Days to cover, explained

Days to cover estimates how long it would take short sellers to buy back everything they have sold short, at the stock's normal trading pace. It is reported shares short divided by average daily trading volume, and it is also called the short interest ratio.

How it is computed

For US stocks, FINRA computes the figure itself and publishes it in the same twice-monthly consolidated short interest report that carries the share counts: the shares reported short at the settlement date, divided by the stock's average daily volume over the reporting period, floored at one day. The figures on this site are FINRA's own numbers, shown exactly as released; we compute nothing from trading volume ourselves.

Why it moves differently from short interest

Short interest as a percentage answers "how much of the company is sold short?" Days to cover answers "how crowded is the exit?" The two share a numerator but divide by different things, so they can point in opposite directions: if a stock's trading volume dries up while positions stay unchanged, days to cover rises with no new short selling at all, and a surge of volume can crush the ratio even as short positions grow. A high percentage with low days to cover means a big position in a heavily traded stock; a modest percentage with high days to cover means even a small position would take a long time to unwind.

What it cannot tell you

Days to cover is arithmetic, not a forecast. It assumes yesterday's average volume, but volume explodes exactly when shorts rush to cover, so the "days" in the name should be read loosely. It says nothing about why the positions exist, whether they are hedges rather than bets, or what the price will do. A high ratio is often cited in short squeeze discussions because a crowded exit can amplify a rally that is already happening; it does not start one. Nothing on this page or this site is investment advice.

Where to see it

Every US company page on this site shows FINRA's latest days-to-cover figure beside the headline short interest, with its full history charted back to December 2017. Only the US publishes this figure: other regulators disclose positions as percentages of capital and publish no volume figure to divide by, so the ratio exists nowhere else on the site. The methodology records exactly what is and is not computed.