Stock Float¶
A stock's float is the number of shares available for public trading on the open market, calculated as total shares outstanding minus restricted shares and closely held insider positions. Float represents the true supply of a stock. Two companies with identical market caps can have dramatically different floats, making float a more useful measure of tradable supply than shares outstanding alone.
HOW IT WORKS¶
Float is calculated with a single formula:
Float = Shares Outstanding − Restricted Shares − Closely Held Shares
Shares outstanding comes from the most recent SEC 10-K or 10-Q filing. Restricted shares include unregistered private-placement stock and shares under lock-up agreements. Closely held shares include insider positions reported on Form 3/4/5 filings and large strategic stakes. Because "closely held" requires judgment, float is an estimate that varies across data providers and changes over time as lock-ups expire, insiders sell, or secondary offerings price.
Two derived metrics extend float's usefulness. Float percentage (float ÷ shares outstanding) shows how much of the total supply is freely tradable. Float utilization measures what fraction of the float is currently on loan to short sellers, signaling how much of the available supply has already been borrowed and sold.
A low float amplifies price moves in both directions. The same supply scarcity that produces sharp squeeze rallies also produces steep drops when buying pressure disappears, and bid-ask spreads in low-float names are typically wide with significant slippage.
IN TAPEBOARD¶
Tapeboard surfaces float data across several workflows. Day traders use the scanner to filter for low-float names—typically under 20 million shares—combined with a volume catalyst and elevated relative volume, isolating the setups most likely to produce large intraday percentage moves. The squeeze leaderboard ranks names by float-short percentage and float utilization, letting traders identify stocks where even modest buying pressure could force short sellers to cover into thin supply. Short sellers use float alongside days-to-cover to size risk before entering heavily shorted low-float positions.