--- title: "Trader’s Café With Zak Mir: The Week In Small Caps, Sunday 12th July 2026" publisher: "Share Talk" author: "sharetalk" published: "2026-07-12T09:40:31+00:00" modified: "2026-07-12T10:22:28+00:00" date: 2026-07-12 canonical: "https://www.share-talk.com/traders-cafe-with-zak-mir-the-week-in-small-caps-sunday-12th-july-2026/" category: "Blogs" categories: ["Blogs", "Zak Mir"] tags: ["AIM", "AstraZeneca", "Avacta", "Easyjet", "EDX Medical Group", "FTSE 100", "Goldstone Resources", "Iofina", "Small Caps", "Vodafone"] image: "https://i0.wp.com/www.share-talk.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/zak-mir-4th-may-25.webp?fit=1200%2C800&quality=80&ssl=1" format: "news" language: "en-GB" --- # Trader’s Café With Zak Mir: The Week In Small Caps, Sunday 12th July 2026 **Published:** July 12, 2026 **Author:** sharetalk **Categories:** Blogs, Zak Mir **Tags:** AIM, AstraZeneca, Avacta, Easyjet, EDX Medical Group, FTSE 100, Goldstone Resources, Iofina, Small Caps, Vodafone **Featured image:** ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.share-talk.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/zak-mir-4th-may-25.webp?fit=1200%2C800&quality=80&ssl=1) --- **Shorting Targets: The Playbook** [Author @ZaksTradersCafe](https://twitter.com/ZaksTradersCafe) I have always been on the long side with small caps. This is even though as a former derivatives broker in the 1990s, going short / being bearish came naturally. And in the short the Pound, short the FTSE 100, very naturally. However, I am and have been intrigued by what makes a shorter pick on a small cap company. At first glance this is a very sensible thing to do as the odds are always going to be stacked in your favour. Like restaurants, most small companies fail. Even more so when you add in the cost of being listed – over half a million a year on AIM, which means they need to make or raise at least a million a year to keep their head above water. The raising of money of course dilutes shareholders and lowers the share price, so shorting / being short should in many cases be like falling off a log. This is even if in the end the company succeeds, as the journey to this success will by definition be full of ups and downs. Take** Avacta (AVCT) **for instance. This company has been like catnip to private investors, with the cancer cure story. But the company has had to raise millions and will no doubt have to continue to raise millions, even if it becomes the next **Astrazeneca (AZN). **Indeed, AVCT ticks a couple of the boxes of a “good short.” The massive private investor interest is a red flag, as the assumption if you are a bear is that the crowd is normally wrong. The way that even daring to suggest that AVCT is a short – a taboo – is also seen by bears as a sign that this would be a good short. But there is more. Key to a good short is the cash position, especially companies with reserves of just the minimum to keep going for 12 months, and / or those who are pre-revenue. This brings in many mining companies, indeed, most of them along with exploring / developing oil and gas companies. That said, for my money biotechs are the biggest money guzzlers, with even less chance of getting over the line that the promoter of an empty hole in the ground. But now we come onto the fun part: management. When it comes to small caps management is the equivalent of location, location, location with real estate. Having interviewed hundreds of CEOs in my time, and written about many more, meeting / speaking to a CEO can be the definitive give away as far as the potential success of a company. For instance, in the recent past the CEO of **Iofina (IOF),** Dr Tom Becker. The first few second of speaking to him, I thought that this man was the real deal. With the shares now pushing to new highs, this has proved to be the case. However, the opposite does happen, naming no names. After a few seconds one thinks how the hell did this guy become CEO of this company. If you are a bear you would of course immediately look to press the sell button. This may explain why a lot of the shorting playbook relies on implications of race, class and nationality as being as negatives. For instance, posh CEOs tend to get short shrift, literally. But it is clear that even though one cannot be direct in terms of personal attacks on people’s race or background these days, it is a factor as far as shorting is concerned. It is also a factor as far as not being part of the City establishment. Alas, some people who might have thought that they were part of the club find out to their cost that they were most definitely not. There are very few people associated with the stock market who makes personal attacks against the management of companies, even though this is a key factor. But it is a giveaway that if the shares of a small cap are not going down enough, or could deliver a win, why not attack the CEO, CFO et al? This is particularly worth it given the way that it is not as if a small cap is going to sue for defamation, and of course if you are going to defame someone you make sure you clear it with a lawyer. After all, bringing a company down when you are short can be a very fruitful exercise. It is akin to an adult being a school yard bully. To summarise, the shorting playbook is of course dependent on the cash position, the timeframe to revenue, but most of all the management. If they have been there, done that, then the short is unlikely to success. A blue sky situation with newbie directors and you are almost certainly onto a shorting winner. **This Week’s Winners** One of the characteristics of recent weeks has been the way that there has been a dearth of significant risers. To make up for the pain this week we saw **EasyJet (EZJ)** get a higher offer, and even **Vodafone (VOD)** jump on a pass the parcel stake deal in the company. However, in the small cap space decent news did deliver decent results. Leading the way was **Goldstone Resources (GRL)** with a chunky £3.5m  subscription. One can say that the Ghana focused gold explorer is finally on its way in the wake of the premium raise at a penny versus the still only 0.75p share price. If only more companies could serve up fundraises like this. One can say that although **EDX Medical Group (EDX), **which develops diagnostic products and services has always been a company with promise, until now it has not quite delivered. Nevertheless, this week’s news that the company has been appointed to provide molecular profiling products and services to Astron Health looks as though it could finally be the move that the market wanted to see. The shares rose 27% on the week. ![](https://www.share-talk.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Zak-Mir-@ZaksTradersCafe-_-Twitter-Google-Chrome-2022-09-11-at-11.06.02-AM-291x300.jpeg) [Author @ZaksTradersCafe](https://twitter.com/ZaksTradersCafe) **Disclaimer & Declaration of Interest:** The information, investment views, and recommendations in this Zaks Traders Cafe interview are provided for general information purposes only. Nothing in this interview should be construed as a promotion or solicitation to buy or sell any financial product relating to any companies under discussion or referred to or to engage in or refrain from doing so or engage in any other transaction. Any opinions or comments are made to the best of the knowledge and belief of the commentator but no responsibility is accepted for actions based on such opinions or comments. The commentators may or may not hold investments in the companies under discussion. --- **Original URL:** https://www.share-talk.com/traders-cafe-with-zak-mir-the-week-in-small-caps-sunday-12th-july-2026/ *Created by [WP Markdown Endpoint](https://wpmarkdownendpoint.com/)*