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Sallie Mae Short Interest Snapshot
Sallie Mae (SLM) has 17,441,002 shares short (9.28% of shares outstanding), roughly flat (-2.0%) from the prior period. The data is biweekly short interest reported to NASDAQ, with a built-in 2-week reporting lag — the same canonical figure short-interest trackers publish.
Recent SLM Short Interest Settlements
Each row is a biweekly snapshot — the cadence at which short interest is officially reported. The percent column is the change versus the prior settlement.
| Settlement Date | Shares Short | vs Prior | Days to Cover |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 31, 2026 | 17,441,002 | 10.09 | |
| Aug 14, 2026 | 17,789,673 | 8.49 | |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 20,262,204 | 6.59 | |
| Jul 15, 2026 | 19,102,650 | 6.02 | |
| Jun 30, 2026 | 19,851,449 | 6.28 | |
| Jun 15, 2026 | 21,518,507 | 7.32 | |
| May 29, 2026 | 22,155,967 | 13.52 | |
| May 15, 2026 | 22,767,878 | 11.04 |
Is Sallie Mae Heavily Shorted?
"Days to cover" is the number of average trading days it would take shorts to buy back their position at recent volume. For SLM, that’s currently 10.09 days against 1,728,317 shares of average daily volume. Days to cover above 10 is squeeze-prone territory — if the stock catches a bid on news or earnings, shorts can’t exit quickly on normal volume.
SLM Short Interest in Context
Short interest is most useful read against the rest of the picture. Heavy shorting that lines up with insider selling and weakening Employee Business Outlook is a different story from heavy shorting with insider buying and a positive AI Score — the same number, very different setups.
The other signals on SLM right now:
- SLM AI Score — 64/100
- Reddit sentiment — 55/100 (neutral)
- Employee Business Outlook — 78% positive (positive)
Read together, this is a contrarian setup: short interest is elevated while the underlying signals lean bullish. When fundamentals and sentiment trend up against a heavily shorted name, the squeeze risk for the short side is asymmetric.
For the other side of the position, see SLM insider transactions and congressional trades. For social-side conviction, see SLM overall sentiment and Reddit mentions.
Sallie Mae Short Interest: Frequently Asked Questions
Sallie Mae has 17,441,002 shares short — about 9.28% of its shares outstanding as of Aug 31, 2026. This figure is the official biweekly short interest report, which lags the settlement date by about two weeks — the same convention every short-interest tracker uses. (Note: "% of shares outstanding" runs slightly below the "% of float" you may see on MarketBeat or Fintel, since float excludes insider-held and restricted shares.)
At 17,441,002 shares short and 1,728,317 shares of average daily volume, SLM’s days-to-cover is 10.09. Days to cover above 10 is squeeze-prone territory — if the stock catches a bid on news or earnings, shorts can’t exit quickly on normal volume.
Short squeezes happen when heavily shorted stocks rally sharply, forcing shorts to buy back at higher prices. The classic warning signs are days-to-cover above ~5, rising short interest, and a catalyst that pushes price up. SLM currently meets the days-to-cover threshold. AltIndex tracks short interest alongside insider activity and sentiment — the same number reads very differently depending on what those other signals say.
The biweekly short interest figures come from NASDAQ’s official short interest report — the same source used by MarketBeat, Fintel, and Benzinga. The data is settlement-date-based, published twice a month, and lags about two weeks. For daily short-selling activity (a higher-frequency complement), see the short squeeze tracker.
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