USO Short Interest

United States Oil Fund LP (USO) operates in the Financial Services sector, specifically the Asset Management industry, with a market capitalization near $16.92B, listed on AMEX, carrying a beta of 2.14 to the broader market. USO invests primarily in futures contracts for light, sweet crude oil, other types of crude oil, diesel-heating oil, gasoline, natural gas, and other petroleum-based fuels. public since 2006-04-10.

Short interest is the total number of shares currently sold short and not yet covered, reported bi-monthly by FINRA. Days to cover (short interest divided by average daily volume) indicates how long it would take short sellers to close positions, with higher values signaling greater squeeze potential.

Settlement Date
2026-04-30
Short Interest
14.0M
Previous Short Interest
10.6M
Change
31.24%
Days to Cover
1.00
Avg Daily Volume
16.4M
Avg Days to Cover (24 reports)
1.09

Showing 24 bi-monthly FINRA short interest reports for United States Oil Fund LP.

Learn how short interest is reported and how to read the data →

Frequently asked USO short interest questions

What is the current USO short interest?
As of the Apr 30, 2026 settlement, United States Oil Fund LP (USO) short interest is 14.0M shares, a +31.24% change from the prior period. FINRA publishes short interest twice monthly on the 15th and last business day of each month under Rule 4560.
What is the USO days-to-cover ratio?
Days-to-cover is 1.00, calculated as short interest divided by average daily volume. It estimates how many trading days closing all short positions would consume given typical liquidity. Values above 5 days are commonly cited as elevated; values above 10 days are squeeze-relevant.
How does USO short interest affect options pricing?
High short interest changes options pricing through three mechanics: borrow-rebate effects (synthetic long stock trades below frictionless put-call parity by approximately the borrow rebate when shares are hard-to-borrow), gamma-squeeze setup risk (if dealers are short gamma against retail call buying, dealer hedge flow can amplify upward moves), and elevated event-vol pricing on names with squeeze potential. See the canonical short-interest documentation for the full mechanism.