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Short Interest API

The Short Interest API returns official US short interest as reported to FINRA under Rule 4560 — covering more than 22,000 exchange-listed and OTC equity securities, with history back to December 2017.

FINRA publishes how many shares are short, but never what that is a share of. Every record here is enriched with the join FINRA does not do: short_percent_outstanding (exact, from the company's SEC cover page), short_percent_float, dollar_volume_short, and percentile_2y — where the current reading sits in that stock's own two-year range, which is what tells you whether 12% is actually high.

Short interest is bi-weekly, not daily: positions settle on the 15th and the last business day of each month, and FINRA publishes on the seventh business day after. For something that moves every day, see daily short volume and fails-to-deliver.

For related ownership and filing data see the Insider Trading API, Institutional Holdings API and SEC API.

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https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/shortinterest

Returns the latest bi-weekly short interest for a security, plus history. Free plans get the latest settlement date including the exact short_percent_outstanding; premium plans add percent of float, dollar notional short, the two-year percentile, split-adjusted history and the full archive back to December 2017.

Parameters

  • ticker  required

    The stock or ETF ticker symbol (for example GME).

  • settlement_date  optional

    Return one specific settlement date, in YYYY-MM-DD format. Short interest settles on the 15th and the last business day of each month.

  • limit  optional

    Number of historical settlement dates to return, from 1 to 200. Defaults to 12. Free plans are limited to the latest date.

Sample Request Live Demo!

ticker

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https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/shortinterest?ticker=GME

Headers

X-Api-KeyLog in or sign up to get your API Key

Sample Response

JSON
{
    ticker:"GME",
    name:"GameStop Corp. Class A",
    exchange:"NYSE",
    cik:"0001326380",
    sector:"Technology",
    industry:"Computer Hardware",
    settlement_date:"2026-07-31",
    shares_short:53736062,
    previous_shares_short:55426276,
    change:-1690214,
    change_percent:-3.05,
    average_daily_volume:3150012,
    days_to_cover:17.06,
    shares_outstanding:448691257,
    short_percent_outstanding:11.9762,
    float_shares:400890868,
    short_percent_float:13.4042,
    float_estimated:true,
    float_is_capped:false,
    float_as_of:"2025-08-02",
    float_price_gap_days:1,
    shares_outstanding_as_of:"2026-06-05",
    close_price:22.16,
    price_date:"2026-07-29",
    price_source:"sec_ftd",
    dollar_volume_short:1190791133,
    percentile_2y:43.75,
    shares_short_split_adjusted:53736062,
    is_revision:false,
    had_split:false,
    history:[
      {
        settlement_date:"2026-07-31",
        shares_short:53736062,
        previous_shares_short:55426276,
        change:-1690214,
        change_percent:-3.05,
        average_daily_volume:3150012,
        days_to_cover:17.06,
        shares_outstanding:448691257,
        short_percent_outstanding:11.9762,
        float_shares:400890868,
        short_percent_float:13.4042,
        float_estimated:true,
        float_is_capped:false,
        float_as_of:"2025-08-02",
        float_price_gap_days:1,
        shares_outstanding_as_of:"2026-06-05",
        close_price:22.16,
        price_date:"2026-07-29",
        price_source:"sec_ftd",
        dollar_volume_short:1190791133,
        percentile_2y:43.75,
        shares_short_split_adjusted:53736062,
        is_revision:false,
        had_split:false
      },
      {
        settlement_date:"2026-07-15",
        shares_short:55426276,
        previous_shares_short:55856110,
        change:-429834,
        change_percent:-0.77,
        average_daily_volume:3433961,
        days_to_cover:16.14,
        shares_outstanding:448691257,
        short_percent_outstanding:12.3529,
        float_shares:400890868,
        short_percent_float:13.8258,
        float_estimated:true,
        float_is_capped:false,
        float_as_of:"2025-08-02",
        float_price_gap_days:1,
        shares_outstanding_as_of:"2026-06-05",
        close_price:22.03,
        price_date:"2026-07-14",
        price_source:"sec_ftd",
        dollar_volume_short:1221040860,
        percentile_2y:45.83,
        shares_short_split_adjusted:55426276,
        is_revision:false,
        had_split:false
      }
    ],
    next_settlement_date:"2026-08-31",
    next_publication_date:"2026-09-10",
    source:"Short interest reported to FINRA under Rule 4560. Share count and public float from SEC EDGAR; prices from SEC fails-to-deliver filings. Share count and float are resolved point-in-time to each settlement date. float_shares and short_percent_float are DERIVED (public float in dollars divided by price) and are estimates, not reported figures."
}

Code Examples

1 2 curl -X GET "https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/shortinterest?ticker=GME" \ -H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

If your programming language is not listed in the Code Example above, you can still make API calls by using a HTTP request library written in your programming language and following the above documentation.

Business Plan Only

https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/shortinterestscreener

Ranks the entire US equity universe for a settlement date — this is how you find the most shorted stocks. Sort by percent of float, percent of outstanding, days to cover, two-week change, dollar notional short or the two-year percentile, and narrow by sector, exchange, price or size.

Because short percent of float is derived rather than reported, add exclude_capped_float=true and max_float_price_gap_days=7 to restrict a ranking to floats that were actually measured.

Parameters

  • sort_by  optional

    Ranking metric: short_percent_float (default), short_percent_outstanding, days_to_cover, change_percent, dollar_volume_short, percentile_2y or shares_short.

  • order  optional

    desc (default) or asc.

  • settlement_date  optional

    Settlement date in YYYY-MM-DD format. Defaults to the most recently published date.

  • exchange  optional

    Restrict to one venue: NYSE, NNM, SC, ARCA, BZX, AMEX, IEX or OTC.

  • sector  optional

    Restrict to one sector, for example Health Care.

  • min_short_percent_float  optional

    Minimum short percent of float.

  • min_days_to_cover  optional

    Minimum days to cover.

  • min_price  optional

    Minimum share price — useful for excluding sub-dollar names.

  • min_shares_outstanding  optional

    Minimum shares outstanding, a rough size filter.

  • exclude_capped_float  optional

    Set true to drop rows where the derived float was clamped to shares outstanding.

  • max_float_price_gap_days  optional

    Only include rows whose float was converted using a price within this many days of the measurement date.

  • limit  optional

    Number of results, 1 to 100. Defaults to 25.

Sample Response

JSON
{
    settlement_date:"2026-07-31",
    sort_by:"short_percent_float",
    order:"desc",
    count:3,
    results:[
      {
        ticker:"OTLK",
        name:"Outlook Therapeutics, Inc. Com",
        exchange:"SC",
        sector:"Health Care",
        industry:"Biotechnology",
        shares_short:20013892,
        change_percent:78.04,
        days_to_cover:1.09,
        shares_outstanding:120863252,
        short_percent_outstanding:16.5591,
        float_shares:20378787,
        short_percent_float:98.2094,
        float_estimated:true,
        float_is_capped:false,
        close_price:1,
        dollar_volume_short:20013892,
        percentile_2y:100
      },
      {
        ticker:"CDT",
        name:"CDT Equity Inc. Common Stock",
        exchange:"SC",
        sector:"Health Care",
        industry:"Pharmaceuticals",
        shares_short:18200,
        change_percent:-90.18,
        days_to_cover:1,
        shares_outstanding:6310778,
        short_percent_outstanding:0.2884,
        float_shares:19166,
        short_percent_float:94.9598,
        float_estimated:true,
        float_is_capped:false,
        close_price:2.68,
        dollar_volume_short:48776,
        percentile_2y:83.33
      },
      {
        ticker:"PPLT",
        name:"abrdn Physical Platinum Shares",
        exchange:"ARCA",
        sector:"Financials",
        industry:"Capital Markets & Exchanges",
        shares_short:10794161,
        change_percent:-24.27,
        days_to_cover:6.49,
        shares_outstanding:13600000,
        short_percent_outstanding:79.3688,
        float_shares:11450000,
        short_percent_float:94.2721,
        float_estimated:true,
        float_is_capped:false,
        close_price:14.59,
        dollar_volume_short:157486808,
        percentile_2y:62.5
      }
    ]
}

https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/shortvolume

Daily Reg SHO short sale volume — the portion of a day's off-exchange volume flagged as short sales. Updated every trading day, so it moves between the bi-weekly short interest readings.

This is not short interest, and not a percent of total market volume. FINRA covers only trades reported to its Trade Reporting Facilities, roughly 35–52% of consolidated volume. A ratio near 50% is normal: it mostly reflects wholesalers filling retail buy orders from inventory, which books as a short sale.

Parameters

  • ticker  required

    The stock or ETF ticker symbol (for example GME).

  • limit  optional

    Number of trading days to return, 1 to 250. Defaults to 30. Free plans are limited to the latest day.

Sample Response

JSON
{
    ticker:"GME",
    latest:{
      date:"2026-08-21",
      short_volume:1335397,
      short_exempt_volume:1355,
      total_volume:2315275,
      short_volume_ratio:57.6777,
      markets:"B,Q,N"
    },
    average_short_volume_ratio_20d:63.3483,
    note:"Short volume is the portion of OFF-EXCHANGE (FINRA TRF-reported) daily volume flagged as short sales — not the outstanding short position, and not a percentage of total market volume. FINRA TRF volume is roughly 35-52% of consolidated tape volume. A ratio near 50% is normal and mostly reflects wholesalers filling retail buy orders from inventory, which books as a short sale. Use /v1/shortinterest for actual short positions.",
    history:[
      {
        date:"2026-08-21",
        short_volume:1335397,
        short_exempt_volume:1355,
        total_volume:2315275,
        short_volume_ratio:57.6777,
        markets:"B,Q,N"
      },
      {
        date:"2026-08-20",
        short_volume:1279030,
        short_exempt_volume:9923,
        total_volume:2361079,
        short_volume_ratio:54.1714,
        markets:"B,Q,N"
      }
    ]
}

https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/failstodeliver

Shares that did not settle on the contractual settlement date, published semi-monthly by the SEC. Persistent, large fails are the closest public signal to naked shorting.

A security is listed only on dates it actually had a settlement failure, so an absent date means no material fails rather than no data.

Parameters

  • ticker  required

    The stock or ETF ticker symbol (for example GME).

  • limit  optional

    Number of records to return, 1 to 250. Defaults to 30. Free plans are limited to the latest record.

Sample Response

JSON
{
    ticker:"GME",
    latest:{
      settlement_date:"2026-07-29",
      cusip:"36467W109",
      name:"GAMESTOP CORP (HLDG CO) CL A",
      quantity_failed:142,
      price:22.16,
      dollar_value:3146
    },
    source:"Fails-to-deliver data published by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (public domain). A security appears only on dates when it had a CNS settlement failure.",
    history:[
      {
        settlement_date:"2026-07-29",
        cusip:"36467W109",
        name:"GAMESTOP CORP (HLDG CO) CL A",
        quantity_failed:142,
        price:22.16,
        dollar_value:3146
      },
      {
        settlement_date:"2026-07-28",
        cusip:"36467W109",
        name:"GAMESTOP CORP (HLDG CO) CL A",
        quantity_failed:42,
        price:21.52,
        dollar_value:903
      }
    ],
    trailing_12m:{
      days_with_fails:157,
      peak_quantity_failed:2068490,
      average_quantity_failed:85738
    }
}

https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/shortinterestcalendar

Settlement dates, member reporting deadlines and FINRA publication dates. Short interest changes only 24 times a year, so this lets you schedule refreshes instead of polling. Available on every plan, including free.

Parameters

  • year  optional

    Restrict to one calendar year, 2018 onward.

  • upcoming  optional

    Set true to return only future, not-yet-published settlement dates in ascending order.

  • limit  optional

    Number of dates to return, 1 to 120. Defaults to 24 (one year).

Sample Response

JSON
{
    count:2,
    results:[
      {
        settlement_date:"2026-08-31",
        reporting_due_date:"2026-09-02",
        publication_date:"2026-09-10",
        is_published:false,
        securities_reported:null
      },
      {
        settlement_date:"2026-09-15",
        reporting_due_date:"2026-09-17",
        publication_date:"2026-09-24",
        is_published:false,
        securities_reported:null
      }
    ],
    note:"Short interest settles on the 15th and the last business day of each month. FINRA members report by the second business day after settlement; FINRA publishes on the seventh."
}

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Yes, but you must have a premium subscription. Commercial use of the Short Interest API is not permitted on the free tier. See our pricing page to choose a plan that fits your needs.
  • Sign up for a free account to instantly get your API key, then pass it in the X-Api-Key header on every request. The documentation above includes ready-to-run examples in cURL, Python, JavaScript, Node.js, and more.
  • Your API requests will simply be denied once you hit your monthly quota — you will never be charged more than the plan you signed up for. To increase your quota, you can upgrade your plan any time on our pricing page.
  • The API responds with a standard HTTP status code and a JSON error message describing the problem. See our error codes reference for the full list of codes and how to resolve each one, or contact support if you need help.
  • The Short Interest API returns official US short interest as reported to FINRA under Rule 4560, covering over 22,000 exchange-listed and OTC equity securities with history back to December 2017. Each settlement-date record includes shares_short, previous_shares_short, change_percent, average_daily_volume and days_to_cover, enriched with data FINRA does not publish: short_percent_outstanding and short_percent_float (from SEC filings), dollar_volume_short, and percentile_2y — where the current reading sits in that stock's own two-year range. Related endpoints cover daily short volume and fails-to-deliver.
  • Short interest is bi-weekly — 24 times a year, not daily. Positions settle on the 15th and the last business day of each month; FINRA members report by the second business day after settlement, and FINRA publishes on the seventh business day. That means a reading is roughly 11 to 13 calendar days old when it becomes available, and up to three weeks old just before the next one lands. The /v1/shortinterestcalendar endpoint returns every settlement, reporting and publication date so you can schedule refreshes instead of polling, and every response carries next_publication_date. For something that moves daily, use /v1/shortvolume.
  • Yes. Create a free account for an instant API key. The free tier returns the latest settlement date including shares_short, days_to_cover and the exact short_percent_outstanding. Premium plans unlock short percent of float, dollar notional short, the two-year percentile, split-adjusted history, and the full archive back to 2017. The settlement calendar endpoint is free on every plan. One key works across every API Ninjas endpoint.
  • They measure different things and are easy to confuse. Short interest is the outstanding short position — shares sold short and not yet covered — reported twice a month. Short volume is the portion of a single day's executed volume flagged as short sales, published daily. Crucially, FINRA's short volume covers only off-exchange trades reported to its Trade Reporting Facilities, which is roughly 35-52% of consolidated market volume, so the ratio is a share of off-exchange volume and not of total volume. A ratio near 50% is normal: it mostly reflects wholesalers filling retail buy orders from inventory, which books as a short sale. Use /v1/shortinterest for actual positions.
  • Use /v1/shortinterestscreener, which ranks the entire universe for a settlement date. Sort by short_percent_float, short_percent_outstanding, days_to_cover, change_percent, dollar_volume_short or percentile_2y, and filter by sector, exchange, min_price or min_shares_outstanding. The screener requires a Business plan or higher.
  • Short percent of outstanding is exact — it divides the FINRA short position by the share count on the company's SEC cover page. Short percent of float is an estimate: the SEC discloses public float as a dollar amount once a year, so we convert it to shares using a price near the measurement date. Every row therefore carries float_estimated, float_as_of and float_price_gap_days (0 means an exact-date conversion), plus float_is_capped when the derived float had to be clamped to shares outstanding. Roughly 78% of conversions use a price within three days. Coverage is limited by SEC tagging: about 27% of securities have a share count and 22% a float, while core FINRA fields cover 100%.