what is short interest 
short interest is the number of shares that have been sold short and remain outstanding traders typically sell a security short if they anticipate that price will decline by borrowing shares of stock the investor then sells these borrowed shares to buyers willing to pay the market price short interest is often an indicator of current market sentiment an increase in short interest often signals that investors have become more bearish while a decrease in short interest signals that they have become more bullish short interest is often expressed as a number or percentage the financial industry regulatory authority finra requires firms to report short interest positions in all customer and proprietary accounts in all equity securities twice a month 1