After a challenging stretch for short selling, lithium companies have begun this year among the sharemarket’s most bet against stocks as prices for the battery metal sink and concerns increase that some will be left undercapitalised and unsustainable.

Half of the market’s top 10 shorts are lithium-focused explorers or producers. Among the other half are uranium developer Deep Yellow, which has an $800 million market capitalisation and hasn’t yet raised capital despite the commodity’s run, and $4.3 billion travel group Flight Centre, according to data published by the corporate regulator.