What Is a 13F Filing? Definition and Example
Who files a 13F, what it shows, the 45-day lag, and the limits that matter before you copy a famous investor’s portfolio.
Key takeaways
- A 13F is a quarterly SEC report of long positions in US-listed securities, filed by institutional managers with $100 million or more in those securities.
- It is due within 45 days after each quarter ends, so the holdings you read can be up to about four and a half months old.
- It leaves out short positions, most non-US-listed holdings and cash, so it is a partial picture.
- It tells you what a manager owned, not why, or whether they still own it.
What is a 13F filing?
Form 13F is a public disclosure required by the SEC. Per the SEC’s Form 13F FAQ, institutional investment managers with investment discretion over $100 million or more in “Section 13(f) securities” must file. That covers hedge funds, mutual fund companies, banks and pension managers.
How do I read a 13F?
- Note the quarter-end date: that is the snapshot date, not the filing date.
- Sort holdings by value to see the largest positions and their share of the reported total.
- Compare with the previous quarter: new positions, exits, adds and trims tell you more than the list itself.
- Check for options rows (puts and calls), which can change the meaning of a position.
Example: the lag in practice
| Step | Date (illustrative) |
|---|---|
| Manager buys a stock | Jul 10 |
| Quarter ends (snapshot date) | Sep 30 |
| 13F deadline (45 days later) | Nov 14 |
| Manager may already have sold | Any time after Sep 30 |
Illustrative timeline. A buy early in a quarter can become public more than four months later.
Why it matters, and its limits
13Fs are the main public window into how large managers invest, and many investors read them next to analyst and insider activity. But the SEC FAQ is explicit that short positions are not reported, and foreign shares appear only if they trade on a US exchange. A long position may be half of a hedged pair trade you cannot see. Whether copying works is covered in copying a 13F strategy.
Common mistakes
- Treating a 13F as current: it is a snapshot from the last quarter-end.
- Reading the reported total as the manager’s whole portfolio.
- Confusing it with insider filings: officers’ trades are on Form 4, large stakes on Schedules 13D and 13G.
See 13F “smart money” views with Exent
- Open any stock in Stocks Radar to see insider, congress and 13F “smart money” activity next to analyst views.
- Compare them with price targets from analysts ranked by past accuracy.
Frequently asked questions
Quarterly. Each filing is due within 45 days after the end of March, June, September and December.
No. The SEC instructs filers not to include short positions, so a 13F shows only the long side.
They are public on the SEC’s EDGAR database. Data sites and tools also aggregate them by manager and by stock.
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Educational content, not investment advice. Examples are illustrative; past performance does not guarantee future results.