Sivers Semiconductors: Insider Sell-Off and Short Seller Retreat Create a Confusing Picture

Sivers stock drops 61% in 30 days; last disclosed short position vanishes while insiders sell heavily, though CEO buys shares ahead of Nasdaq listing push.

The past month has been brutal for Sivers Semiconductors. The Swedish chipmaker’s stock has shed roughly 61% of its value in 30 days, closing Friday at €2.83 in Europe and €2.80 in Stockholm. Yet amid the wreckage, two opposing forces are at work: the last publicly reported short position has vanished, while company insiders have been selling heavily.

The Short Side Clears

Voleon Capital Management reduced its net short position below the 0.5% reporting threshold on July 24, marking the exit of the last institutional investor with a publicly disclosed bet against Sivers. Smaller short positions below the reporting limit may still exist, but the visible bearish pressure has evaporated.

The timing is notable. The stock’s 14-day relative strength index sits at 35.4, a level that typically signals exhausted selling pressure and a potential oversold bounce. Whether that technical reading translates into a recovery remains an open question.

Insider Trading Splits the Boardroom

The real story, however, lies in the boardroom. A lock-up agreement tied to the company’s April 2026 capital raise expired on July 16, unleashing a wave of insider transactions that has left investors parsing conflicting signals.

Chairman Bami Bastani was among the most active sellers. He disposed of 275,000 shares in the open market on July 16, gifted 70,000 shares to family members, and donated 60,000 shares to charitable organizations. After these moves, Bastani retains 381,360 shares, of which 11,360 are subject to a new one-year lock-up.

Board member Todd Thomson went even further. Through his investment vehicle Headwaters Capital, he sold 950,000 shares by July 22 and gifted another 50,000 to charity. Thomson remains the largest insider shareholder with 477,027 shares. Separately, Kairos Ventures — the investment firm Thomson represents on the board — liquidated its entire stake acquired through the 2022 Mixcomm acquisition, following a fund committee decision to distribute proceeds to investors.

Providing a counterweight to this selling pressure, CEO Vickram Vathulya purchased 70,000 additional shares on the open market, boosting his holdings to approximately 4.54 million shares. He also holds 3.7 million employee stock options.

A Quiet Period Looms

The insider activity comes just ahead of a mandatory trading blackout. Under Article 19(11) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation, Sivers management enters a 30-day closed period starting July 28, during which no insider trading is permitted until the company releases its second-quarter results.

Those results are now scheduled for August 27 — later than originally planned. The company pushed back its reporting calendar to complete an “audit uplift,” aligning its financial reporting with standards set by the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. The move is a prerequisite for Sivers’ stated goal of securing a secondary listing on the Nasdaq in New York. CEO Vathulya explained that international institutional investors demand “quality, diligence and transparency.”

Capital Raise Sits Above the Current Price

The April capital raise that triggered the lock-up placed approximately 12.3 million new shares at SEK 57 each, or roughly €4.90. That price now sits well above the current trading level. The proceeds — around SEK 700 million — are earmarked for expanding manufacturing capacity for indium phosphide lasers, a key component for data links in AI data centers and LiDAR systems in vehicles.

The August 27 earnings report will provide the first hard financial data since that capital injection, and with it, a fresh test of management’s Nasdaq ambitions. Until then, the stock drifts in a fog of insider divergence, technical oversold signals, and the quiet retreat of short sellers.