Settlement date

The date on which a share trade is completed by delivery and payment; FINRA's short interest is counted as of settlement, not trade date.

US equity trades settle one business day after the trade (T+1 since May 2024). FINRA's twice-monthly short interest counts positions as they stand at settlement on the 15th and the last business day of the month (rolled back to the preceding business day when those fall on a weekend or holiday), so a trade on the 14th is in the mid-month count and one on the 15th is not.

On this site every US figure carries its settlement date, which is the position date for that market.

Related terms

FINRA short interest (US): The US measure: broker-dealers report the short positions on their books as of two settlement dates a month, and FINRA publishes one consolidated total per security about nine business days later.

Position date vs publication date: The position date is the day a short position existed; the publication date is the day the regulator released the figure. They are never the same day.