Short Interest is a metric that shows how many shares of a stock are being shorted and not yet repurchased. It represents the amount of money currently betting against the stock.
In other words, stocks with high short interest tend to have a bearish sentiment.
How to See the Current Short Interest in ThinkorSwim?
ThinkorSwim does not provide short interest data on its platform. However, you can easily find the current short interest for a stock using a site called ShortSqueeze.
Here’s how to do it.
Step 1: Visit the ShortSqueeze site.
Step 2: Enter a ticker symbol.
Step 3: Click Short Quote.
Step 4: The site will then give you the current shares short on the given stock.
Here’s an example short interest data on GME (GameStop).
| Gamestop Corporation (GME) | |
|---|---|
| Short Interest Ratio (Days To Cover) | 7.6 |
| Short Percent of Float | N/A |
| Short % Increase / Decrease | 3% |
| Short Interest (Current Shares Short) | 51,090,000 |
| Shares Float | N/A |
| Short Interest (Prior Shares Short) | 49,530,000 |
The table above shows that more than 51 million shares of Gamestop are currently being shorted, representing a 3% increase in short interest from the previous period.
In addition to identifying the current sentiment of the stock, short interest can help you determine if there is a short squeeze on the horizon.
A short squeeze occurs when the price of a stock increases dramatically. When this happens, it forces the short-sellers to cover their positions by buying back shares at a higher price.
This can cause the stock price to increase even further as more people get caught in the squeeze.
Momentum Squeeze Indicator for ThinkorSwim
Here is an indicator for ThinkorSwim that may help you trade the squeeze.
# Momentum Squeeze
# Mobius
# Added Squeeze Label with directional color
# Label is green when momentum is ascending, red when descending
declare lower;
input length = 20; #hint length: Length for average calculation
input SDmult = 2.0;
input ATRmult = 1.5;
def c = close;
def h = high;
def l = low;
def K = (Highest(h, length) + Lowest(l, length)) /
2 + ExpAverage(c, length);
plot Momo = if isNaN(close)
then double.nan
else Inertia(c - K / 2, length);
Momo.setPaintingStrategy(PaintingStrategy.HISTOGRAM);
Momo.setLineWeight(3);
Momo.assignValueColor(if Momo > Momo[1] and Momo > 0
then Color.Cyan
else if Momo > 0 and Momo < Momo[1]
then Color.Blue
else if Momo < 0 and Momo < Momo[1]
then Color.Red
else Color.Yellow);
def SD = StDev(c, length);
def Avg = Average(c, length);
def ATR = Average(TrueRange(h, c, l), length);
def SDup = Avg + (SdMult * Sd);
def ATRup = Avg + (AtrMult * ATR);
plot Squeeze = if isNaN(c)
then double.nan
else if SDup < ATRup
then 0
else Double.NaN;
Squeeze.SetPaintingStrategy(PaintingStrategy.Points);
Squeeze.SetLineWeight(3);
Squeeze.SetDefaultColor(Color.Red);
plot zero = if IsNaN(c) or !IsNaN(Squeeze) then Double.NaN else 0;
zero.SetPaintingStrategy(PaintingStrategy.Points);
zero.SetLineWeight(3);
zero.SetDefaultColor(Color.Green);
AddLabel(!isNaN(Squeeze), "Squeeze", if isAscending(Momo)
then Color.Green
else Color.Red);
# End Code - Momentum Squeeze
I think this will work