Glossary / Disclosure & flow

13F filing

Also called: Form 13F · institutional holdings

A 13F is a quarterly report that institutional investment managers exceeding a size threshold must file with the SEC, listing their US-listed equity positions as of the quarter end. It is the standard public window into large institutional holdings.

How it is measured

How is 13F filing measured?

Managers report each covered position and its size as of the last day of the quarter, and the filing is due within 45 days of that date. The scope is limited: it covers long US-listed equity and some options, and excludes short positions, cash, bonds, commodities and non-US listings.

Why it matters

Why does 13F filing matter to a swing trader?

13F data is the most widely cited institutional-positioning source and the most widely over-read. Two structural limits do most of the damage. The report is a snapshot of one specific day, published up to 45 days later, so a position shown may have been opened and closed since. And because short positions are excluded entirely, a long holding shown in isolation may be one leg of a hedge whose other leg is invisible.

In Tapeline

Does Tapeline use 13F filing?

Not used by Tapeline. The Smart Money factor reads SEC Form 4 corporate-insider transactions only. The site previously described a 13F input; that was corrected in May 2026 and the correction is logged in the changelog.

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 correction log · Full methodology

Related terms

SEC Form 4
Form 4 is the filing corporate insiders submit to the SEC to report transactions in their own company's securities.
Congressional trade disclosure
US members of Congress and certain senior staff are required to disclose transactions in securities under the STOCK Act.
Float
Float is the number of a company's shares that are actually available to trade in the open market.
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.