Stocks with low shares available to short

Screening Filters

1. relative_vol: min 1.5

   • Purpose: Find stocks trading with elevated volume relative to their normal activity.
   • Rationale: Stocks with low shares available to short often become more actively traded as short interest builds, squeezes start forming, or traders rush into the name. Higher relative volume helps surface stocks where borrowing pressure and trading interest are already showing up.

2. region: US

   • Purpose: Limit the search to U.S.-listed stocks.
   • Rationale: This keeps the screen focused on the market most likely relevant to the user’s request and ensures the results come from a consistent stock universe.

3. list_exchange: XNYS, XNAS, XASE

   • Purpose: Restrict results to major U.S. exchanges: NYSE, Nasdaq, and NYSE American.
   • Rationale: These exchanges cover the main liquid U.S. listed stocks, making the screen more practical and reliable when looking for names with shorting constraints. It also avoids thinly traded OTC names that may distort the results.

4. short_ratio: LessThan10Pct

   • Purpose: Identify stocks with low shares available to short.
   • Rationale: This is the key filter for the user’s request. A low short ratio means there are relatively few shares available to borrow, which matches the idea of “low shares available to short.”

Why Results Match:

• The screen is built to find U.S.-listed stocks on major exchanges where shortable supply is limited.
• Adding relative volume helps surface the most active names, which is useful because low availability to short often becomes more relevant in stocks that are already seeing attention from traders.
• Overall, these filters are well aligned with the user’s goal of finding stocks with low shares available to short.