Concepts

Short Interest

Also called: days to cover, short squeeze

The share of a stock's float sold short — when a heavily shorted stock rises, short sellers buying to cover can fuel a 'short squeeze'.

short squeeze
Schematic of a short interest — illustrative geometry, not a live price chart.

Short interest is the number of shares sold short, often expressed as a percent of float. 'Days to cover' divides short interest by average daily volume — how many days of normal trading it would take shorts to buy back.

A high short interest plus a rising price can force shorts to cover, and their buying pushes price even higher in a self-reinforcing short squeeze. It cuts both ways: shorts are betting the stock falls, and they're often right.

On StockSetups

StockSetups folds short interest, days-to-cover and short-volume into a 0–100 short-squeeze score on each signal, surfaced in the dossier's short-interest group (subject to data-source coverage).

Scan the whole market free

Related terms

Get daily signals & real-time alerts.

StockSetups scans ~12,300 US stocks & ETFs after every close and sorts every long setup into four ranked lanes — each with a trade plan — plus an always-on engine firing 35+ real-time intraday alerts. Free for 14 days, cancel in one click.

Start free — 14-day full access →

Keep exploring