second straight week. Raw short interest in ISIG is 565,000 shares, up 2,508% from the previous report. Fintel reports that 62% of ISIG’s total float is short, slightly up from last week’s report.

Fintel shows a borrow fee of 519%, which is down from last week’s 556%, which was the highest Fintel had seen in recent history. The stock will remain a short squeeze candidate with the high short interest and high borrow cost into the future.

American Virtual Cloud Technologies: IT solutions provider American Virtual Cloud Technologies Inc AVCT ranks second on the short squeeze leaderboard for the second straight week. Around 11.5% of AVCT shares are short. Short interest in AVCT is up over 3,400% from a previous week. The cost to borrow of 152% on AVCT shares is elevated but down from last week’s 191.7%.

Related Link: 5 Short Squeeze Candidates To Watch: Insignia Systems Tops List With High Cost TO Borrow 

Reliance Global Group: Insurance and real estate holding company Reliance Global Group RELI rejoins the list and comes in third. The stock was not on last week’s leaderboard but appeared in second place two weeks ago. Fintel shows short interest makes up 10.2% of the float on RELI shares. The cost to borrow RELI shares is 207%, one of the highest figures of the week.

Petros Pharmaceuticals: Men’s health pharmaceutical company Petros Pharmaceuticals Inc PTPI has been an active name on the short squeeze leaderboard. Fintel shows short interest is 22.2% of shares float, down from last week’s reported 24.4%. The cost to borrow on PTPI shares is 130%. This figure is down from last week’s 176% and several weeks over 240%. PTPI has topped the leaderboard in prior weeks and remains elevated as a potential short squeeze.

Ensysce Biosciences: Clinical stage biotech company Ensysce Biosciences Inc ENSC is seeking to bring tamper-proof opioids to market. Around 10.9% of the company’s total float is short, in line with last week’s figure, when ENSC was also fifth on the leaderboard. The cost to borrow on ENSC shares drops from 211.8% last week to 175% for this week.