The Data Gap
Official US short interest data, published by exchanges, is notoriously stale, often lagging by up to eight business days and released only twice per month. This creates a significant information vacuum for active traders. Ortex has emerged as the industry standard for filling this void by modeling short interest from securities-lending data.
Why Real-Time Matters
Ortex provides intraday estimates for over 15,800 US securities, including metrics like cost-to-borrow, utilization, and days-to-cover. By tracking the number of shares on loan, analysts can identify 'crowded' shorts before they appear in official filings. High utilization combined with rising borrow fees is a classic indicator of a potential short squeeze, a setup that was notably identified by Ortex prior to the Beyond Meat squeeze in 2025.
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.