CRML: 26%+ Short Interest, 4.5 Days to Cover, Strategic Review, & Federal Critical Minerals Mandate

What’s up everyone. I’ve been running the numbers on Critical Metals Corp. (CRML), and the structural metrics heading into this week look heavily asymmetric.

The stock has taken a beating over the last few weeks—dropping into the $6.15 – $6.40 range—putting it deep into oversold territory well under its 50-day ($10.31) and 200-day ($10.84) simple moving averages. However, under the hood, short metrics show bears are extremely overextended if a catalyst lands.

1. The Short & Volume Metrics

Short Interest: Sitting elevated at \~26.5% of the float (with exchange updates showing 15% as an absolute baseline). Anything over 20% is prime squeeze real estate.

Days to Cover: The short interest ratio sits at 4.5 days to cover. If momentum turns, short sellers can’t exit cleanly in a single session—it would take nearly a full week of average volume to buy back positions.

Off-Exchange Short Volume: Dark pool/off-exchange short ratios have ranged between 55% and 70% continuously, showing heavy institutional pressure trying to cap equity bounces.

2. The Options Overlay (Gamma Setup)

The Put/Call Open Interest ratio is sitting low at 0.57.

Even with the heavy downward selling pressure, option market open interest is skewed heavily toward calls. If the equity price starts scaling strike prices ($7.00, $7.50, $8.00), market makers hedging delta will be forced into market buys, amplifying upward velocity.