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Below is an updated look at changes in short interest levels for Russell 3,000 stocks over the last six months. The average Russell 3,000 stock currently has 7.5% of its float sold short. That's up 0.7 percentage points from six months ago at the end of August 2025.
The Pharma, Biotech & Life Sciences group has the highest average short interest as a percentage of float (SIPF) at 13%, followed by Consumer Discretionary Distribution & Retail (11.5%) and Media & Entertainment (10.7%).
The average stock in the Software & Services group is down 17.1% over the last six months, the worst of any group, and the average Software stock's SIPF now sits at 9.3%. That's up 1.3 percentage points from six months ago, which is elevated but not the most extreme jump across the 25 industry groups. Media & Entertainment has seen the biggest jump in SIPF at 2.4 percentage points.
Unsurprisingly, less volatile groups like Utilities, REITs, Insurance, and Banks have the lowest short interest levels.
Below is a table highlighting the 30 stocks in the Russell 3,000 that currently have the highest short interest levels (as a percentage of float).
Conservative media outlet Newsmax (NMAX) is at the top of the list with nearly two-thirds of its float sold short, followed by AirSculpt Tech (AIRS) at 61% and FLEX LNG (FLNG) (FLNG) at 54.4%.
Most of the stocks on the list of heavily shorted names have market caps below $10 billion, but some of the names you may know include Groupon (GRPN), Hims & Hers, Beyond Meat (BYND), SoundHound AI (SOUN), Dave & Buster's, and Lucid (LCID).
Both Hertz (HTZ) and Avis (CAR) are near the top of the list as well, while robotics company Richtech (RR) and small nuclear reactor company NANO Nuclear (NNE) also make appearances.
Below is a list of the 30 Russell 3,000 stocks that have seen the biggest increase in short interest over the last six months. Newsmax (NMAX) tops the list with SIPF jumping from 14.5% to 66.1%, followed by FLNG, MNPR, ACHC, and KALV. Other notables on the list include AMC Entertainment (AMC), Credit Acceptance (CACC), Duolingo (DUOL), Primo Brands (PRMB), and Asana (ASAN).
Looking just at software stocks, below are the stocks in the group that have seen the biggest jumps in short interest over the last six months.
Cleanspark (CLSK), Asana, Dropbox (DBX), Daily Journal (DJCO), and Rackspace (RXT) top this list. Other names include SailPoint (SAIL), RingCentral (RNG), Bentley Systems (BSY), and Gartner (IT).
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