Four U.S.-listed critical-minerals companies had between 28 million and 56 million shares in open short positions on Sept. 30, a dated market snapshot that does not reveal what happened afterward.
Critical Metals Corp. recorded short interest of 28,033,722 shares. United States Antimony Corporation had 37,616,508, MP Materials Corp. had 36,621,035, and Energy Fuels Inc. had 56,233,124.
Short interest counts open positions as of a settlement date. It does not identify the investors behind them or show whether the positions were hedges. The figures also cannot establish whether holders later changed or closed their positions, or whether they would buy shares back in a short squeeze. Brokers submit short-interest reports twice monthly; daily short-sale volume is a different measure.
For Oct. 20, OKX scheduled Tether (USDT)-margined perpetual futures referencing Critical Metals and MP Materials. The scheduled start times were 5:15 a.m. ET (09:15 UTC) for Critical Metals and 5:45 a.m. ET (09:45 UTC) for MP Materials. Each contract is linked to a share-price reference index, giving price exposure without ownership of the underlying stock. Availability varies by region, and company share short-interest figures do not measure futures positions.
For 10 years, a separate agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) sets a price floor of $110 per kilogram for specified neodymium-praseodymium products that MP Materials stockpiles or sells. The company said the arrangement is intended to make its cash flow more predictable. The floor applies to those products, not the company’s stock.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) lists Oct. 26 for its next publication of short-interest figures, covering positions at the Oct. 15 settlement date. That release will provide the next scheduled report on the companies’ open short positions.
