The number of
odd-lot short sales as a percentage of total
short sales over a given period. Odd-lot short sales are short sales in quantities of fewer than 100
shares each. Generally speaking, one engages in short sales because one expects the
price of a
stock to fall. Likewise most
odd-lotters are
small investors. Because many
investors consider small investors poorly informed and therefore wrong most of the time, they believe a high odd-lot short sale ratio may be a sign that stock prices will, in fact, rise.