The Problem with Stale Data
Official short interest data, such as that reported by FINRA in the US, is published only twice per month and carries an approximate 8-business-day lag. This delay makes it difficult for active traders to assess current market positioning. Ortex fills this gap by modeling short interest from securities-lending data, providing updates throughout the trading day.
Key Metrics for Traders
Ortex tracks several critical indicators, including cost-to-borrow, share availability, and utilization percentages. High utilization—approaching 100%—is a strong signal that the supply of shares available to borrow is nearly exhausted, which often precedes a spike in borrow fees. By monitoring these metrics, analysts can identify when short sellers are becoming more aggressive or when a potential squeeze is developing, providing a more accurate picture of the current market landscape than official reports alone.
Signal data sourced from Ortex. This post is an original analysis prepared by The Forensic Ledger from publicly available data. Not investment advice.
Not investment advice. This is original reporting and analysis prepared by The Forensic Ledger from publicly available data. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. Always consult the original source and a licensed professional. See our full disclaimer and source-citation policy.