Pro Investor Academy

Form 13F

What is form 13f?

Form 13F is a quarterly SEC filing in which institutional investment managers with at least $100 million in Section 13(f) securities disclose those positions as of quarter end. Qualifying managers can be based outside the U.S. It is public evidence of professional ownership, reported after the fact.

Written by
Pro Investor Academy Research Team
Content type
Reference definition
Published
2026-09-13
Last reviewed
2026-09-13

Always historical

Managers report positions as of a quarter end, then file up to 45 days later. A position may already have been sold before you read about it.

An incomplete picture

13F covers only securities on the SEC's Official List of Section 13(f) Securities — mainly U.S.-exchange-listed stocks, closed-end fund and ETF shares, plus certain convertible debt, equity options and warrants. Short positions, cash, mutual fund shares, most bonds and most securities that trade only outside the U.S. are not reported, so the filing is not a manager's full portfolio.

A worked example

A March quarter-end position can legally appear in a filing published in mid-May, describing what was held six weeks earlier.

The mistake people make

Copying a famous manager's disclosed position as though it were current, or treating the filing date as the position date.

How we use it

Ownership Intelligence is 20% of the Pro Investor Score and is built strictly from disclosure dates, never from position dates, so nothing is scored before it was genuinely public.

Related terms

Institutional ownership (Level 6)

Sources and methodology

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Educational information only. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any investment, and no research measurement removes the risk of loss.