ShortAtlas methodology
Short Volume vs Short Interest
Daily short-volume percentage and Short Interest answer different questions. This page explains how ShortAtlas presents both metrics.
Daily short volume
Daily short volume is the amount of reported trading volume marked as short sales in the source file context for a trading day.
The denominator is reported total volume in the same source context, not always consolidated market-wide volume.
Short Interest
Short Interest is a reported balance of shares sold short that remain open as of a settlement date.
Because Short Interest is published on a delayed schedule, it should not be treated as a live measure of current positioning.
The two metrics side by side
Daily short volume is a flow measure: it counts activity that happened during one trading day and resets the next day. Short Interest is a stock measure: it is a balance that carries over until positions are closed.
A stock can show heavy daily short volume every day while its Short Interest barely moves, because shorts opened intraday were also closed intraday. The reverse is also possible.
The most common misreading
The frequent mistake is treating a high daily short-volume percentage as evidence that a large short position has built up. The two numbers are measured on different scales, over different periods, from different source files.
When both are available on a ticker page, read the as-of date and the settlement date separately before comparing anything.