Short · InterestWho the Bears Are Betting Against
Short interest in 30 seconds
Short sellers borrow shares and sell them, betting the price falls. Twice a month, brokers report every open short position to FINRA. This page shows those reports for every US company worth $1 billion or more, against the number of shares the company has.
The bears were usually right
Stocks with 20% or more of their shares sold short did 4.3% worse than other stocks of similar trading size over the next 6 months (t-stat −2.5), and lagged in about 2 months out of 3.
Short and falling
Heavily shorted stocks (15%+) that had already fallen 20% in a month kept going: 10.3% worse over the next 6 months (t-stat −4.2), lagging in 3 months out of 4.
Squeezes faded
Heavily shorted stocks (20%+) that had jumped 20% in a month did not keep squeezing on average: 3.6% worse over the next 6 months, too noisy to call either way.
Days to cover
Shares short divided by average daily volume: how many days of normal trading it would take shorts to buy back. On its own it did not predict returns in our test.
How the numbers were made, and their limits
- The data
- FINRA’s consolidated short interest, reported for settlement dates around the middle and end of each month and published about 8 business days later. Shares outstanding come from each company’s latest SEC cover page.
- Short % of shares
- Shares sold short divided by all shares outstanding. Some sites divide by the “float” (shares not held by insiders), which gives higher numbers.
- The test
- Every month from January 2018 to September 2026, 12 days after the settlement date (when the report is out), stocks priced $5 or more and trading at least $1 million a day were grouped by short interest. Each group’s return was compared with all other stocks of similar trading size, and averaged across about 100 months.
- Limits
- Free price histories leave out delisted companies, many of them heavily shorted, so the gaps are likely understated. Companies with several share classes report one class on their cover page, so their percentage can be missing or off.
Good to know. Short selling is risky and losses on a short are unlimited. This is market data and history, not a signal or advice to buy, sell or short anything.
For education only. Data comes from FINRA, SEC filings and third-party price sources and may be delayed or wrong. Past patterns do not predict future results, and nothing here is investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold anything. See the Terms and Disclaimer.