Filings, Insiders & OwnershipExtended setlive in productionNew

news-gated short-volume short

Updated dailyData needs: highshort only

2012

Engelberg, Reed & Ringgenberg 2012, How are shorts informed?

In plain terms

When short sellers pile in right after a company files news, the strategy bets the stock falls because those shorts are usually reacting to bad information.

How it works

The negative relation between daily short volume and future returns is about twice as large on news days and four times as large on negative-news days, because short sellers are skilled at processing public news. A short-ratio spike that coincides with a recent 8-K filing is therefore a much sharper bearish signal than an unconditional spike.

Live results

46 times picked on its own · 63 times inside a blend (63 beat the stock) · updated 2026-06-06

This strategy is a frequent ingredient in blends that combine a few strategies on one stock. It has contributed to 63 such blended picks (63 of which beat simply holding the stock). Picking it on its own is only one of the ways it shows up.

How its picks scored vs. buy & hold

Each pick is graded on a recent year it was never tuned on, against simply owning the same stock

Where its edge concentrates

Share of picks in each company-size group that beat buy & hold

How often it trades

Active vs. patient. Bars on the left mean it waits for rare setups; bars on the right mean it trades often

Return vs. buy & hold

How much each pick beat or trailed simply owning the stock over the test year (extreme microcap moves trimmed)

Loading substrate evidence…

Data dependencies

Finra short volume
A data feed this strategy reads, refreshed on its normal schedule.
SEC 8k events
Item-coded 8-K events (1.01 material agreements, 4.02 non-reliance, etc.).
Daily prices
Adjusted-close OHLCV for every US-listed ticker; primary price feed.

Expected edge

Daily short-volume spikes that land on or near a corporate news event predict larger negative future returns than ordinary short spikes, because informed shorts trade on news.

Related families

Finra Daily Short Volume SpikeFilings, Insiders & Ownership

When daily short volume spikes on a stock that is already in a downtrend, that is informed shorts piling on. We short alongside for 1-4 weeks.

SEC 8K Disclosure VelocityFilings, Insiders & Ownership

When a company starts filing many more 8-Ks than usual, it's often because something bad is being staged — short the stock through the disclosure storm.

Guidance Withdrawal 8K ShortCompany Events & Earnings

When a company formally pulls or suspends guidance, this family treats it as a negative information event and tests the following drift.

Explore news-gated short-volume short on alphactor.ai

See which tickers this family is currently firing on, with live signals and rankings.

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