XMET was given on a 1:1 ratio. If you had 10M shares of PYCT you got 10M shares of XMET. This is probably what people are referring to when they are calling it a naked short trap.
I don't pretend to understand it all but what if the MM is responsible for providing a share of XMET for every share of PYCT and they have billions of shorted PYCT? Might not matter what the AS is. The squeeze would be frightening.