How do companies like shortsqueeze.com find out exactly how many shares short are sold for any particular stock? Do the query each broker (seems difficult to me since there are so many brokers) or is there one central location where they get the data? Do brokers have to report the number of shares shares short in their firm to an agency? Can anyone recommend a book or web site that explains in detail the process of how brokers go about borrowing shares and lending them to short sellers and how they go about returning them to their original owner when the short seller buys them back? I'd appreciate any feedback. Thanks.
short sales are reported to the exchange (like nyse). these exchanges actually publish this data monthly. if you have a good news service you would be able to find it there.
Does anyone here trade the short squeeze with success? It makes sense in theory, but short interest is a specious ratio considering exchange members know the % of float short before "we" do, and they could skew the average volume. I was thinking that a better way to find squeeze candidates is to track which stocks drop off a broker's short inventory. See: ftp://shortstock@ftp2.interactivebrokers.com