Uncovering Short Interest: A Guide to Discovering a Stock's Short Squeeze Potential
In the weed-and-seed world of stock trading, short selling is the badass strategy that experienced dippers employ to create profits. Essentially, they borrow shares like they're funding a wild bacchanal, sell them on the wild, wild market, then buy them back at a lower cost, pay off the loan, and keep the excess cash as their own. It's like playing a reverse game of Monopoly without the fuzzed-up mustache and paper money.
For a general overview of short selling, from the short interest ratio (a.k.a the number of a company's shares sold short divided by the average daily volume of trading) to sites that provide this data, head on over to those finance-y websites that issue stock quotes. Finance-focused sites and stock exchange websites are your best buddies in this game.
Now, if you're new to this hairy-chested world and need a refresher on finding short interest info for specific stocks, we've got you covered. Here are the top spots where you can get the brain food you need about a stock's shorted shares:
Stock ExchangesWhen it comes to crunching the numbers, it doesn't get more legitimate than the folks at the stock exchanges. They release reports at the end of each month, giving you a benchmark tool for your short selling strategy. While the data is generally available twice a month, daily short interest data can be accessed through a subscription.
- New York Stock Exchange (NYSE): The NYSE calculates its own short interest ratio and collects its data from broker-dealers. However, the website you'll need to visit depends on the stock exchange where a particular stock trades.1
- Nasdaq: The OG of Silicon Valley publishes short interest reports at the middle and end of every month. The downside? The data available is outdated, as it reflects the short interest at reporting dates that have already passed.2
Other SitesIf you fancy sites that serve up financial data, you'll find plenty of resources to help you short like a pro. Here are some of the sites where you can feast on short position information for either specific stocks or the market as a whole.
- Yahoo! Finance: This site lets you see the percentage of shares for NYSE and Nasdaq stocks that have been sold short.3
- The Wall Street Journal: Not to brag, but they offer short-sale data on any public company tracked using the "Market Data" page.4
- Other Sites: Financial sites like MarketBeat monitor short interest trends by showing which stocks have seen the largest increases or decreases in short interest over recent reporting periods.5
Lemme break it down for ya: Short interest data pertains to the number of shares sold short by investors who haven't yet wrapped up their play. When calculated as a percentage, it's called the short interest ratio (the total number of a company's shorted shares divided by the total number of outstanding shares). This data reflects market sentiments and can indicate that investors are turning bearish or bullish on a stock.
Short selling is like raising your middle finger to the market, shouting, "I think the price is gonna plummet!" But remember, the game comes with risks and involve borrowed capital. If the price goes up instead of down, an investor could end up in the red.
[1] Source: https://nyse.com/how-to-find-short-interest-data.html[2] Source: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/nasdaq-short-interest-and-other-short-selling-data,933708[3] Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/screener/most-shorted-stocks[4] Source: https://www.wsj.com/market-data/short-interest/[5] Source: https://www.marketbeats.com/lists/lists/largest-short-interest-decreases-vs-increases/
- The NYSE, being the stock exchange where a particular stock trades, calculates its own short interest ratio and collects its data from broker-dealers.
- The Nasdaq publishes short interest reports at the middle and end of every month, but the data available is outdated, as it reflects the short interest at reporting dates that have already passed.
- Financial sites like Yahoo! Finance let you see the percentage of shares for NYSE and Nasdaq stocks that have been sold short.
