Net Short Positions

In the app, you may come across some insight Feed cards called Net Short Positions. They are rare, but they occur - here is an example:

The data here is taken from a public document that the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) update every day. You can find out more about the regulations around net short positions here.

Investors are required to notify the FCA of net short positions they hold over 0.1% in certain financial instruments.

We take the data from that spreadsheet and count the number of companies that have net short positions in the instruments on our Feed, as well as summing the total net short position of each company to provide you with this information.

Why is this important?

Short-selling is when an investor takes a bearish position in the market, hoping to profit from a security whose price loses value.

If an institutional investor is holding a large net short position, and this short takes place, it could cause repercussions for your portfolio.

You should already have a good idea as to why a position like this is held, but if you don’t, seeing this Feed card should be a trigger for you to find out why as it may re-frame your thinking about the position you hold.