About the Short Interest Page

Short selling is the selling of a security that the seller does not own, or any sale that is completed by the delivery of a security borrowed by the seller. Short selling is a legitimate trading strategy. Typically, a short sale involves the sale of a security at the current price which is settled with shares lent to the short seller by a third party. The seller makes the short sale on the assumption that the price of the security will go down. If this occurs, the short seller will purchase shares to lock in a profit, extinguish the short position and replace the shares previously borrowed. Of course, if the stock rises in price, the short seller may elect to close out the position through a purchase, and absorb the resulting loss. Firms are required to report their short positions as of settlement on the 15th of each month. A compilation is published eight business days after.

Data Definitions

Settlement Date

The date specified for delivery of securities between securities firms. This date marks the official date for change of ownership and is used for accounting for long or short positions.

Short Interest

The total number of shares of a security that have been sold short by customers and securities firms that have not been repurchased to settle outstanding short positions in the market; the net short positions outstanding in the stock as of the settlement date.

Average Daily Share Volume

The number of shares of stock traded each day, averaged over a rolling one-year period.

Days to Cover

Calculated as the aggregate short interest for the month divided by the average daily share volume traded between short interest settlement dates. If days to cover is between 0 and 1, it is rounded up to 1 on Nasdaq.com.

Why Investors Care

Many investors believe that rising short interest positions in a stock is a bearish indicator. They use the Days to Cover statistic as a way to judge rising or falling sentiment in a stock from month-to-month, and use the statistic as a way to compare investor sentiment between stocks.

Data Provider

Data is provided by The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc.

Update Schedule

Monthly.