Chart, page-16526

I tried this approach a little while ago and quickly learnt that sometimes the aggregate shorts (T+4 data) actually increased MORE than the corresponding daily gross number !!??
This indicates very poor adherence to the “reporting” guidelines and makes it even more difficult to understand what’s REALLY happening.
Despite this, it does/can provide some indication of shorts vs covers on a particular day.... it appears to me that a decent chunk of shorts are generally covered daily.. whether they are the same ones that are first sold that day, or older ones, remains a mystery though.

What would it take for them to be labelled, like the cross trades are ....e.g. with “SS” for short sale and “SC” for short cover...?
A pipe dream I suspect !