At least 3 months to cover the short positions for HCG.TOCurrent short position on HCG (listed on TSX) is 4.15 million shares as of Nov 1
Average trading volume is around 200k shares a day
That means its gonna take an entire month to cover those short positions and this is assuming all shares bought are solely for covering the shorts. Realistically, you can assume 1/3 of all traded volume is for covering shorts. Hence, shorties will need at the minimum 3 months to cover their short positions.
Guess what: that is only the short interest in TSX. There is another 8.5 millon shares shorted through the OTC and there is virtually no volume there.
I don't know why any intelligent life form would take that kind of short squeeze risk. The "mother of short squeezes" is coming for HCG.