The 13(f) securities list — what counts as a 13F holding?

Section 13(f) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 — enacted in 1975 — applies only to a defined universe of securities. The SEC publishes that universe quarterly as the Official List of Section 13(f) Securities, and managers' reporting obligations are precisely scoped to that list.

The list itself: Q2 2026 in numbers

The SEC publishes each quarter's list as a PDF and as a fixed-width text file. Counted from the Q2 2026 text file:

• 25,333 rows in total
• 13,113 securities, each identified by its 9-character CUSIP
• 12,220 option entries, one CALL and one PUT row for every security with listed options
• 1,351 additions and 844 deletions versus the previous quarter (flagged *A* and *D* in the file)

Download the official file: Q2 2026 TXT · Q2 2026 PDF · all quarters since 1996.

The 25 most-held stocks, checked against the list

The 25 stocks owned by the most superinvestors HoldLens tracks (2026-Q2 filings), each matched to the Q2 2026 list by CUSIP. All 25 are on it, and every one also has listed options on the list. Issuer and class are the SEC's own text.

To check any other security, search the TXT file for its CUSIP. A security that is not on the list does not have to be reported on Form 13F, however large the position.

What's on the list

• U.S. exchange-listed common stocks (NYSE, Nasdaq, Cboe Equities) — the largest category
• American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) — foreign stocks held via U.S. depository banks
• Certain convertible debt — corporate bonds convertible into 13(f)-listed equity
• Closed-end fund shares — equity-traded RICs (not the underlying fund holdings)
• Certain ETFs — exchange-listed shares of registered investment companies (NOT the underlying fund positions; the ETF share itself)
• Equity options — listed equity options on exchange-traded options markets; reported notionally as the underlying equity exposure
• Equity warrants and rights — when traded on registered exchanges

What's NOT on the list

Excluded categories are large, and they shape what 13Fs can and cannot tell you:

• Short positions — invisible. A fund could be net-short Apple and show it as a long position on 13F.
• Non-U.S.-listed equities — foreign stocks bought directly on London or Tokyo exchanges are excluded.
• Bonds (corporate, treasury, agency, municipal) — bond positions don't show up. A fixed-income hedge fund could be invisible.
• Most derivatives — futures contracts, total-return swaps, OTC swaps, and most options are excluded. A fund with synthetic exposure to AAPL via a TRS shows nothing on 13F.
• Cash and cash equivalents — not on the list.
• Private placements, private equity, real estate — entirely outside the regime.
• Cryptocurrency — bitcoin, ether, etc. are not 13(f) securities (BTC futures on CME are; BTC spot ETFs registered as ICs are on the list).

Why this matters for reading 13Fs

Three consequences for the practical reader:

1. The 13F you're reading is incomplete by design. A fund with 60% gross exposure to U.S. equities + 40% to bonds shows 60%-of-portfolio on 13F. Don't mistake the 13F view for the full book.
2. Short-biased funds look long-only on 13F. A market-neutral fund with $10B long + $10B short shows the $10B long as if the fund were directionally long-only. The hedge invisible.
3. Cross-asset funds look smaller than they are. A multi-strategy fund with $50B AUM might show $15B on 13F because the rest is bonds, commodities, currencies, alternatives. The 13F filing is not the AUM.

Our view

Pure-reference encyclopedic entry for Form 13F (including the variants HR / NT / HR/A) on our sister site: secfilingdex.com/learn/13f — SEC regulatory citation + every form variant.

Not investment advice. See methodology for how we treat 13F-list scope across the tracked-superinvestor universe.