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Learn/Movers and momentum
intermediate5 min read· Movers and momentum

Float and short squeezes

Float is the number of shares available to trade. A low-float stock can move fast because a small amount of buying pressure can cause a large price change.

Float is the number of shares of a stock available for trading on the open market. Companies with 5-10 million shares available are considered low-float. Large companies like Apple have billions.

When there is strong buying demand for a low-float stock, the price moves dramatically because there are few shares to go around. A 5 million share float stock needs far less buying to move 20% than a 500 million share float stock.

Float rotation is the percentage of the total float that traded in a single day. A 200% float rotation means the stock's entire float traded twice over. This signals intense interest and often leads to big moves.

A short squeeze happens when a stock with heavy short interest (traders betting it will go down) starts rising. Short sellers are forced to buy back shares to cover their positions, which accelerates the upward move.

TuraTrade labels movers with high float rotation as potential float squeezes. These tend to be volatile and can reverse sharply once the buying pressure exhausts itself.

Practice what you learned

Build a simulated portfolio from yesterday's movers and see how these concepts play out with real market data.