Understanding 13F Filings
A plain-language guide to hedge fund reporting, key terms, and how to use the data.
What is a 13F filing?
A Form 13F is a quarterly disclosure that large institutional investment managers must file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It lists every US-listed equity security the manager held as of the last day of the quarter.
13F filings are public record and available on SEC EDGAR. They are the primary window the public has into the portfolios of major hedge funds, asset managers, and endowments. 13FAI automates the collection and analysis of these filings so you don't have to read raw SEC documents.
13F filings are due within 45 days of each quarter end — meaning Q4 data (December 31) is not public until mid-February at the earliest. The data always reflects past holdings, not current positions.
Who is required to file?
Any institutional investment manager that exercises discretion over $100 million or more in qualifying US equity securities must file a 13F with the SEC each quarter. This includes hedge funds, mutual funds, pension funds, bank trust departments, insurance companies, and endowments.
Managers below the $100M threshold are not required to file and therefore do not appear in public 13F data. Some well-known investors — particularly those running small, concentrated funds — may not file at all.
What is and isn't disclosed?
Understanding the scope of a 13F is essential for interpreting the data correctly.
What is disclosed: Long positions in US-listed equities, including common stock, ETFs, convertible notes, and equity options (PUT and CALL contracts).
What is not disclosed: Short positions, bonds and fixed income, foreign-listed stocks, private equity, real estate, cash, and currencies. A fund's 13F can therefore look very different from its actual portfolio — a fund that is net short US equities will still show only its long book.
On 13FAI, options positions (PUT/CALL) are shown in the fund table for transparency but are excluded from portfolio value, weight, and share count calculations, since they represent hedges or directional bets rather than equity ownership.
How to use this data
13F data is most useful as a starting point for research — not as a real-time signal. Because filings are delayed by up to 45 days, a position you see reported may have already been sold by the time you read it.
The most reliable signal in 13F data is long-term conviction. A position that appears consistently across multiple quarters, growing in size, is more likely to reflect genuine long-term conviction than a position that appeared once. Use the quarter history on each fund and stock page to identify these patterns.
Consensus signals — stocks that many funds are buying or selling simultaneously — are also worth attention. Our Consensus Buys & Sells page surfaces these each quarter. For deep dives, the Fund Comparison tool shows which stocks multiple specific managers hold in common.