Shares Short

Returns the total number of shares that have been sold short and not yet covered. Short selling involves borrowing shares to sell, betting the price will decline.

Short Interest Metrics

Metric Formula Measures
Shares Short Direct value Total short position
Short % of Float Shares Short / Float Short intensity
Short Ratio Shares Short / Avg Volume Days to cover

What High Short Interest Indicates

  • Bearish sentiment: Many investors betting against the stock
  • Squeeze potential: If price rises, shorts must cover
  • Controversy: Disagreement about company's future

Short Squeeze Dynamics

When shorts rush to cover:

  1. They must buy shares to return borrowed stock
  2. Buying pressure drives price higher
  3. Higher prices force more shorts to cover
  4. This can create explosive upward moves

Examples

=SharesShort("GME")
GameStop shares short
=SharesShort("AAPL")
Apple shares short
=SharesShort("TSLA")
Tesla shares short
=SharesShort(A1)
Symbol from cell reference
=SharesShort("GME")/FloatShares("GME")
Short % of float

When to Use

  • Short squeeze screening
  • Sentiment analysis
  • Contrarian investing
  • Risk assessment
  • Finding heavily shorted stocks

When NOT to Use

Scenario Use Instead
Need days to cover ShortRatio()
Need percentage of float Calculate or use short_interest_percent()
Need float shares FloatShares()
Need institutional ownership SharesOwned()

Common Issues & FAQ

Q: How do I calculate short interest as percentage? A: =SharesShort("SYMBOL") / FloatShares("SYMBOL")

Q: How often is short interest updated? A: Short interest is reported twice monthly by exchanges (mid-month and month-end). There's typically a 10-day reporting lag.

Q: What is considered high short interest? A: Generally:

  • 5-10% of float = Moderate
  • 10-20% of float = High
  • 20%+ of float = Very high (potential squeeze)

Q: Can short interest exceed 100% of float? A: Yes, this can happen due to rehypothecation (lending shares that have already been borrowed). This was seen in the GME short squeeze.

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