Direct Answer
Form 13F is an SEC filing that institutional investment managers with at least $100 million in qualifying securities under management must submit quarterly, within 45 days of each calendar quarter end. It discloses the manager's long equity holdings in "13(f) securities" as of quarter end — it does not require disclosure of short positions, most non-equity holdings, or cash.
Key Takeaways
- Form 13F is required under Section 13(f) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for managers with investment discretion over $100 million or more in 13(f) securities.
- Filings are quarterly, due within 45 days after each calendar quarter end — mid-February, mid-May, mid-August, and mid-November.
- Only long positions in 13(f) securities are reportable; short positions, most bonds, and cash are outside Form 13F's scope entirely.
- A "13(f) security" is generally an exchange-listed or Nasdaq-quoted stock, a closed-end fund share, certain convertible bonds, and certain exchange-traded options and warrants.
- Filings are searchable for free on the SEC's EDGAR system, either directly or through third-party aggregators that reformat the same underlying data.
- What Form 13F does not show can matter as much as what it does — see the companion guide linked below for the coverage gaps in detail.
Who Must File a Form 13F?
Any institutional investment manager that exercises investment discretion over $100 million or more in Section 13(f) securities is required to file. That threshold is measured against the value of qualifying securities the manager controls, not the manager's total assets under management across all strategies — a manager could oversee several billion dollars in fixed income and still fall under the threshold if its equity exposure in 13(f) securities stays below $100 million, though in practice most managers of that overall size clear it easily.
"Institutional investment manager" is defined broadly. It covers hedge funds, mutual fund complexes, pension funds, endowments, insurance companies, registered investment advisors, and bank trust departments — any entity that invests in, or buys and sells, securities for its own account or on behalf of others where it has discretion over the investment decision. A manager that crosses the $100 million threshold at any month-end during a calendar year must begin filing, and once a manager is required to file, it continues filing every quarter until its holdings fall persistently below the threshold.
Common mistake
The common mistake is assuming the $100 million threshold applies to a manager's total assets under management. It applies specifically to the market value of 13(f) securities held, which is a narrower category than total AUM — a manager with a large fixed-income or private-market book alongside a smaller public-equity sleeve is evaluated only on that public-equity portion.
What Counts as a 13(f) Security?
Not every security a manager holds is reportable. The SEC maintains and publishes an official quarterly list of 13(f) securities, and only positions in securities on that list must be disclosed. In general, 13(f) securities include:
- Common stocks listed on a national securities exchange (including Nasdaq).
- Shares of closed-end investment companies.
- Certain convertible debt securities that convert into a 13(f)-eligible equity.
- Exchange-traded options and warrants on 13(f)-eligible securities.
- Shares of exchange-traded funds that themselves hold 13(f) securities.
Securities that are not exchange-listed, most corporate and government bonds, cash and cash equivalents, real estate, and privately held (non-public) securities all fall outside the 13(f) reporting requirement, regardless of how large the position is. This is the source of the biggest limitation in 13F data: it shows a slice of a manager's overall portfolio, not the whole thing, and the slice it shows is skewed toward exchange-listed U.S. equities.
Common mistake
The common mistake is treating a 13F filing as a complete picture of a fund's book. A fund with a large 13F equity position may simultaneously run a substantial short book, hold significant fixed-income or private-market exposure, or use derivatives to hedge — none of which appear anywhere in the filing. For the specific ways this creates a coverage gap, see What Form 13F Does Not Show.
How to Find 13F Filings on EDGAR
Every Form 13F is public and free to search on the SEC's EDGAR system. The process is the same whether you're looking up a specific manager's holdings history or trying to see which managers reported owning a particular stock.
- Open EDGAR full-text search at efts.sec.gov, or the standard filer-browsing interface at sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar.
- Search by manager or ticker. Enter the institutional manager's name to pull up its filing history, or search a specific stock ticker to find managers that reported holding it.
- Filter to Form 13F-HR. This is the standard holdings report. Related filing types include 13F-NT (a notice of no reportable holdings, sometimes filed on behalf of a manager by a parent entity) and 13F-HR/A (an amendment to a previously filed report).
- Open the information table. The filing itself is mostly a cover page; the substance is in the Form 13F information table, which lists each reported security, the share or principal amount held, and its market value as of quarter end.
- Check the filing date against the period it covers. A filing dated in mid-August for the quarter ended June 30 describes positions as they stood on June 30 — not as of the filing date. See 13F Reporting Lag for how stale that data can get.
Third-party aggregators such as WhaleWisdom and Dataroma compile 13F data into more readable dashboards, tracking quarter-over-quarter changes in a manager's holdings automatically. These tools are convenient, but the underlying source is always the same EDGAR filing, so nothing they show can be more current than the original 13F.
Misconceptions Versus Reality
| Misconception | Reality |
|---|---|
| Form 13F shows a manager's full portfolio | It only shows long positions in 13(f) securities — short positions, most fixed income, cash, and private holdings are excluded entirely |
| The $100 million threshold applies to total assets under management | It applies specifically to the market value of 13(f) securities held, a narrower category than total AUM |
| 13F data reflects a manager's current positions | It reflects positions as of quarter end, filed up to 45 days later — see the reporting-lag guide for how stale that gets in practice |
| Only hedge funds file Form 13F | Any institutional manager over the threshold files, including mutual fund companies, pension funds, insurers, and bank trust departments |
| 13F filings are hard to access without a paid service | Every 13F is free to search directly on the SEC's EDGAR system; paid aggregators only reformat the same public data |
Risks, Limitations, and Exceptions
- The list of 13(f) securities can change slightly from quarter to quarter as the SEC updates it, so the exact set of reportable instruments is not perfectly static.
- A manager's 13F omits short positions entirely, which can make an apparently bullish long position misleading if the manager is actually hedged or net short through instruments the filing doesn't capture.
- Small managers near the $100 million threshold can move in and out of the filing requirement from year to year as their qualifying holdings fluctuate.
- Amendments (13F-HR/A) can revise a previously filed report; always check for amendments when precision matters.
- Reporting is inherently backward-looking; treat 13F data as a structural snapshot, not a current holdings statement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is required to file a Form 13F?
Any institutional investment manager that exercises investment discretion over $100 million or more in Section 13(f) securities must file Form 13F with the SEC within 45 days of each calendar quarter end. This threshold captures a broad range of filers, including hedge funds, mutual fund companies, pension funds, insurance companies, registered investment advisors, and banks with discretionary accounts of that size.
What counts as a 13(f) security?
A 13(f) security is generally a stock listed on a national exchange or quoted on Nasdaq, a share of a closed-end investment company, certain convertible debt securities, and exchange-traded options and warrants on those securities. The SEC publishes an official 13(f) list quarterly. Securities not on that list, along with most bonds, cash, and non-U.S.-listed shares, fall outside Form 13F's scope entirely.
Does Form 13F require disclosure of short positions?
No. Form 13F only requires disclosure of long positions in 13(f) securities. It does not require managers to report short positions, and it does not capture most non-equity holdings such as bonds or cash. A manager's 13F can show a large long position in a stock while the manager simultaneously holds an offsetting short position or protective puts that the filing never reveals.
How often is Form 13F filed?
Form 13F is filed quarterly, within 45 days after the end of each calendar quarter: mid-February for the quarter ending December 31, mid-May for the quarter ending March 31, mid-August for the quarter ending June 30, and mid-November for the quarter ending September 30.
Where can I search Form 13F filings for free?
Form 13F filings are free to search on the SEC's own EDGAR system, either through the full-text search tool or by browsing a specific filer's history. Third-party aggregators such as WhaleWisdom and Dataroma also compile and present 13F data in an easier-to-read format, though the underlying source is always the same EDGAR filing.
Sources
Disclaimer
This guide is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal, or compliance advice. SEC filing rules and thresholds can change; always verify current requirements directly with the SEC or a qualified compliance professional before relying on them for a filing obligation.
Related Reading
- Institutional Ownership & SEC Filings — the parent hub for this content group.
- What Form 13F Does Not Show — a closer look at the coverage gaps this guide flags: short positions, non-equity holdings, and cash.
- 13F Reporting Lag — why the 45-day filing window makes 13F data structurally useful but tactically stale.
- Insider Transactions — the related disclosure regime for officers, directors, and large shareholders trading in their own company's stock.
- Institutional Fund Flows and Positioning — how 13F data fits alongside ETF flows and CFTC positioning as a sentiment input.