Spot the traps in a small-cap

Small companies fail in specific, filed, findable ways: dilution, a tiny float, a crowded short side, a reverse split. This track is the paper trail, ending at the tools that read it for you.

For you if: You trade or research companies under a billion dollars, where the risks are structural rather than fundamental.

1. 1what is stock floatGuide · 6 minWhy the tradeable share count moves a price more than the market cap does
2. 2how stock splits workGuide · 6 minIncluding reverse splits, which change everything by multiples
3. 3what is short interestGuide · 7 minWhat a crowded short side is, and what it is not
4. 4how short selling worksGuide · 8 minThe mechanics behind the number
5. 5authorized sharesTerm · 3 minThe ceiling on how much a company may still issue
6. 6floatTool · 4 minThe filed share count for any ticker, with the concept it came from
7. 7dilutionTool · 6 minOfferings, shelves and the runway, joined into one page

Every step is a page that already existed before this path did — nothing here is a teaser for something paid, and there is no next step that asks for money. The times are rounded up on purpose: a promise about effort that flatters us would be worth less than no promise.