FINRA Threshold List¶
OVERVIEW¶
The FINRA Threshold Securities List is the official daily list of U.S. equities that have accumulated persistent failures-to-deliver (FTDs) under Regulation SHO. A stock appears on the list when aggregate FTDs exceed both 10,000 shares and 0.5% of total shares outstanding for five consecutive settlement days.
Threshold-list inclusion is concrete evidence of borrow scarcity and forced-cover pressure that has crossed from the loan market into actual settlement plumbing — distinct from positioning metrics like short interest or float utilization.
Note
Tapeboard's T flag on the short squeeze leaderboard is derived from FINRA Consolidated NMS daily short-volume files, not the official Reg SHO threshold list.
HOW IT IS CALCULATED¶
Criteria are codified in Reg SHO Rule 203(b)(3) and published daily by FINRA, NYSE, Nasdaq, and OTC market operators.
| Condition | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Aggregate FTDs (shares) | ≥ 10,000 shares |
| Aggregate FTDs (% of outstanding) | ≥ 0.5% of total shares outstanding |
| Persistence required | 5 consecutive settlement days |
| Removal trigger | FTDs fall below both levels for 5 consecutive settlement days |
Once a symbol is on the list, broker-dealers must close out the FTD position within 13 consecutive settlement days under the Rule 204 close-out requirement, or face restrictions on further short sales in the security.
Note
Reg SHO was instituted in January 2005 specifically to address chronic settlement failures that had previously gone unresolved for weeks or months.
Worked example
A stock with 80 million shares outstanding lands on the Threshold List once aggregate FTDs exceed 400,000 shares (0.5% of 80M) for five straight settlement days, assuming the 10,000-share floor is also cleared.
During the January 2021 meme cycle, GME, AMC, BBBY, and KOSS appeared on the Threshold List for multiple consecutive weeks. FTDs at GME peaked above 2 million shares per day according to SEC FTD bulk files. Inclusion during that period correlated with the most violent leg of the squeeze, as dealers and prime brokers scrambled to source shares while new short demand kept arriving.
FEATURES¶
What Threshold-List Inclusion Signals¶
| Signal Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Settlement-level covering pressure | FTDs are actively failing to settle at the clearinghouse |
| Borrow scarcity confirmation | Borrow fees and utilization typically elevated for weeks before appearance |
| Compliance obligation trigger | Activates Rule 204 close-out requirements for broker-dealers |
| Squeeze confirmation signal | Treated by squeeze hunters as a confirming signal, not a leading one |
Tip
Some academic research (Boni 2006, Fotak/Raman/Yadav 2014) found a measurable link between threshold-list inclusion and subsequent short-term price performance. The effect is noisy and threshold-list status should not be used as a standalone signal.
Tapeboard's Expanded T Flag¶
The official FINRA threshold-list URLs that previously served bulk daily files began returning 403 and 404 errors in early 2026. Tapeboard's T flag on the short squeeze leaderboard is now derived from the FINRA Consolidated NMS daily short-volume files at cdn.finra.org/equity/regsho/daily/.
| Property | Official FINRA Threshold List | Tapeboard T Flag |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Reg SHO Rule 203(b)(3) filings | FINRA Consolidated NMS short-volume files |
| Trigger condition | FTDs ≥ 10,000 shares AND ≥ 0.5% outstanding for 5 days | Daily short volume > 50% of total reported volume for a sustained window |
| What it measures | Settlement failures | Sustained heavy short-selling pressure |
| Persistence test | 5 consecutive settlement days | Sustained window (rolling) |
| Availability | Disrupted as of early 2026 | Active |
Note
Tapeboard's T flag is a sustained heavy-shorting flag, not a settlement-failure flag. The two conditions overlap for many of the same names but are not the same metric. Treat the T flag as a directional indicator of persistent short-selling pressure, not a substitute for the official FINRA threshold list.
LIMITATIONS AND COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS¶
| Misconception | Reality |
|---|---|
| Threshold appearance is predictive | It is descriptive — the move has typically already been underway by the time the five-day trigger fires |
| The list measures naked shorting or fraud | FTDs occur for many benign reasons including ETF creation/redemption mismatches, fractional-share settlements, and market-maker exemptions |
| Inclusion is equally meaningful across all cap tiers | A small-cap with 20M shares needs only 100K FTDs to qualify; a mega-cap needs millions — list inclusion is structurally more common in small names |
| Removal means short pressure has resolved | Removal only means FTDs fell below the trigger for five consecutive days, which can occur via partial close-outs without any meaningful change in the underlying short position |