About fails-to-deliver data
This page ranks stocks and ETFs by their fails to deliver on the latest settlement date in the SEC's data. A fail to deliver happens when a seller does not deliver shares to the buyer by the settlement date, one business day after the trade (T+1). The SEC publishes the open balance of fails for every security in the NSCC's Continuous Net Settlement system twice a month: the first half of a month at the end of that month, and the second half around the 15th of the next month.
More about this page
Finshort maps each SEC row to a ticker by CUSIP, so a ticker change does not split a stock's history, restates share counts for later stock splits, and keeps five years of history. Every ticker has its own fails-to-deliver page with a chart, a table by settlement date and its Reg SHO threshold list history.
Frequently asked questions
What does a fails-to-deliver number mean?
It is the total balance of shares that had failed to deliver and were still open on that settlement date, not the new fails that day. A fail that lasts several days is counted on each of those days, so daily figures cannot be added together.
Are fails to deliver proof of naked short selling?
No. The SEC notes that fails can happen on both long and short sales, for example from operational delays, and are not by themselves evidence of abusive or naked short selling. The data does not say which trades failed or why.
How is the dollar value calculated?
Shares failed times the price the SEC reports with each row, which is the closing price on the previous trading day. The SEC leaves the price blank when it is unavailable or below one cent, and no value is shown for those rows.
Why is the data a few weeks old?
The SEC releases fails-to-deliver data in half-month batches after each period ends, usually at the end of the month for the first half and around the 15th of the next month for the second half. Finshort checks for new files every day.