Glossary / Market structure

Float

Also called: free float · public float · shares outstanding

Float is the number of a company's shares that are actually available to trade in the open market. It is shares outstanding minus the blocks that are closely held — insider holdings, founder stakes, and other restricted positions that do not circulate.

How it is measured

How is float measured?

Start from total shares outstanding as reported in filings, then subtract restricted and closely held blocks, which are themselves disclosed in ownership filings. Vendors apply the exclusions slightly differently, so published float figures for the same company vary between data sources.

Why it matters

Why does float matter to a swing trader?

Float is the supply side of price formation. The same dollar amount of buying pressure moves a security with a small tradable supply much further than one with a large one, which is why small-float securities show larger percentage swings on ordinary-looking order flow. It is also the denominator underneath short interest, so a short position that looks modest against shares outstanding can be large against float.

In Tapeline

Does Tapeline use float?

Tapeline's Momentum methodology notes that low-float tickers produce large readings from small dollar flows, and that a liquidity floor is applied to the ranked scanner and the public scorecard for that reason.

Tapeline publishes the six factor names and the ordering of their weights. The numeric weights, the scoring equation and the band edges are not published.

Related

See this in the product

The squeeze scanner · Full methodology

Related terms

Short interest
Short interest is the number of a security's shares that have been sold short and not yet bought back.
Short squeeze
A short squeeze describes a sequence in which a rising price forces holders of short positions to close them, and closing a short position requires buying — which adds to the buying pressure that is already pushing the price up.
Average dollar volume
Average dollar volume is the value traded in a typical session — shares traded multiplied by price — averaged over a recent window.
Market capitalisation
Market capitalisation is a company's share price multiplied by its total shares outstanding.

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General information about market vocabulary, written to be descriptive rather than prescriptive. Not investment advice — see the risk disclosure.