Short-squeeze candidates, ranked every morning
Cover or Die scores every liquid US-listed stock on how crowded its short side is, using FINRA's own data. Today's board is below — the figures are today's, the names are for members.
Short % of float and Days to cover draw a bar only when a name clears the squeeze zone — 20%+ of the tradeable stock sold short, and 5+ days for shorts to buy it all back. No bar means not crowded.
| # | Symbol | Score | Short % float | Days to cover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Members only | 82Hot | 21.3% | 19.6 |
| 2 | Members only | 81Hot | 40.2% | 5.2 |
| 3 | Members only | 79Squeezable | 21.5% | 5.7 |
| 4 | Members only | 79Squeezable | 28.7% | 7.0 |
| 5 | Members only | 78Squeezable | 35.2% | 13.2 |
| 6 | Members only | 78Squeezable | 22.3% | 12.6 |
| 7 | Members only | 78Squeezable | 35.6% | 11.0 |
| 8 | Members only | 77Squeezable | 31.3% | 13.4 |
992 more ranked names in today's board, for members.
What the score means
0–100, a weighted blend of seven signals ranked as percentiles against that day's universe. Short interest as a percent of float and days to cover carry the most weight, both straight from FINRA's bi-monthly short-interest file; the 30-day short-volume trend and 5-day spike come from FINRA's daily file. Hot is 80+, Squeezable 73+, Watch 65+.
FINRA publishes daily short volume the next trading day, and short interest about eight trading days after settlement — so the board is delayed by design and every figure carries its as-of date.
How often it has worked
Of names whose short interest ran 0.30+ of float on 5-8 days to cover, 43% squeezed within 21 trading days (n=447). In the weakest bucket with enough history — 0.05-0.10 on 12+ — it was 0% (n=34). Buckets under 30 observations are withheld rather than shown weak.
The archive is also replayed as an event study — buy the top 25 by score each run, enter at the next open, measure against SPY — across 54 runs. Members can inspect the full results, including the equity curve, the per-signal information coefficient and the periods where the score did not work.