Days to cover (short ratio)

Days to cover estimates how many days of normal trading it would take short sellers to buy back all the shares they have sold short.

Days to cover, also called the short ratio, divides the number of shares sold short by the stock’s average daily trading volume. A days-to-cover of 8 means it would take about eight normal trading days for every short seller to buy back their borrowed shares. It expresses short interest in terms of how "crowded" the short trade is relative to liquidity.

A high days-to-cover is often watched as a short-squeeze ingredient: if a heavily shorted, thinly traded stock starts rising, shorts scrambling to exit can push it up sharply. But like short interest itself, it is a lagged, descriptive figure — not a prediction that a squeeze will happen or that the stock will move in any direction.

stocks-llm derives days-to-cover from official FINRA short-interest data, shown with its settlement date. It is informational context, never a trading signal.

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Informational only — NOT financial advice. This is an educational definition, not a recommendation to buy or sell anything. Metrics on stocks-llm are delayed data and may be missing or stale. Always verify information independently and consult a qualified financial professional before making any investment decision.