Short interest in pot stock Tilray rose by third in past week -Ortex

Tilray shares leapt 23% in U.S. premarket trade on Wednesday amid signs the Reddit community behind the recent retail trading frenzy and the GameStop short squeeze is now talking up the cannabis sector. Shares in other pot firms were also on the rise.

Cannabis producer Tilray has seen a rise in short interest in the past week, with 36.6% of its freefloat out on loan, according to estimates from financial analytics firm Ortex on Wednesday. Tilray shares leapt 23% in U.S. premarket trade on Wednesday amid signs the Reddit community behind the recent retail trading frenzy and the GameStop short squeeze is now talking up the cannabis sector.

Shares in other pot firms were also on the rise. The proportion of Tilray shares out on loan amount to 41 million shares, Ortex said, comparing this to stock exchange data for Jan. 29 which showed 30.8 million shares or 27% of the freefloat on loan.

Estimated short interest in video game retailer GameStop , meanwhile, declined to 39% of freefloat versus exchange estimates of 46% at the end of January. GameStop shares were trading below $50 after approaching nearly $500 at the height of the January short squeeze.