Data literacy
How to read 13F filings and their reporting limits
What a Form 13F shows, what each information-table column means, which dates to record and what the filing leaves out, such as short positions.
What does a 13F filing show?
Form 13F is a quarterly report filed with the SEC by institutional investment managers that exercise investment discretion over $100 million or more in Section 13(f) securities. It lists the manager's long positions in those securities as of the last day of the quarter and is due within 45 days after the quarter ends; if that day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday, the filing is due on the next business day. Read it as a dated snapshot, not a live order feed. Not every manager files on the last permitted day, so record both the report period and the actual filing date. A newly published filing can describe positions that have since changed. SEC: Frequently Asked Questions About Form 13F
Keep three dates in your notes
Our reading template has separate fields for position date, public filing date and the date you downloaded the data. Consider an invented example: a position is reported as of June 30, the document is filed on August 10, and you read it on August 12. None of those dates establishes when the manager originally purchased the position or whether it is still held on August 12. Keeping all three dates avoids turning a fresh download into a claim about fresh investment activity.
Sources: SEC: Frequently Asked Questions About Form 13F · SEC: Form 13F and instructions
What does the information table include and leave out?
The table below summarizes the eight columns in the SEC's form instructions. A 13F is a defined slice, not a complete statement of every asset, liability, cash balance or hedge in a manager's business. Short positions and mutual fund shares are not reported, and shares of a foreign issuer are included only when they trade on a U.S. exchange. A manager may also leave out a small position of fewer than 10,000 shares and less than $200,000 in aggregate value. When presenting weights, say whether the denominator is the value of the disclosed reportable holdings. Calling that number a percentage of the manager's entire portfolio would add information that the filing itself does not provide. SEC: Frequently Asked Questions About Form 13F
On narrow screens, scroll the table sideways. Keyboard users can focus the table and use the arrow keys.
| Column | What it records | Reading note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Name of issuer Source | The issuer's name as it appears on the SEC's current list of Section 13(f) securities | Abbreviations are allowed, so match companies by CUSIP rather than by name. |
| 2 · Title of class Source | The class of security, for example common stock, class A shares or a convertible debenture | Different classes of one issuer appear on separate lines. |
| 3 · CUSIP and FIGI Source | The nine-digit CUSIP number; a 12-character FIGI may be added | The FIGI is optional and supplements the CUSIP rather than replacing it. |
| 4 · Value Source | Market value of the holding at quarter end | Filings made on or after January 3, 2023 state the value to the nearest dollar. Earlier filings rounded to the nearest thousand dollars and omitted the last three zeros, so a series that crosses that date jumps about 1,000 times unless the older values are rescaled. |
| 5 · Amount and type Source | Number of shares (SH) or principal amount (PRN), with Put or Call on option lines | Read option lines separately from the share line for the same issuer. |
| 6 · Investment discretion Source | SOLE, DFND (shared-defined) or OTR (shared-other) | Discretion over trading is different from the voting authority in column 8. |
| 7 · Other managers Source | The number of each other included manager that shares discretion on that line | Look the number up in the filing's List of Other Included Managers. |
| 8 · Voting authority Source | Shares over which the manager has sole, shared or no voting authority | One line can split its shares across all three categories. |
A change in reported value needs an explanation
Imagine a disclosed position valued at 100 units in one report and 120 units in the next. You cannot infer an additional purchase of 20 units from those values alone. In a deliberately simplified example, an unchanged share count and a 20% price increase would also produce the change. Inspect share counts, reported values, identifiers and corporate actions before describing an apparent increase as trading. The aim is to preserve the difference between what the document states and your explanation for it.
Reconstruction is its own research experiment
If you simulate a portfolio from public filings, write down when the simulated investor could first have known each input. An experiment that uses information before publication answers a different question from one that waits for public availability. Also specify the entry convention, missing prices, costs and treatment of amendments. A reconstructed series should be labeled as your simulation under those assumptions. It should not inherit the manager's name as if it were an authenticated performance record.
Questions worth asking next
A holdings report can help generate research questions about business exposure and changes between disclosures. It cannot reveal a manager's complete reasoning. In GSDAQ, treat an explanation of institutional holdings as a guide to the public evidence and follow the original filing when assessing a particular claim. A compact note with the source, dates, comparison basis and unanswered questions is more useful than a headline that implies you now know a famous investor's next move.