Alphanume
Corporate EventsPro

Enriched Reverse Splits

Find the consolidations that reset a weak stock's quoted price without fixing the financing pressure behind it. Every executed and upcoming US reverse split is enriched with its depth, sub-dollar context, market-cap tier, optionability, and recent dilution and shelf activity.

GET /v1/capital/reverse-splitsUpdated daily from Polygon and Alphanume enrichment
  • See the split before it executes.

    upcoming=true returns future execution dates, while first_seen_at records when Alphanume first observed the event.

  • Separate a deep consolidation from noise.

    ratio and is_deficiency_candidate distinguish a 1-for-10 reset from near-1.0 share adjustments.

  • Check the financing setup around it.

    market_cap_tier, sub_dollar_flag, optionable_flag, and the prior-year S-1 and shelf counts frame the short screen.

Ask your agent
Prompt · MCP or REST

Which small companies have recently completed, or are about to complete, a deep reverse split? Rank the weakest-looking setups for a short watchlist and explain the financing and borrow risks around each one.

Your agent translates this into the upcoming calendar, split depth, size, sub-dollar status, optionability, and recent dilution and shelf links.

What this dataset is

The price reset, with the capital-structure context attached.

A reverse stock split combines existing shares into fewer, higher-priced shares. A 1-for-10 split turns ten old shares into one new share and divides the share count by ten. The company's market value does not rise just because the quote moved from $0.20 to $2.00.

Each row is one ticker and execution date. Past rows form the historical event ledger, while future rows form a live calendar of announced consolidations. The enrichment answers the question a raw split feed cannot: what kind of company is doing this, how deep is the split, was it below $1, could it be optioned, and had it recently opened other routes to raise capital?

Each row includes:

  • The execution date, including future dates announced in Polygon's reference feed.
  • The split-from and split-to terms, their normalized ratio, and a deep-split flag.
  • Whether the prior unadjusted close was below $1, without exposing the internal raw price input.
  • Market-cap tier, sector, and point-in-time optionability around the event.
  • Counts and flags for S-1 dilution filings and S-3 or F-3 shelf registrations in the prior 365 days.
  • The first observation timestamp and the last time the row changed.

This is a short-screening dataset, not a promise that a short can be executed. Borrow availability and locate cost are not modeled, and those constraints are often decisive in sub-dollar microcaps.

What you can do with it

Build the watchlist before the post-split drift is obvious.

Reverse splits cluster in distressed, sub-dollar companies trying to cure an exchange listing deficiency. The split changes the arithmetic of the share count, not the cash position, operating losses, or need to issue stock. That makes the event useful as a dated filter for short sellers, long screens, and microcap risk controls.

Alphanume's matched-control study found negative excess returns that deepened after execution, reaching roughly -40% at 252 sessions for the covered survivors. Treat that as a base rate, not a trade return. The calendar-time short portfolio was inconclusive, long-horizon coverage is survivor-conditioned, and this feed has no borrow or locate data.

  • Build an upcoming-event watchlist before the new split-adjusted shares begin trading
  • Rank executed splits by depth, market-cap tier, and sub-dollar status
  • Find names where a reverse split follows recent S-1 or shelf-registration activity
  • Separate optionable names from stocks where a listed hedge is unavailable
  • Exclude fresh reverse splitters from long-only microcap screens
Where the data comes from

A forward split calendar enriched from point-in-time market data.

Split events come from Polygon's reference splits feed, which carries both completed and future execution dates. Open-end mutual fund share adjustments are excluded by ticker convention; ETFs and closed-end funds remain. The daily pull revisits recent and upcoming rows so vendor revisions can update the terms.

Alphanume attaches the last available point-in-time market cap before the event, its size tier, the sector mapping, and the nearest historical optionable-universe snapshot on or before the execution date. It also counts S-1 dilution filings and S-3 or F-3 shelf registrations by the same ticker during the trailing 365 days. Historical coverage begins in October 2022. Market-cap enrichment begins in January 2024, so earlier rows can carry null size fields.

Fields that matter

The fields that distinguish one reverse split from another.

The headline fields below are a subset. Every field, with exact types and semantics, is documented in the API reference.

FieldTypeWhat it tells you
datestringExecution date. It can be in the future
first_seen_atstringWhen Alphanume first observed the event; synthetic for pre-launch backfill rows
tickerstringUS equity ticker symbol
rationumbersplit_to divided by split_from; 0.1 means a 1-for-10 consolidation
is_deficiency_candidateinteger1 when ratio is 0.5 or lower, the listing-deficiency-sized cohort
sub_dollar_flaginteger or null1 when the unadjusted close before execution was below $1; null until a future event executes
market_cap_tierstring or nullnano, micro, small, or mid_plus based on the last session before execution
optionable_flaginteger or nullPoint-in-time listed-options status on or before the event
dilution_link_countinteger or nullS-1 dilution filings by the ticker in the trailing 365 days
shelf_link_countinteger or nullS-3 or F-3 shelf registrations by the ticker in the trailing 365 days
Query it in one call

One call isolates deep microcap consolidations.

One key works across the REST API, the hosted MCP server, and this dashboard. Every response is JSON with a { count, data } envelope.

Python
import requests

url = "https://api.alphanume.com/v1/capital/reverse-splits"
params = {
    "date_gte": "2026-01-01",
    "ratio_lte": 0.1,
    "cap_tier": "nano",
    "deficiency_only": "true",
    "api_key": "alp_abc123"
}

r = requests.get(url, params=params)
print(r.json())
cURL
curl "https://api.alphanume.com/v1/capital/reverse-splits?date_gte=2026-01-01&ratio_lte=0.1&cap_tier=nano&deficiency_only=true&api_key=alp_abc123"
Example response
{
  "count": 1,
  "has_more": false,
  "next_cursor": null,
  "data": [
    {
      "record_id": 842,
      "ticker": "XYZ",
      "date": "2026-08-28",
      "execution_date": "2026-08-28",
      "first_seen_at": "2026-08-12 06:31:04",
      "split_from": 10.0,
      "split_to": 1.0,
      "ratio": 0.1,
      "is_deficiency_candidate": 1,
      "sub_dollar_flag": 1,
      "market_cap_before": 18420000.0,
      "market_cap_tier": "nano",
      "sector": "technology",
      "optionable_flag": 0,
      "dilution_link_flag": 1,
      "dilution_link_count": 2,
      "shelf_link_flag": 1,
      "shelf_link_count": 1,
      "published_at": "2026-08-12 06:31:04",
      "last_updated": "2026-08-29 06:30:22"
    }
  ]
}
Honest limitations

What this data does not claim.

  • Borrow availability, locate fees, financing rates, and buy-in risk are not served. A name can look weak and still be impossible or uneconomic to short.
  • The long-horizon matched-control result is survivor-conditioned because only about 47% of events retain a full 252-session price history. The calendar-time short portfolio was inconclusive.
  • first_seen_at is a genuine observation timestamp for live and forward rows. For older events created by the backfill, it is set to the execution date and is explicitly synthetic.
  • Upcoming rows cannot yet carry prior-close price or market-cap enrichment. Polygon can also revise or withdraw an announced split, and a withdrawn row is not currently deleted automatically.
  • market_cap_before and market_cap_tier are null before January 2024. sector is current-state rather than point-in-time.
Common questions

Asked by researchers, answered plainly.

Does a reverse stock split create value?

No. It reduces the share count and raises the per-share quote by the same factor, leaving market value unchanged at execution. The company can still benefit by regaining exchange compliance or making the quote look more conventional, but the split itself does not improve cash flow or the balance sheet.

Can I use reverse splits as a short signal?

Use them as a screening event, not a complete strategy. Historical post-event returns are weak on average, but the hardest names to own are often also the hardest names to borrow. A usable short process still needs live borrow, locate cost, liquidity, and risk controls from another source.

Are upcoming reverse stock splits included?

Yes. Filter upcoming=true to return execution dates today or later. Future rows have the split terms and non-price enrichment, while fields that require the final pre-split session stay null until execution.

What counts as a listing-deficiency-sized reverse split?

is_deficiency_candidate is 1 when ratio is 0.5 or lower, meaning a 1-for-2 consolidation or deeper. This removes near-1.0 ADR-fee-style adjustments from that cohort without deleting them from the raw calendar.

How are dilution and shelf filings linked to a split?

The dataset counts S-1 dilution filings and S-3 or F-3 shelf registrations filed by the same ticker in the 365 calendar days before the execution date. The flags say whether at least one link exists, and the counts preserve how many were found.

Start querying

Available with Pro.

This dataset is Pro-only. Free and Trial keys return 403 PRO_SUBSCRIPTION_REQUIRED on every request, with no delayed or historical preview. Pro includes full history, current updates, REST, MCP, and dashboard access.