Overview

Add historical share-structure data to a list of small-cap gappers, runners, or past trades. Use float and outstanding shares as filters in your research—for example, to compare how gappers performed across different float ranges.

AskEdgar tracks share counts reported in SEC filings and changes resulting from events such as reverse splits and share issuances. The dataset incorporates updates throughout the reporting cycle, including between quarterly reports.

Source documents and available explanatory notes help you understand where the figures came from and how the share counts were determined.

How historical checkpoints work

The history is built from checkpoints: dates when a share count is reported or an event changes the share structure.

A checkpoint might come from an explicit share count in a 10-Q or 8-K, or from an event such as a reverse split or share issuance.

The checkpoint used depends on whether you search by reported date or filing date. Between checkpoints, the share counts carry forward until another checkpoint updates them.

When enriching a dataset of historical gappers, use the latest checkpoint whose reported_date is before the gap date. This supplies the pre-gap share count rather than a checkpoint dated on or after the move.

For example:

• January 10, 2025: A checkpoint establishes a float of 2 million shares.
• January 15, 2025: A new checkpoint changes the float to 3 million shares.
• For a gap on January 12, 2025, the latest checkpoint with a reported date before the gap is January 10, giving a float of 2 million shares.

This lets you attach a historical share count to each event in your dataset without needing a new filing on every event date.

What you can build

• A float-filtered gap backtest: Enrich historical gap events with float data, then compare performance across float ranges.
• A historical turnover study: Combine historical float with your volume data to study trading activity relative to share supply.
• A share-structure timeline: Examine the checkpoints where float or outstanding shares changed, with source documents and explanatory notes.

Build with AI

“Using AskEdgar’s Historical Float, Shares Outstanding & Market Cap API, enrich my dataset of historical small-cap gappers. For each gap date, select the latest checkpoint with a reported_date strictly before that date. Add float, tradable float, shares outstanding, and market cap, and retain the checkpoint’s reported date and filing date. Let me group events into adjustable float ranges and compare the performance measures already in my dataset.”

Understanding the share counts

• Shares outstanding (outstanding_shares): The company’s total outstanding shares, ADR-adjusted if applicable.
• Float (float): Shares held by non-affiliates, ADR-adjusted if applicable.
• Tradable float (tradable_float): Float after subtracting restricted shares, shares subject to lockups, and other non-tradable shares.

Keep these measures separately labeled when filtering your backtest or calculating turnover.

Choosing dates for historical research

reported_date identifies when the share counts apply. filed_at identifies when the supporting document was filed with the SEC.

For example, a filing dated March 31, 2025 can report shares outstanding as of December 31, 2024. The reported date describes the share count’s period; the filing date establishes when that disclosure became public.

• Enriching historical gappers: Select the latest checkpoint with a reported_date strictly before the gap date to attach the pre-gap share count.
• Testing information available before a trade: Also apply a filing-date cutoff before entry so your test uses disclosures available at that time.

Together, these dates let you distinguish the historical share structure from when its supporting disclosure became available.

Important notes

• Market Cap currently only covers sub-$1B market cap companies.

Key parameters

• cik — alternative to ticker (comma-separated, leading zeros optional). Supply either; if both, rows must match both.
• latest_data=true — return only the most recent data point per ticker (instead of the full history).
• is_adr=false — exclude ADRs.
• filed_at_from / filed_at_to — filter by when the document hit EDGAR.
• reported_date_from / reported_date_to — filter by the "as of" date.
• Range filters: min_float / max_float, min_outstanding_shares / max_outstanding_shares, plus ownership-percentage min/max for affiliate, institutions, insider.

Key fields

• restricted_shares — Number of restricted shares (ADR-adjusted if applicable).
• Ownership percentages (affiliate_percent, institutions_percent, insider_percent) are decimals (e.g. 0.125 = 12.5%).
• oldtickers — Comma-separated list of previous ticker symbols; useful for tracking companies that changed their ticker.
• outstanding_shares_description, affiliate_shares_description, restricted_shares_description — plain-text notes from the filing on how each share count was determined (null when not available).
• Additional fields returned: affiliate_shares, five_percent_shareholders, insider_shares, document_url, form_type, cik, ads_ratio, number_classes, classes_details.