As announced in NASD Notice to Members 06-14 (April 2006), in accordance with the amendments to NASD Rule 3360 that expand the short interest reporting requirements to over-the-counter (OTC) equity securities which became effective July 3, 2006, NASD collects and disseminates OTC equity short interest data on a monthly basis.
Commencing upon the close of business Tuesday, July 25, 2006 (but no earlier than 4 p.m. ET), OTC equity short interest data will be available on the OTCBB website. Please refer to the publication schedule below for a schedule of subsequent OTC equity short interest publication dates for 2006.
NASD intends to launch a new web page that allows users to query a specific OTC security’s reported short interest position for a particular month. The query will return the security name and symbol, OTC market type (Bulletin Board or other-OTC), current month short interest, percent change from the previous month’s short interest, average daily share volume and days to cover.
In addition, the web page will allow users to download a pipe-delimited text file containing all OTC equity securities with a reported short position for a particular month. The file will provide the following data:
| Data Field |
Definition |
| Security Name |
Name of the security |
| Security Symbol |
Symbol identifier |
| OTC Market Type |
Indicates whether the security is OTC Bulletin Board or non-Bulletin Board |
| Current Month Short Interest |
The amount of shares that were reported as being sold short for the month by reporting firms |
| Previous Month Short Interest |
The amount of shares that were reported as being sold short for the previous month |
| Change in Shares Short from Previous Month |
Difference in short interest between the current month and the previous month |
| Percent Change from Previous Month |
The percent change from the current month's short interest compared to the previous month's short interest.
Formula: (Current Month Short Interest - Previous Month Short Interest) / Previous Month Short Interest, x 100, Rounded to Hundredths. |
| Average Daily Share Volume |
The daily average share volume reported for the security during the current month |
| Days to Cover |
The number of days of average share volume it would require to buy all of the shares that were sold short during the reporting month.
Formula: Short Interest / Average Daily Share Volume, Rounded to Hundredths. 1.00 will be displayed for any values equal or less than 1 (i.e., Average Daily Share is equal to or greater than Short Interest). N/A will be displayed If the days to cover is Zero (i.e., Average Daily Share Volume is Zero). |
Historical information will be available on a rolling 12-month basis.
Publication Schedule for 2006
Monthly short interest information will be available on the OTCBB Website after 4 p.m. ET on the dissemination date.
| Month of: |
Trade Date |
Settlement Date |
Dissemination Date |
Publication Date |
| July |
7/11/2006 |
7/14/2006 |
7/25/2006 |
7/26/2006 |
| August |
8/10/2006 |
8/15/2006 |
8/24/2006 |
8/25/2006 |
| September |
9/12/2006 |
9/15/2006 |
9/26/2006 |
9/27/2006 |
| October |
10/10/2006 |
10/13/2006 |
10/24/2006 |
10/25/2006 |
| November |
11/10/2006 |
11/15/2006 |
11/27/2006 |
11/28/2006 |
| December |
12/12/2006 |
12/15/2006 |
12/27/2006 |
12/28/2006 |
Questions regarding OTC equity short interest data may be directed to Orlando Cortes at (212) 858-5143; e-mail: orlando.cortes@nasd.com. Questions concerning the short interest reporting requirements may be directed to the Legal Section, Market Regulation at (240) 386-5126, or Office of General Counsel at (202) 728-8071.
As announced in NASD Notice to Members 06-14 (April 2006), in accordance with the amendments to NASD Rule 3360 that expand the short interest reporting requirements to over-the-counter (OTC) equity securities which became effective July 3, 2006, NASD collects and disseminates OTC equity short interest data on a monthly basis.
