Short positions in Europe: what is the 0.5% rule?
If you bet on a falling share price in an EU-listed company, you tell the regulator once your net short position reaches 0.1% of the shares. From 0.5% the regulator publishes it, with your name.
The rule
The Short Selling Regulation (EU) No 236/2012 applies to shares admitted to trading on an EU trading venue, unless their main market lies outside the EU. It counts your net short position: your short positions in the company's shares minus your long ones, with derivatives that give the same exposure included.
The regulation also bans naked short selling of shares. You may sell a share short only if you have borrowed it or have arranged to borrow it.
0.1% to the regulator, 0.5% to the public
- From 0.1% of the issued share capital, and at each 0.1% step above, you notify the national regulator. A 2022 delegated regulation lowered this first threshold from 0.2%.
- From 0.5%, and at each 0.1% step above, the regulator publishes the position.
- When the position falls back below one of these steps, you report that too.
ESMA's short selling page sets out both thresholds and the separate rules for government bonds.
Deadline and content
You calculate the position at midnight at the end of the trading day, and report it by 15:30 on the next trading day (Article 9). The notice names the holder, the size of the position, the company and the date the position changed.
Who publishes
Each country's regulator keeps its own public register: the AFM in the Netherlands, the AMF in France, Finansinspektionen in Sweden, the Central Bank of Ireland and the CNMV in Spain, among others. A position below 0.5% stays with the regulator and does not appear in the register.
This is a separate duty from the one in MAR Article 19, which covers trades by a company's own managers.
Short positions on this site
Short Positions collects the public registers of the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Ireland and Spain: the holder, the size, the date and the company. Trades by company managers in the same countries are on Insider Trades. Long stakes of 3% or 5% and more follow other rules, in major shareholdings in the EU.
Checked against the regulation and the regulator’s own pages on Oct 31, 2026. This guide explains the rules; it is not legal or investment advice.
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