This ASX stock is down 70% and short sellers are circling

One of the Australian stock market's most interesting stories is quietly developing well outside the ASX 200. 

Uranium miner Lotus Resources (ASX: LOT) stopped trading on 18 June, after it announced it was unable to provide an operational update on its Kayelekera Project in Malawi. 

And that's just the latest in a line of recent challenges for the company. The stock is currently down 70% in 2026, and that's despite a 30% bounce in the days before the company halted trading. 

Unsurprisingly, short sellers have smelt blood, and total short interest in Lotus surged past 20% last week. Read on for more on the Lotus story, and for the list of the most-shorted stocks on the ASX.

As always, this data is on a four-day delay, and shows current short interest as of 26 May 2026. 

The most-shorted ASX stocks

We'll start with the big one - Lotus Resources.

Short interest in LOT is now at 22.81%, making it far-and-away the most-shorted stock on the ASX in recent times.

It's been a miserable year for the miner. In February, it announced a $76 million capital raise, offered at a 25% discount. In April, the company then retracted guidance on production, grade and recovery results from its Malawi mine. 

In June, trading was halted after delays to procured acid supply and rectification works meant it couldn't provide an update on the Kayelekera Project.

It also announced it requires additional funding to complete the restart of the mine, leaving the company facing huge questions over its financial and operational roadmap. 

As you can see in the chart below, it's pulled ahead of the pack in terms of total short interest over the last month or so, as short sellers pile in.

Elsewhere, Domino's Pizza (ASX: DMP), Boss Energy (ASX: BOE) and Telix Pharmaceutical (ASX: TLX) are retaining their places on the list, 

Paladin Energy (ASX: PDN) is the only new addition to the top 10, with total short interest up 0.77% over the last week for a total of 11.43%.

The ASX stocks seeing more short interest

There have also been a few notable stocks seeing an uptick in short interest over the last week:

Cochlear (ASX: COH) tops the list, with new short interest jumping 3.05 percentage points over the last week, after the stock bounced 20% in the last month following two big selloffs. The celebrated medical company has seen guidance downgrades and poor earnings in FY26 and short sellers are presumably anticipating further selling. 

Commodities have also seen their fair share of new short interest, especially uranium and gold stocks. Deep Yellow (ASX: DYL) and Predictive Discovery (ASX: PDI) are the two stocks on that front attracting the most attention.

Short interest is also growing in a2 Milk (ASX: A2M), which remains one of most divisive stocks on the ASX in terms of broker consensus.