Float (Public Float)
the shares available for public trading, as opposed to shares held by insiders
A stock's float is the number of shares actually available for public trading: total shares outstanding minus the shares held by insiders and other restricted holders. A small float means even modest buying pressure can move the price a lot.
- Float is not share count. A company can have 900M shares outstanding but only 80M floating if insiders and restricted holders sit on the rest.
- Low float is the fuel of fast moves. Low-float names are the classic runners because a small amount of demand chases a small tradable supply.
- Short interest as a percentage of float is the standard squeeze metric; the same short position is far more explosive against a small float.
How is Float (Public Float) calculated?
public_float = shares_outstanding - insider_and_restricted_holdings SI_pct_float = total_shares_sold_short / public_float Shares outstanding are disclosed on the issuer's 10-K cover page; the float is the non-insider, non-restricted remainder.
The SEC-required 10-K cover page discloses shares outstanding and the aggregate market value held by non-affiliates, which is the regulatory anchor for public float. In practice platforms compute float from the latest shares-outstanding disclosure minus insider holdings from ownership filings. Because the inputs update on different schedules, float figures differ slightly between platforms.
What do traders use Float (Public Float) for?
- Screening for runner potential. Scanner float filters (a maximum float) isolate the small-supply names where news and volume produce the fastest percentage moves.
- Contextualizing short interest. The same 20M-share short position is routine against a 900M float and extreme against a 30M float; SI is only readable as a percentage of float.
- Sanity-checking liquidity. Thin float plus thin average volume is a double constraint: entries move the price and exits move it back.
Worked example
Suppose a company has 305M shares outstanding with insiders holding 25M, leaving public float of 280M. Reported short interest of 60M shares is 60 / 280 = 21.4% of float (as of 2026-04-15, illustrative). If the float were 60M instead, the identical short position would be 100% of float: a fundamentally different setup.
Live data: /stock/GME.
What are common pitfalls of Float (Public Float)?
- Float definitions vary. Some platforms quote shares outstanding as float; Tapeboard uses public float (excluding insider and restricted shares), and the two can differ by a large factor on closely held companies.
- Float changes over time. Insider sales, lockup expirations, and new issuances all move the float without any change in shares outstanding.
- Reverse splits scramble the read. A 1-for-20 reverse split cuts share count mechanically; scanners that do not detect the split compare pre- and post-split numbers as if continuous.
- Small float does not mean small company. Market cap is price times shares outstanding; a low-float name can be a large-cap if most shares are insider-held.
Where this metric appears on Tapeboard
Float is a scanner filter (minimum and maximum float on the fundamental screen family) and appears in the ticker-page facts alongside short interest as a percentage of float.
Related terms
- Dilution (Share Dilution): More shares, same company. Issuance lowers each existing share's claim on earnings and assets; the price often adjusts to reflect it.
- Short Interest: FINRA short-interest reports settle bi-monthly with a publication lag of about 10 business days from the report date.
- Short Interest Ratio (Days To Cover): A liquidity ratio, not a timing signal. Higher DTC means a short unwind is harder and slower, which raises the temperature of a squeeze setup.
- Squeeze Score: Gate: short interest >= 15% of float (latest published FINRA settlement, split-checked). Listed common stock, price >= $1, liquid, market cap >= $25M.
Primary sources cited
- SEC EDGAR full-text search documentation: Shares outstanding are disclosed on the issuer's SEC 10-K cover page, the primary input to public float. https://www.sec.gov/edgar, retrieved 2026-10-24.
See it live
Float ships as a live scanner filter and a ticker-page fact: screen the universe by maximum float, then read the float and the short interest against it on the ticker page.
Methodology last reviewed 2026-10-24 by Marcus Reilly, Editor at Tapeboard. Every claim on this page has a row in the citation registry. Glossary terms reverify on the Jan 15 / Apr 15 / Jul 15 / Oct 15 cron and any time the underlying primary-source publishes a methodology change. See methodology for the full fact-check process and corrections for the public correction log.
Disclaimer. This page is for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing on Tapeboard is investment advice. See the full risk disclaimer.