FINRA Rule 4560 short interest reporting requires every FINRA member firm to record and report its total gross short positions in all equity securities, across both customer and proprietary accounts, twice a month. Reports are due to FINRA by 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the second business day after each settlement date FINRA designates, and they must be filed electronically through the FINRA Gateway.1Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. FINRA Rule 4560 – Short-Interest Reporting
What Must Be Reported
The obligation covers all equity securities, whether listed on the NYSE, Nasdaq, or traded over the counter through OTC Markets Group. A short sale for these purposes is any sale of a security the seller doesn’t own, or any sale completed by delivering borrowed shares.2eCFR. 17 CFR 242.200 – Definition of Short Sale and Marking Requirements If a position resulted from that kind of transaction, it belongs in the report.
Firms must report all gross short positions existing in each individual account. That includes customer accounts, the firm’s own proprietary accounts, and accounts of other broker-dealers the firm carries.1Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. FINRA Rule 4560 – Short-Interest Reporting “Gross” is the operative word. A customer’s long and short positions in the same security cannot be netted; every short position is counted individually and then aggregated per security. Customer-account positions and proprietary-account positions are reported separately.
The Restricted Equity Securities Carve-Out
One category sits outside the rule: Restricted Equity Securities as defined in FINRA Rule 6420. These are equity securities that qualify as “restricted securities” under SEC Rule 144(a)(3), generally meaning shares acquired in unregistered private sales or from affiliates of the issuer.3Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. FINRA Rule 6420 – Definitions Those positions fall outside Rule 4560.1Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. FINRA Rule 4560 – Short-Interest Reporting There is no exception for international arbitrage positions; FINRA eliminated that exclusion in 2012.4Securities and Exchange Commission. Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule Change to Amend FINRA Rule 4560
When Reports Are Due
FINRA designates two settlement dates each month. The settlement date is the snapshot that fixes which positions count. The due date is 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the second business day after that settlement date.5FINRA. Short Interest Reporting The gap between settlement dates isn’t uniform. Some cycles run about two weeks, others closer to three, depending on where weekends and holidays fall. Automations built around a rigid “15th and last day” assumption will occasionally miss the actual due dates.
The full 2026 reporting calendar:5FINRA. Short Interest Reporting
- January 15 settlement: due January 20
- January 30 settlement: due February 3
- February 13 settlement: due February 18
- February 27 settlement: due March 3
- March 13 settlement: due March 17
- March 31 settlement: due April 2
- April 15 settlement: due April 17
- April 30 settlement: due May 4
- May 15 settlement: due May 19
- May 29 settlement: due June 2
- June 15 settlement: due June 17
- June 30 settlement: due July 2
- July 15 settlement: due July 17
- July 31 settlement: due August 4
- August 14 settlement: due August 18
- August 31 settlement: due September 2
- September 15 settlement: due September 17
- September 30 settlement: due October 2
- October 15 settlement: due October 19
- October 30 settlement: due November 3
- November 13 settlement: due November 17
- November 30 settlement: due December 2
- December 15 settlement: due December 17
- December 31 settlement: due January 5, 2027
How To File
Filing goes through the FINRA Gateway portal at gateway.finra.org. Firms have two options: upload a CSV file through the Short Interest reporting system, or transmit an ASCII text file by FTP.6FINRA. Short Interest Reporting Instructions Both methods require the data to conform to FINRA’s published format specifications, so internal systems have to export in the right structure. Files that don’t match the schema are rejected before processing.
When the system accepts a file, it generates a confirmation of receipt. Keep it; that’s your evidence of timely compliance. If the system flags errors, the firm gets an exception report and has to work through the discrepancies.
Fixing Prior Filings
The accuracy obligation is ongoing. If a firm later discovers that a past filing was incomplete or inaccurate, it must promptly notify FINRA Market Regulation at ShortInterest@finra.org and provide corrected data if instructed.7FINRA. Frequently Asked Questions About Short Interest Reporting There is no published grace period. Fix it as soon as you know.
Records You Need To Keep
Beyond the reports themselves, firms have to keep the records that support them. FINRA Rule 4511 sets a default retention period of six years where no other specific period applies. For account-related records the clock starts when the account is closed; for other records, from the date they were created.8FINRA. Books and Records
In practice, that means holding onto the short interest calculation worksheets, the raw data exports used to generate the filing, Gateway confirmations, and any correspondence about corrections or exceptions for at least six years. Examiners expect a clean trail from individual account positions up to the aggregate figures in the report.
What Goes Wrong, and What It Costs
Firms that repeatedly file inaccurate reports, undercount positions, or fail to report at all face disciplinary proceedings that can result in censures, fines, and mandatory supervisory improvements. Sustained reporting failures have drawn fines reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars in past enforcement actions, particularly when paired with charges of inadequate supervisory systems.
The typical failure isn’t a cover-up. It’s a systems gap: account data that doesn’t feed cleanly into the aggregation tool, positions in newly onboarded accounts missed in the first cycle, or a misreading of the gross reporting requirement that leads to netting. Reconciliation checks built into the reporting workflow catch most of these before they become regulatory problems.
Rule 4560 Is Not the Same as SEC Rule 13f-2
A separate, newer requirement can apply to some of the same firms. SEC Rule 13f-2, effective January 2, 2025, requires institutional investment managers to report certain short positions directly to the SEC on Form SHO within 14 calendar days after the end of each calendar month.9eCFR. 17 CFR 240.13f-2 – Reporting by Institutional Investment Managers
The thresholds are higher than Rule 4560’s blanket coverage. For exchange-registered securities, a manager must file if its monthly average gross short position reaches $10 million or 2.5% or more of shares outstanding. For non-registered equity securities, the threshold is a gross short position of $500,000 or more on any settlement date during the month.9eCFR. 17 CFR 240.13f-2 – Reporting by Institutional Investment Managers
The rules serve different purposes and go to different regulators. Rule 4560 captures every short position at the firm level twice a month and flows to FINRA. Rule 13f-2 captures large manager-level positions monthly and flows to the SEC. A broker-dealer that also manages institutional money may need to comply with both, on separate formats and separate deadlines. Treating them as a single task is a common mistake.