Short Squeeze Penny Stocks

Penny stocks (under $5) with elevated short interest and high days-to-cover ratios, ranked by a composite "squeeze readiness" score that blends short-float pressure, technical setup, and momentum signals. These are the names where a short squeeze is mechanically most plausible.

Our screener flagged 25 short squeeze candidates in the current session, ranked by composite squeeze-readiness score combining short interest, days-to-cover, and technical setup. Leading the list is flyExclusive, Inc. (FLYX) with 70.3% short float, 9.2 days-to-cover, readiness score of 81, in the “Igniting” phase. Also worth attention: Skyline Builders Group Holding Limited Class A Ordinary Shares (KAZR). The complete ranked list is below.

Data as of 2026-09-19 · End-of-day prices
#SymbolCompanyPriceMkt CapShort FloatDTCReadinessSetup
1FLYXflyExclusive, Inc.$1.3300118.4M70.3%9.281Igniting
2KAZRSkyline Builders Group Holding Limited Class A Ordinary Shares$2.230050.8M58.3%6.880Igniting
3DOMHDominari Holdings Inc. Common Stock$2.450053.1M55.9%8.277Coiled
4VUZIVuzix Corporation$2.7500206.0M25.1%14.976Igniting
5DDD3D Systems Corporation$3.6300561.6M31.0%22.776Igniting
6XRXXerox Holdings Corporation Common Stock$3.4200433.3M35.8%19.674Coiled
7RXRXRecursion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Class A Common Stock$3.83001.84B41.5%10.673Igniting
8NRGVEnergy Vault Holdings, Inc.$4.4900689.2M26.0%9.372Igniting
9PROKProKidney Corp. Class A Ordinary Shares$1.9100401.1M23.5%17.771Coiled
10LVWRLiveWire Group, Inc.$1.6300246.5M26.2%5.970Igniting
11AMTXAemetis, Inc. (DE) Common Stock$2.1600137.1M13.4%10.569Coiled
12GALTGalectin Therapeutics Inc.$3.8900451.8M20.8%33.467Coiled
13RXTRackspace Technology, Inc. Common Stock$3.8000838.5M23.2%3.967Coiled
14HURATuHURA Biosciences, Inc. Common Stock$2.1000133.2M15.0%27.967Coiled
15LRMRLarimar Therapeutics, Inc. Common Stock$3.7900402.0M22.2%15.366Coiled
16HRTXHeron Therapeutics, Inc.$0.309759.4M31.3%18.566Coiled
17TOYOTOYO Co., Ltd Ordinary Shares$4.4100187.1M54.4%3.166Coiled
18CDChaince Digital Holdings Inc. Ordinary Shares$3.5000352.0M10.6%23.066Igniting
19KOPNKopin Corp$4.7400797.4M15.2%7.766Igniting
20GCTSGCT Semiconductor Holding, Inc.$2.0700159.1M15.4%5.666Igniting
21SPCEVirgin Galactic Holdings, Inc.$3.0700448.7M24.0%6.666Coiled
22EVGOEVgo Inc. Class A Common Stock$1.5200177.1M32.4%13.965Coiled
23CURVTorrid Holdings Inc.$2.3000225.9M12.5%26.065Coiled
24SRFMSurf Air Mobility Inc.$0.698383.3M16.7%7.365Coiled
25DOMODomo, Inc. Class B Common Stock$3.7600173.6M24.8%7.765Coiled

How We Rank Squeeze Candidates

A short squeeze happens when a heavily shorted stock starts rising. Shorts have to buy back shares to cover, pushing the price further up, which forces more covering, and so on. The mechanical inputs are well known. The hard part is filtering noise.

Our readiness score weights five things:

  • Short float %: the more of the float that's short, the more fuel for a squeeze.
  • Days to cover (DTC): how many normal trading days shorts would need to exit. Higher = harder to exit cleanly.
  • Recent technical setup: RSI positioning, TTM Squeeze status, MACD direction, moving-average structure.
  • Price momentum: recent 5-day move, often the trigger.
  • Setup category: Coiled (building), Igniting (just moved), Late stage (already extended), Falling Knife (avoid).

The Setup column tells you which phase a name is in. "Coiled" and "Igniting" are where the asymmetry is best; "Late stage" means most of the move may already be gone.

See also: daily archive of this scan (historical day-by-day snapshots), highest short interest, nano-cap squeezes.

Indicators Used in This Scan

Short Float % is the percent of a company's free-tradeable float that's currently sold short. Higher short float means more shares that must eventually be bought back — more potential squeeze fuel. Above 20% is elevated; above 30% is unusually high. The short interest is reported by FINRA and updated bi-monthly.

Days to Cover (DTC) divides the total short interest by the average daily trading volume — an estimate of how many normal trading days shorts would need to exit their positions. DTC above 3 means shorts can't quietly cover on average volume; DTC above 7 means a forced unwind has to push price meaningfully higher to find liquidity.

TTM Squeeze identifies low-volatility periods by detecting when Bollinger Bands contract inside Keltner Channels. The squeeze itself doesn't predict direction — only that volatility expansion is coming — but the accompanying momentum histogram indicates the likely direction of the eventual release. Combine a positive squeeze with positive momentum for high-conviction bullish setups.