The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has had two highly volatile trading days. Yesterday saw the ASX 200 shed a depressing 0.74%. But today thus far, the ASX 200 has piled back on with a rise of 0.73% at the time of writing. But let's talk about the Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) share price.
If you think the ASX 200 has been volatile, wait until you see what the Sayona share price has been up to. This ASX 200 lithium stock has gained an extraordinary 25% over just the past two trading days. Yep, Tuesday saw Sayona shares close at just 4 cents each.
But by market close yesterday, those same shares were up to 4.5 cents apiece. Today, the gains have just kept on coming, with Sayona adding an additional 13.3% to 5.1 cents.
So what on earth is going on with this embattled lithium stock this week?
How has the Sayona share price managed a 27% rise in two days?
Well, unfortunately, it's a bit of a mystery. Sayona's stunning share price rises have come out of the blue, for want of a better phrase.
We did get an ASX announcement from the company this morning. But that just announced that Lucas Dow has been appointed to Sayona's board as an independent non-executive director. Hardly the sort of stuff that sees a company add a third to its valuation over two trading days.
Before this announcement, Sayona's last ASX release was the 31 January quarterly cash flow report, which had a negative impact on the company's shares at the time.
However, it's not just Sayona that has vaulted dramatically higher in value this week. Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) shares have bounced by more than 11% since Tuesday's trading. Saying that, other lithium stocks like Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) and Arcadium Lithium plc (ASX: LTM) have gone backwards.
In Sayona and Core Lithium's case, we could be seeing a bit of a short squeeze going on. As my Fool colleague James reported on Monday, both Core and Sayona remain on the list of the ASX's most short-sold shares.
Perhaps yesterday's rally has triggered a round of short sellers closing their positions, which in turn would have forced up both companies' share prices even further, and spurred more short sellers to close.
Whatever the reason, it's certainly been a good two days to own Sayona Mining shares.
Even with these gains though, the Sayona share price still remains down by more than 77% over the past 12 months.
