About this data: Short interest across global markets
The most shorted, most expensive to borrow and fastest-changing short positions across US, European and Asian stocks, from ORTEX's daily short interest estimates rather than twice-monthly exchange reports.
What is short interest?
The number of shares that have been sold short and not yet bought back, usually shown as a percentage of free float (the shares available to trade). ORTEX estimates it every day from securities-lending data, instead of waiting for exchange reports that are published only twice a month and about two weeks late.
What is a high short interest ratio (days to cover)?
Short interest divided by average daily trading volume: roughly how many days of normal trading it would take for every short seller to buy back their shares. The higher the figure, the longer short sellers would take to close their positions; readings above about 10 days are usually considered high, and they leave the shorts more exposed if the price rises.
Short float vs short interest
Short interest is a number of shares: how many are sold short and not yet bought back. Short float is that number as a percentage of the free float, the shares available to trade, so that companies of different sizes can be compared. ORTEX reports short interest as a percentage of free float.
What does cost to borrow tell you?
The annualised fee a short seller pays to borrow the shares, as a percentage of the position's value. A rising cost to borrow means lendable shares are getting scarce and holding the short is getting more expensive.
- Utilization
- The share of the lendable supply of a stock that is currently on loan. Close to 100% means almost no shares are left to borrow.
- Exchange-reported short interest
- The official figure published by the exchange or regulator (in the US, FINRA twice a month). It is accurate but delayed, which is the gap the ORTEX daily and intraday estimates fill.
Source: ORTEX. Some figures are limited on the free view; live data and full history are part of ORTEX Advanced.