What is a 13F filing?
A 13F is a quarterly report to the SEC listing the US stocks, ETFs, listed options and other "13F securities" an investment manager held at the end of the quarter. Every manager with at least $100 million in those securities has to file one, which is why it's the main way to see what hedge funds own.
Who files a 13F
Any institutional investment manager that had investment discretion over $100 million or more in 13F securities on the last trading day of any month of a year files for that year's last quarter and every quarter after, for as long as it stays above the line. That takes in hedge funds, but also mutual fund companies, banks, insurers, pension funds, endowments, family offices and market makers: more than 10,000 filers each quarter.
What's in it
For each holding: the company, the class of security, its CUSIP, the number of shares (or principal amount), the value at the end of the quarter, whether it's a call or a put, and how much say the manager has over voting it.
What isn't
- Short positions. A 13F shows only what a fund owns, not what it has bet against.
- Most stocks that trade only outside the US, bonds (other than some convertibles), cash, private investments and futures.
- Positions the SEC has allowed a fund to keep confidential for a while, which usually show up later in an amended 13F.
- Anything that happened after the quarter ended. The filing is a snapshot of one day, filed up to 45 days later.
On HedgeFollow
We read every 13F, compare it with the fund's filing for the quarter before to find what it bought and sold, and merge in its faster filings (13D, 13G and Form 4) so each fund's page shows its latest known portfolio.
Related pages: Hedge Fund Tracker Top hedge funds Largest hedge funds