The stock doesn’t actually need to be shorted that much. We’re seeing the same thing happen with Koss, BB, and AMC right now. The infamous VW short squeeze was also caused by significantly less short interest: https://www.autoweek.com/news/industry-news/a35340727/heres-...
Very true, but the less shorted or at least the bigger the difference between available shares and the short position the harder it is.
VW in particular was shorted much less but something like 90+% of the shares were accounted for between Porsche and Germany to reach the accounted for shares + shorts position of over 100%.
We are seeing them become the next meme stock that people are trying to pump. Unlike GameStop their pumps have very little to do with short squeezes because these stocks were not being shorted anywhere near as much as GameStop was.
Short squeezes can occur with significantly less short interest than 100% if others want to maintain controlling interest in a stock or are otherwise unwilling to sell except for over market value. Even a small change in a stock's liquidity can result in a large impact on available price.
