Squeeze Metrics Cheat Sheet

Our squeeze screen. A name makes our list only if it clears at least three of four gates: short interest of at least 20% of float, cost to borrow of at least 50% annualised, utilization of at least 90%, and a dated catalyst inside the next two weeks. We take a trade only when the dated catalyst is one of the gates it clears. Days to cover, float size and the chart help us rank the names that pass. They do not replace a gate.

1. Short-book metrics (who is short and how crowded)

Abbrev	Name	Formula or definition	Speed	What it tells you	Common flag	Pitfall
SI	Short interest	Shares sold short and not yet covered, as of a settlement date	Twice a month (mid-month and month-end settlement dates), published with a lag	Size of the short book	Compare to float	Stale. Includes hedges.
SI% float (SIF)	Short interest as % of float	SI ÷ float	Same as SI	Crowding	20% or more (desk gate)	Float definition varies by vendor.
SI% out	Short interest as % of shares outstanding	SI ÷ shares outstanding	Same as SI	Crowding against all shares	Lower than SI% float	Understates pressure when float is small.
SI delta	Change in short interest	SI now minus SI last report	Twice a month	Whether shorts are adding or covering	Trend over 3 reports	One report is noisy.
DTC (SIR)	Days to cover / short interest ratio	SI ÷ average daily volume (ADV)	Updated with SI, ADV moves daily	Time to cover at normal volume	Above 5	A volume spike shrinks it. Use 30 and 90 day ADV.
SVR	Short volume ratio	Short volume ÷ total volume for the day	Daily	Flow of short sales	Not a flag by itself	A flow, not a position. FINRA's daily file covers only off-exchange trades reported to FINRA, so the ratio runs high, and market makers inflate it. Never use as SI.

2. Borrow-market metrics (how hard it is to stay short)

Abbrev	Name	Definition	Speed	What it tells you	Common flag	Pitfall
CTB	Cost to borrow (borrow fee)	Annualised fee to borrow shares	Intraday to daily	Scarcity and carry cost	50% or more (desk gate); a rising fee is a plus	Quotes differ by broker. Retail view may lag.
UTIL	Utilization	Shares on loan ÷ total lendable shares (on loan plus still available)	Daily	How much lending supply is used	90% or more (desk gate)	Depends on the lending data vendor.
Avail	Shares available to short	Shares your broker can lend now	Intraday	Whether a new short is even possible	Near zero	Differs by broker. Zero means hard to borrow.
ETB / HTB	Easy to borrow / hard to borrow	Broker classification	Intraday	Ease of locating shares	HTB	Lists differ by broker.
Rebate	Short rebate	Interest paid on short proceeds, net of the fee	Daily	Institutional cost of carry	Negative rebate	Retail accounts usually see a fee, not a rebate.
Locate / buy-in	Locate failure, forced buy-in	Broker cannot find shares or recalls them	Event	Most direct forced-buying channel	Fails or recalls	Hard to observe from outside.

3. Supply metrics (how many shares can trade)

Abbrev	Name	Definition	What it tells you	Pitfall
Float	Public float	Shares outstanding minus insider, strategic and restricted holdings	Tradable supply	No single definition.
Free float	Free float	Float adjusted for shares unlikely to trade	Closer to real supply	Vendor estimate.
Eff. float	Effective float	Shares that will actually be offered at a price	Real exit liquidity	Not published. Judge from holder base and volume.
Float rotation	Float turnover	Day's volume ÷ float	How hard the float is being traded. At 1x the float has traded once in the day	Not a signal alone. Can mark a climax.
Insider / inst. %	Insider and institutional ownership	Share of stock held by each	Locked supply	Institutions can sell fast.
Mkt cap	Market capitalisation	Price × shares outstanding	Size and likely holder base	Can mislead if share count just changed.

4. Volume and tape metrics

Abbrev	Name	Definition	Flag
ADV	Average daily volume	Mean volume over 30 or 90 days	Baseline for DTC and RVOL
RVOL	Relative volume	Current volume ÷ typical volume for that time	3x or more on a breakout
VWAP	Volume-weighted average price	Session average price weighted by volume	Price above reclaimed VWAP
Spread	Bid-ask spread	Ask minus bid	Wide spread means costly exits
LULD halt	Limit up / limit down pause	Short trading pause when price moves too fast	Repeated halts mean late-stage

See Volume Analysis for Stocks and VWAP and Intraday Anchors.

5. Regulatory and delivery metrics

Abbrev	Name	Definition	Why it matters
FTD	Fails to deliver	Shares not delivered by settlement	Under Rule 204, a fail from a short sale must be closed out by buying or borrowing shares before the market opens on the next settlement day; long sales and bona fide market making get until the third settlement day. The SEC publishes fails data twice a month. A fail is not proof of naked shorting.
Threshold list	Reg SHO threshold securities	Stocks with fails of 10,000 shares or more and at least 0.5% of shares outstanding for five straight settlement days, listed by an exchange or FINRA	If a clearing firm's fail in a threshold security lasts 13 consecutive settlement days, it must close it out by buying shares. Only SEC-reporting companies can be threshold securities. Listing does not imply wrongdoing.
SSR	Short sale restriction (Rule 201)	Triggered when an exchange-listed (NMS) stock falls 10% or more from the prior day's close; short sale orders may not be executed or displayed at or below the national best bid for the rest of that day and the next, with limited exceptions	Limits piling on a drop. Not a squeeze trigger.

FTD data is published with a lag and is noisy. Many fails are routine and have innocent causes. Do not treat a spike as proof of anything. Naked short selling, the locate requirement and the market maker exception are covered in Playbook 3 (Market Makers, Dark Pools and Naked Short Selling).

6. Supply-risk metrics (can the company sell into the move)

Item	What to check	Why it matters
Shelf registration	Any active universal shelf	Lets the company sell shares quickly
ATM program	At-the-market offering in filings	Company can sell into strength every day
Converts and warrants	Terms and conversion prices	Convert holders may short and may convert into new shares
Cash runway	Cash vs burn	Weak runway makes dilution likely
Going-concern note	Auditor warning	Raises the chance of dilution or delisting

7. Options-market metrics (dealer hedging)

Abbrev	Name	What it tells you	Pitfall
Call OI	Call open interest by strike and expiry	Where call buying is concentrated	OI is reported with a delay.
P/C	Put/call ratio	Relative demand for calls	A volume ratio, not dealer positioning.
IV	Implied volatility	Price of options	IV expands in the run and crushes after.
GEX	Gamma exposure estimate	Estimated dealer hedging pressure	A model output that depends on assumptions. Treat as a rough guide. Vendor estimates assume how dealers are positioned. Don't quote a GEX figure unless you name the vendor and its method.

Playbook 10 covers these. See also The Greeks and Options Pricing.

8. Which metrics update when

Update speed	Metrics
Live (seconds)	Price, RVOL, VWAP, spread, halts, news
Daily	CTB, utilization, shares available, short volume, FTD (daily balances, posted twice a month), options OI
Twice monthly	Short interest, SI% float, SI delta, DTC
Event or filing	Float changes, offerings, shelf, converts, ownership

Rule of thumb: use the slow metrics to decide what to watch and the fast metrics to decide when.

9. How the metrics combine

If you see	Read it as
SI 20%+ of float, CTB 50%+, utilization 90%+	Clears three of our four gates, so it makes the list. Without a dated catalyst inside two weeks it is a list name, not a setup.
High SI% float, low CTB, low utilization	Crowded but easy to carry. Shorts can wait. Lower urgency.
High SI, large converts outstanding	Part of the short interest is hedged. Discount it.
High SI, ATM program active	Supply can rise into the move. Squeeze may end early.
High SI, no catalyst, falling price	Shorts may be right. Not a squeeze setup.
Falling SI, rising price, CTB falling	Shorts are covering already. Late stage.

10. Quick-reference checklist

SI, SI% float, DTC from two sources
SI delta over at least three reports
CTB and utilization, and the trend
Shares available to short
Float, free float, insider and institutional holdings
ADV (30 and 90 day) and RVOL today
Spread and depth
Shelf, ATM, converts, warrants, cash runway
Catalyst dated inside the next two weeks (desk gate)
Options open interest and expiry concentration
Threshold list and FTD context

Risk: squeeze stocks can gap through a stop, get halted while you are still in, and drop hard when the company sells new shares through an offering or an at-the-market program. A call or a call spread can expire worthless, so the whole premium can be lost. Not financial advice. Do your own homework.

Thresholds are heuristics and have no tested success rate.

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