I think everyone agrees that the FINRA daily number does not mean that all those shares referred to in the "short" percentage are STILL short at the end of the day. I think everyone agrees that some of them are intraday shorts (people trading for a penny), that some may be actual market maker shorting (though it sure can't be much, given my history of not getting trades filled at the ask), and that some amount of it may be sales that stay short. The percentage of mixture of these possibilities is impossible to know.

However, they mystery is why the number varies so wildly. 7% -78% is kind of a big range.

But I reiterate: I doubt that anyone thinks that if the number is, for example, 30%, that it means all of these are new shorts.

Let's make sure we're not arguing about something everyone already understands.