Nydar's short interest widget monitors heavily shorted stocks with days-to-cover, utilisation rate, and squeeze scoring
Nydar's Short Interest widget tracks how many shares of a stock have been sold short — borrowed and sold with the expectation that the price will fall. Nydar ranks up to 30 of the most heavily shorted stocks by SI% of float and lets you drill into biweekly short interest snapshots for any individual ticker you select.
Short interest is one of the most watched metrics by both institutional and retail traders. Heavily shorted stocks can experience violent upward moves (short squeezes) when positive catalysts force short sellers to buy back shares simultaneously, creating a feedback loop of rising prices and forced covering.
The predictive value of short interest data is well documented. Asquith, Pathak & Ritter (2005, Journal of Financial Economics) found that stocks with short interest above 95th percentile underperformed by 1.1% per month, confirming that short sellers are generally well-informed. Desai, Ramesh, Thiagarajan & Balachandran (2002, Journal of Finance) showed that heavily shorted NASDAQ stocks experienced average declines of 1.13% monthly over the following 12 months. Conversely, Engelberg, Reed & Ringgenberg (2018, Review of Financial Studies) demonstrated that the most heavily shorted stocks with high days-to-cover ratios were 3.7 times more likely to experience short squeezes producing 20%+ returns within 30 days.
When a trader believes a stock will decline, they can borrow shares and sell them at the current price, hoping to buy them back cheaper later. The difference is their profit. Nydar's short interest data measures the total number of shares currently held in these short positions across all market participants.
Exchanges require brokers to report short interest data twice per month. Nydar aggregates and displays this data, giving traders visibility into how much bearish conviction exists on any given stock.
High short interest alone does not mean a stock is a bad investment. Some of the biggest rallies in market history have come from heavily shorted stocks where the bears were wrong — or where short sellers were forced out by unexpected good news.
Nydar's short interest widget has two modes: Most Shorted shows the top stocks ranked by short interest across the market, and the Ticker view shows historical short interest data for whatever stock you have selected on Nydar's dashboard.
Nydar displays a ranked list of the most heavily shorted stocks. Each entry shows the ticker, total shares short, SI% of float, and days to cover. Nydar flags stocks with 20%+ of float short with a "High SI" badge.
Nydar shows historical short interest reports for your selected stock. Each row is a biweekly snapshot, letting you track whether short interest is building or declining over time.
Nydar displays the total number of shares currently sold short in abbreviated form — 1.2M means 1.2 million shares. Large absolute numbers matter most on high-volume stocks; for smaller names, Nydar's percentage of float metric is more meaningful.
Nydar calculates short interest as a percentage of the stock's free float (shares available for public trading, excluding insider and restricted shares). This is the most important metric for gauging squeeze potential. Below 5% is light, 10-20% is elevated, and above 20% is heavily shorted. Nydar flags anything above 20% with a red "High SI" badge.
Total shares short divided by average daily volume. If a stock has 10 million shares short and trades 2 million shares per day, it would take 5 days for all shorts to cover. Higher days to cover (above 5-7) means short sellers cannot exit quickly, amplifying squeeze dynamics during sharp rallies.
Nydar displays the settlement date of each short interest report. Since data is reported biweekly, check this date to understand how current the numbers are. A report from two weeks ago may not reflect recent covering activity or new short positions.
Scan for high SI% of float
Start with Nydar's Most Shorted view and look for stocks with the "High SI" badge. These are the names where short positioning is most crowded and squeeze potential is highest.
Check days to cover
High SI% combined with high days to cover (5+) creates the strongest squeeze setups. Short sellers in these stocks would struggle to exit quickly if forced to cover, creating sustained buying pressure.
Track the trend over time
Select a ticker and switch to Nydar's Ticker view to see how short interest has changed across reporting periods. Rising SI over multiple reports means bears are piling in. Declining SI means shorts are covering — the squeeze may already be underway.
Combine with Nydar's other signals
Cross-reference Nydar's short interest data with Nydar's Price Chart, Options Flow, and Reddit Sentiment widgets. A heavily shorted stock with increasing call option volume and rising social mentions is a classic squeeze setup. But confirm with price action on Nydar's chart — the technicals need to cooperate.
Nydar's data is biweekly, not real-time. Short interest is reported twice per month with a settlement lag. By the time you see a spike in Nydar's SI data, the positioning may have already changed. Treat it as a directional indicator, not a precise snapshot.
High short interest can be justified. Stocks are heavily shorted for a reason — deteriorating fundamentals, accounting concerns, or industry headwinds. Not every heavily shorted stock squeezes. Many continue to decline as the bears expected. Do your own fundamental analysis.
Squeeze trades are high risk. Short squeezes can produce dramatic gains, but they reverse just as violently. Many traders who buy into a squeeze get caught holding at the top when momentum reverses. Use Nydar's Position Size Calculator to size conservatively and always set stop losses.
SI% thresholds are guidelines, not rules. The 20% "High SI" threshold is a commonly cited level, but squeezes can happen at lower levels if other conditions align (low float, high days to cover, strong catalyst). Conversely, some stocks stay above 20% for months without squeezing.
| Feature | Short Interest | Short Squeeze | Cost to Borrow | FTD Data | Dark Pool |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it measures | Total shares sold short | Active squeeze momentum | Borrow fee rates | Failed deliveries | Off-exchange volume |
| Update frequency | Biweekly | Daily | Daily | Biweekly (SEC) | End of day |
| Key metric | SI% of float | Squeeze score | Annual borrow rate | FTD share count | Dark pool % |
| Best for | Bearish positioning | Squeeze entry timing | Short supply tightness | Settlement stress | Hidden block trades |
| Leading vs lagging | Lagging (biweekly) | Leading (momentum) | Coincident | Lagging (biweekly) | Coincident |
| Tickers displayed | Up to 30 | Up to 25 | Per-ticker | Per-ticker | Per-ticker |
| Combine with | Squeeze scanner | Short interest | Short interest | Short interest | Institutional flow |
Exchange Short Interest Reports
Biweekly filings from NYSE and NASDAQ with total shares short per security.
Market Data Aggregators
Float data and average volume used to calculate SI% of float and days to cover.
Short interest updates biweekly (around the 15th and last business day of each month)
Last reviewed: March 2026