Tracking short interest

[marvinat0rz]

I got a bit curious about this metric. At the following link (TSLA Key Statistics | Tesla Motors, Inc. Stock - Yahoo! Finance), short as percentage of float is reported at 34.50%. Whereas Zacks (Investors are Betting Against Tesla Motors Inc.(TSLA) Should You? - Yahoo Finance) report 27.1%. I can't get these numbers to match up. Which is the correct one, given the most current information?

Short percentage of 34.50% seems like a very high number, especially since the rest of the float and some is owned by institutions. Institutions can turn around fast, but not lightning-fast.

 

[pfq1982]

I got a bit curious about this metric. At the following link (TSLA Key Statistics | Tesla Motors, Inc. Stock - Yahoo! Finance), short as percentage of float is reported at 34.50%. Whereas Zacks (Investors are Betting Against Tesla Motors Inc.(TSLA) Should You? - Yahoo Finance) report 27.1%. I can't get these numbers to match up. Which is the correct one, given the most current information?

Short percentage of 34.50% seems like a very high number, especially since the rest of the float and some is owned by institutions. Institutions can turn around fast, but not lightning-fast.

Converts drive up short interest, because those owners are typically hedge funds who short the stock to hedge. I think the right number is 27.5% (convert shorts are included in here, real number is lower)

 

[marvinat0rz]

Thanks, that's clarifying. Do I need broker tools to see this, or can these numbers be found in a reliable place on the web? Suppose I could calculate it from the NASDAQ official numbers, but it's kind of clunky.

 

[DaveT]

Short interest as of 9/13/13 (settled date) was published today (Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) Short Interest - NASDAQ.com). Since it takes 3 business days to settle, the 9/13/13 settled date is reflective of short interest as the end of trading on 9/10/13.

So as of 9/10/13, 26.3% of the float was short (21.02m out of 79.86m shares). This is 0.7% lower than the previous reported short interest amount.

Settlement Date	Short Interest	Avg Daily Share Volume	Days To Cover
9/13/2013	21,021,797	9,055,308	2.321489
8/30/2013	21,557,853	11,893,336	1.812599
8/15/2013	20,266,324	12,148,844	1.668169
7/31/2013	19,783,866	12,231,921	1.617396
7/15/2013	18,491,029	8,684,647	2.129163
6/28/2013	19,815,686	8,152,764	2.430548

 

[Curt Renz]

Short interest as of 9/13/13 (settled date) was published today (Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) Short Interest - NASDAQ.com). Since it takes 3 business days to settle, the 9/13/13 settled date is reflective of short interest as the end of trading on 9/10/13.

So as of 9/10/13, 26.3% of the float was short (21.02m out of 79.86m shares). This is 0.7% lower than the previous reported short interest amount.

Thanks, DaveT. That's still a huge amount of short interest, and measured in dollars it's considerably more than earlier this year.

 

[DaveT]

Thanks, DaveT. That's still a huge amount of short interest, and measured in dollars it's considerably more than earlier this year.

Agreed. Short interest is still very high.

 

[justdoit]

My broker is showing over 1 million shortable shares available. This is up from just a week or two ago where it was in the few hundred thousand and even under 100k at one point. Guessing a lot of shorts are covering pre Q3 and not many others are jumping in?

 

[fjm9898]

sounds about right. this is probably one of the reasons why the stock has been on a steady climb. Today though either more jumped in thinking it was the end or many covered while it was down and helped the stock bounce back. I would assume some of those shorts did just that, cover when the stock was down to save themselves a few bucks.

 

[DaveT]

Short interest as of 9/30/13 (settled date) was published yesterday (Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) Short Interest - NASDAQ.com). Since it takes 3 business days to settle, the 9/30/13 settled date is reflective of short interest as the end of trading on 9/25/13.

So as of 9/25/13, 26.2% of the float was short (20.93m out of 79.85m shares). This is 0.1% lower than the previous reported short interest amount.

Settlement Date	Short Interest	Avg Daily Share Volume	Days To Cover
9/30/13	20,931,318	8,540,203	2.450916
9/13/2013	21,021,797	9,055,308	2.321489
8/30/2013	21,557,853	11,893,336	1.812599
8/15/2013	20,266,324	12,148,844	1.668169
7/31/2013	19,783,866	12,231,921	1.617396
7/15/2013	18,491,029	8,684,647	2.129163

 

[TSLAopt]

Short interest as of 9/30/13 (settled date) was published yesterday (Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) Short Interest - NASDAQ.com). Since it takes 3 business days to settle, the 9/30/13 settled date is reflective of short interest as the end of trading on 9/25/13.

So as of 9/25/13, 26.2% of the float was short (20.93m out of 79.85m shares). This is 0.1% lower than the previous reported short interest amount.

Settlement Date	Short Interest	Avg Daily Share Volume	Days To Cover
9/30/13	20,931,318	8,540,203	2.450916
9/13/2013	21,021,797	9,055,308	2.321489
8/30/2013	21,557,853	11,893,336	1.812599
8/15/2013	20,266,324	12,148,844	1.668169
7/31/2013	19,783,866	12,231,921	1.617396
7/15/2013	18,491,029	8,684,647	2.129163

Thanks Dave for helping to keep track of this, the 0.1% move is negligible.

what will be most interesting to me will be to see if there was a substantial increase in short positions between 9/25/13 (185 stock price at the close) and as of the end of the trading day yesterday (173 stock price at the close) which is what the next report on Thursday Oct 24th will show.

With the fire and the volatility over the past week I imagine there were some extra shorts trying to pile in thinking the bubble was going to pop and drive the price down much more than it has so we will see on the 24th what that short position was as of yesterday's close.

 

[DaveT]

Thanks Dave for helping to keep track of this, the 0.1% move is negligible.

what will be most interesting to me will be to see if there was a substantial increase in short positions between 9/25/13 (185 stock price at the close) and as of the end of the trading day yesterday (173 stock price at the close) which is what the next report on Thursday Oct 24th will show.

With the fire and the volatility over the past week I imagine there were some extra shorts trying to pile in thinking the bubble was going to pop and drive the price down much more than it has so we will see on the 24th what that short position was as of yesterday's close.

I agree, TSLAopt. It appears that short interest remains high. And I have no reason to believe that it's gone down significantly over the past couple weeks, especially with the downward movement of the stock.

It's pretty amazing (to me) that 26.2% of the float is still short.

 

[Norse]

I agree, TSLAopt. It appears that short interest remains high. And I have no reason to believe that it's gone down significantly over the past couple weeks, especially with the downward movement of the stock.

It's pretty amazing (to me) that 26.2% of the float is still short.

I was 100% sure that there would be under 10% on the next earnings. If people dare shorting during earnings, they must be insane.

 

[Jack6591]

The next settlement date 10-15 will be published on 10-24. This will be after the fire. However, there has been some solid data indicating a strong Q3. Any predictions on short interest for the 10-24 report?

 

[TSLAopt]

The next settlement date 10-15 will be published on 10-24. This will be after the fire. However, there has been some solid data indicating a strong Q3. Any predictions on short interest for the 10-24 report?

23mm

 

[DaveT]

Short interest as of 10/15/13 (settled date) was published today (Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) Short Interest - NASDAQ.com). Since it takes 3 business days to settle, the 10/15/13 settled date is reflective of short interest as the end of trading on 10/10/13.

So as of 10/10/13, 26.1% of the float was short (20.81m out of 79.85m shares). This is 0.1% lower than the previous reported short interest amount.

Settlement Date	Short Interest	Avg Daily Share Volume	Days To Cover
10/15/2013	20,813,894	13,356,976	1.558279
9/30/2013	20,931,318	8,540,203	2.450916
9/13/2013	21,021,797	9,055,308	2.321489
8/30/2013	21,557,853	11,893,336	1.812599
8/15/2013	20,266,324	12,148,844	1.668169
7/31/2013	19,783,866	12,231,921	1.617396

 

[Jack6591]

Short interest as of 10/15/13 (settled date) was published today (Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) Short Interest - NASDAQ.com). Since it takes 3 business days to settle, the 10/15/13 settled date is reflective of short interest as the end of trading on 10/10/13.

So as of 10/10/13, 26.1% of the float was short (20.81m out of 79.85m shares). This is 0.1% lower than the previous reported short interest amount.

Settlement Date	Short Interest	Avg Daily Share Volume	Days To Cover
10/15/2013	20,813,894	13,356,976	1.558279
9/30/2013	20,931,318	8,540,203	2.450916
9/13/2013	21,021,797	9,055,308	2.321489
8/30/2013	21,557,853	11,893,336	1.812599
8/15/2013	20,266,324	12,148,844	1.668169
7/31/2013	19,783,866	12,231,921	1.617396

I thought it would be higher.

 

[MikeC]

Settlement Date
10/31/2013

Short Interest
21,419,497

Avg Daily Volume
9,851,553

Days To Cover
2.174225

 

[Chickenlittle]

Settlement Date
10/31/2013

Short Interest
21,419,497

Avg Daily Volume
9,851,553

Days To Cover
2.174225

remember this is pre report. suspect a lot higher now

 

[MikeC]

remember this is pre report. suspect a lot higher now

Yep, that's what I'm hoping for. 25k+ would be nice.

 

[mershaw2001]

Yep, that's what I'm hoping for. 25k+ would be nice.

Wow if you haven't seen short analytics, you should take a look:
Interactive Charts

The % sold short today and yesterday went from 40 to 55%.

My understanding is that these numbers are taken from a limited number of brokers, just for the additional caveat that it's not the market as a whole, just a small sample.