How securities are identified

Method §4.6. Version 1.1, 2026-10-05.

CUSIPs shown as filed, tickers from public SEC files and OpenFIGI, and no CUSIP to ticker table.

Worked examples describe the reference filings used to check this method. Counts are tied to the dated reference data and may differ from current site coverage. Example pages become available as their filings are imported.

The rule

13F and 13D/G filings name a security by its CUSIP and an issuer name, never by ticker. The CUSIP system is licensed, so the site shows CUSIPs only as they appear in the filings and never publishes a table from CUSIP to ticker. A filing page lists its rows with the CUSIP and issuer name as filed. A stock page is reached by ticker, and /cusip/{cusip} looks up one CUSIP at a time, at most 60 an hour from one address. The search box's suggestions never look up a CUSIP, and a timeline is keyed by ticker only.

Tickers come from public sources, in this order: the SEC fails-to-deliver files, then the tickers funds report in N-PORT, then OpenFIGI. A ticker must look like a ticker, an N-PORT ticker must match the issuer's name in EDGAR's company tickers file, and when sources disagree the newest observation wins and the security is flagged. Option series and other share classes of an issuer are grouped under the issuer by the first six CUSIP characters, but they never borrow the issuer's ticker.

How often

On the 13F rows of the SEC data set 01jun2026 to 31aug2026 (32,893 CUSIPs, 3.83 million rows, $84.0 trillion reported), a ticker covers 48.8% of CUSIPs, 98.2% of rows and 97.7% of value. With the issuer grouping, 78.0% of CUSIPs and 99.4% of rows. Still unmapped: 0.3% of rows and under 0.1% of value, mostly option series, debt and delisted names.

Worked example

SilverArc Capital Management filed a Schedule 13G/A on KalVista Pharmaceuticals on 2026-08-14 (0001104659-26-096807), with the CUSIP of a KalVista note on its cover page instead of the common stock's. A 13G is by law about a class of voting equity, so the stake is read under KalVista's one common line. Two sources tie that line to the issuer: the CUSIP issuer number holds exactly one common line, and another 13G/A on the same issuer CIK was filed with the common stock's CUSIP. The filing page says which rule placed it.

Brigade Capital Management's 13F (0000919574-26-005183) files its iShares puts under each ETF's own CUSIP with Put set, so the filing page shows that CUSIP as filed and the fund page shows the puts under the ETF's ticker, in the options table. A filer that uses an option series CUSIP instead gets a row grouped under its issuer, with no ticker of its own.