Retail investors have taken a particular interest in potential short-squeeze stocks ever since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. At that time, meme stock favorite GameStop (NYSE:GME) squeezed to unimaginable levels, wreaking havoc on Wall Street investors with short positions. Notably, the events of GME caused multibillion hedge fund Melvin Capital to post a decline of 53% during January of 2021. In May of 2022, the hedge fund disclosed that it would be shutting down.

Meanwhile, the topic of naked short selling drawn attention during the past weeks following Genius Group’s (NYSEMKT:GNS) announcement it would create an Illegal Trading Task Force. The task force will be led by former FBI Deputy Director and Genius Director Timothy Murphy and will investigate alleged market manipulation of GNS stock. Shares of GNS stock have increased by more than 350% during the past five trading days.

5 Short Squeeze Stocks With High Short Interest

MarketBeat tracks companies with the highest short interest and updates its list regularly. Let’s take a look at the top five short interest stocks as of Dec. 30:

1. PaxMedica (NASDAQ:PXMD) carries a short interest of 71.5% and a borrow fee rate of 289.4%. Earlier this week, the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company announced that it would present at the Virtual Investor Summit on Jan. 26.
2. Silvergate (NYSE:SI) carries a short interest of 60.9% and a borrow fee rate of 8.4%. The cryptocurrency bank has been embroiled in the bankruptcy of FTX, which has resulted in a significant drawdown for SI stock.
3. Grom Social Enterprises (NASDAQ:GROM) carries a short interest of 59.2% and a borrow fee rate of 76%. The entertainment company announced last week its subsidiary had purchased an equity stake in Hey Fuzzy Yellow!, a musical series for kids.
4. Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) carries a short interest of 58% and a borrow fee rate of 9.8%. Carvana was the most profitable company for short sellers last year. CNBC reported that CVNA rewarded short sellers with a gain of 377.6%.
5. Sitio Royalties (NYSE:STR) carries a short interest of 53.29%. The company operates as a mineral mining company with more than 260,000 acres of royalty property and over 24,800 gross wells. Since its inception, Sitio has made more than 185 acquisitions.

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Read More: Penny Stocks — How to Profit Without Getting Scammed

On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.