Tremendous

Fails to deliver in shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. jumped over 2700% in the latest data from the SEC.

After falling to a low level at the end of September, fails to deliver exploded in October. As of October 14th, the last day in the latest data set, they stood at nearly 80,000.

This amount of fails to deliver is 789 times Amazon’s, 849 times Microsoft’s, and significantly larger even than Apple’s. Why would the largest stocks in the market have far fewer shares failing to deliver than AMC, with a market cap of just $20 billion?

First, let’s recap what a fail to deliver is. A share in a company fails to deliver when a trade is made but never completed. The shares are never actually delivered to the buyer.

This can happen for benign reasons. But AMC has persistent, huge fails to deliver.

When that happens, it’s often a sign of illegal naked short selling. This involves selling short shares you never borrowed.

The shares can’t be delivered because they never existed in the first place. Meanwhile, the seller has a powerful tool to the push the price down.

If you don’t even have to bother borrowing shares, you can keep selling forever.

What you tend to see in AMC stock is the market makers whittling down the fails to deliver for a little while, only to see them quickly pop back up to enormous levels. Following the stock for some time now, I’ve seen this pattern over and over.

We’ve noticed, but when will the SEC?

More on markets:

Citadel Demands Dismissal of Lawsuit, Citing SEC Report

Starting a Financial Plan from 0

Citadel Builds Huge Position in AMC Call Options

Raw SEC data (the fails to deliver are the number right before the company name):

20210930|00165C104|AMC|2815|AMC ENTMT HLDGS INC CL A COM S|35.54

20211014|00165C104|AMC|78931|AMC ENTMT HLDGS INC CL A COM S|37.91

20211013|023135106|AMZN|100|AMAZON COM INC;COM USD0.01|3247.33

20211014|037833100|AAPL|58498|APPLE INC;COM NPV|140.91

20211014|594918104|MSFT|93|MICROSOFT CORP;COM USD0.000012|296.31

If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/Facebook/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! 

Save Money on Stuff I Use:

Amazon Business American Express Card

You already shop on Amazon. Why not save $100?

If you’re approved for this card, you get a $100 Amazon gift card. You also get up to 5% back on Amazon and Whole Foods purchases, 2% on restaurants/gas stations/cell phone bills, and 1% everywhere else.

Best of all: No fee!

Fundrise

This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account.

Misfits Market

My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order.