Sirius XM Holdings Inc (SIRI) is the third largest short in the Media Industry but has had the largest amount of new short selling over the past thirty days. SIRI short interest is $1.37 billion, 34.27% SI % Float and 25.52% S3 SI % Float (which includes the synthetic longs created by every short sale in the trade float denominator).

Short Interest in the Media Industry (as of 09.23.22)

Over the past thirty days SIRI has had the 22nd largest increase in shares shorted in the U.S. market and the largest increase in shares shorted in the Media industry.

30 Day Change in Shares Shorted (as of 09.23.22)

SIRI shares shorted have been increasing since the beginning of July and have reached year-to-date highs and are nearing levels we last saw in January 2019. Short sellers are actively building their positions as SIRI’s stock price continues the downward trend that started in mid-August.

SIRI: Short Interest vs. Stock Price

SIRI’s recent short selling has increased its Short Interest % Float to 34.27% and S3 SI % Float to 25.52%, the 11th largest SI % Float for shorts in the U.S. with over $50 million of short interest.

U.S. Stocks with the Highest Short Interest % of Float (as of 09.23.22)

SIRI’s large short interest, S3 SI % Float six times higher than the market average, 30 DTC seven times larger than the market median and stock loan fee thirteen times larger than the market average has made it the most crowded stock with over $25 million of short interest.

SIRI Tops the List of the Most Crowded Shorts

SIRI has underperformed relative to the other shorts in the Media industry. SIRI shorts are up only $29.7 million in year-to-date mark-to-market profits, up 2.38% for the year, while the aggregate Media shorts are up 40.5% for the year. Even in September, as shorts poured into the stock, SIRI has underperformed the Media industry shorts by earning +2.5% versus +9.4% for the industry as a whole.

SIRI short sellers are looking for continued price weakness in the stock and prices hitting levels we last saw in post-pandemic 2020 and at the tail end of its 2009-2018 rally.

If SIRI’s stock price holds the $5.50 floor we’ve seen in 2021-2022 shorts may be forced to trim their positions as stock borrow costs, that have been rising in 2020, take a large chunk of their expected Alpha.

If SIRI’s stock price does break down below 2022 lows, shorts will hold onto their profitable positions, but will not be able to increase their exposure materially. Stock borrow utilization is already at 99%, meaning that there will not be any large blocks of stock borrows available for new short selling.

With SIRI short selling pretty much topped out, it will be the long shareholders determining SIRI’s short-term price moves. If SIRI’s stock price drops – it will long shareholder selling with very minimal short selling driving stock process downward. But if SIRI’s stock price rallies – it will be long shareholders starting the ball rolling, with short covering joining the buy-side pressure as short sellers incur mark-to-market losses.