FAQ
Frequently asked questions
1. What is Form 13F?
Form 13F is a regulatory filing submitted by certain institutional investment managers in the United States. It shows reportable long positions in eligible securities as of the end of a calendar quarter.
2. How often is fund data updated?
BLARKAD updates fund data after new public filings become available and after internal processing is completed. Update timing may vary depending on filing quality, source availability, and data normalization.
3. Why is 13F data delayed?
13F data is not real-time. It reflects reportable holdings as of the quarter end and becomes public only after the filing is submitted and processed.
4. Does 13F data show a fund's full portfolio?
No. 13F filings do not show a manager's full portfolio. They generally do not include cash, many foreign securities, private investments, short positions, or the full range of derivatives and other exposures.
5. Why can holdings data change after publication?
Public filings can be amended, corrected, refiled, or reclassified. BLARKAD may also update internal mappings or calculations when better source data becomes available.
6. Why can portfolio values differ from other websites?
Different platforms may use different mapping rules, pricing references, filing interpretations, security classifications, and calculation methods. Because of that, totals and weights may not match exactly across sites.
7. How does BLARKAD calculate position changes between quarters?
BLARKAD compares reportable holdings across available filing periods using normalized security identifiers and internal matching logic. These comparisons are derived calculations and may be affected by filing changes, mapping issues, or reporting limitations.
8. What do "New", "Added", "Reduced", and "Sold Out" mean?
"New" means a position appears in the current filing but not in the prior comparable filing. "Added" means the reported position increased. "Reduced" means it decreased. "Sold Out" means it appeared previously but no longer appears in the current filing.
9. What does portfolio weight mean?
Portfolio weight is the share of a reported position relative to the total reported 13F portfolio value shown on the platform. It is based on reported long holdings only, not the manager's full economic exposure.
10. What does "Top Holdings" mean?
Top Holdings are the largest reported positions within the displayed 13F portfolio, usually ranked by reported market value or portfolio weight.
11. How are company tickers matched to filings?
BLARKAD uses public identifiers, source data, and internal mapping logic to connect filings to issuers, securities, and tickers. In some cases, mappings may be incomplete, outdated, or ambiguous.
12. Why do some holdings appear without a ticker?
Some reported securities do not map cleanly to an active public ticker, or the filing may provide limited or inconsistent identifying information. In those cases, BLARKAD may show the holding without a ticker or with a partial mapping.
13. Why do some company names look different from common stock names?
Filings often use legal issuer names, class descriptions, or source naming conventions rather than familiar market-facing company names. BLARKAD may preserve or normalize those names depending on the available data.
14. Can BLARKAD data contain errors or stale values?
Yes. Public filing data can be delayed, incomplete, amended, or inconsistent, and internally derived fields may also contain errors, stale values, or interpretation issues.
15. Does BLARKAD include short positions, options, or derivatives?
Not as a complete view of portfolio exposure. The platform is primarily based on public filing data, and 13F reporting does not provide a full picture of short exposure, derivatives, hedges, or non-reportable positions.
16. Why are some funds or filings missing?
A fund or filing may be missing because it has not yet been processed, the source data is incomplete, the filing format is difficult to normalize, or the manager falls outside the current coverage logic of the platform.
17. Can amended filings change previously displayed data?
Yes. If a manager files an amendment or corrected report, previously displayed values, holdings, or comparisons may change after reprocessing.
18. Is BLARKAD affiliated with the SEC or any fund manager?
No. BLARKAD is an independent research platform and is not affiliated with the SEC, EDGAR, or any reporting investment manager unless explicitly stated otherwise.
19. Is BLARKAD investment advice?
No. BLARKAD is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not provide investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice.
20. How can I report a data issue or incorrect mapping?
If you find an incorrect mapping, stale filing, calculation issue, or other data problem, please contact us through the site's contact channel and include as much detail as possible.
21. Why does the site look empty at the start of a new quarter?
At the beginning of each reporting cycle, only a small number of funds have filed their 13F reports. The SEC allows managers up to 45 days after the quarter ends to submit filings, so data accumulates gradually over several weeks.
During this early period you may see fewer holders on ticker pages, limited trend data, and smaller sector or flow samples. This is normal and expected. BLARKAD processes new filings automatically as they become available, so the data fills in over time.
Where possible, the platform will display data from the most recent complete quarter by default and show a notice when you are viewing early or partial data for the current reporting period.
22. Why can the same ticker appear more than once in one fund?
A fund can hold multiple share classes of the same company (for example, Class A and Class C). Those classes can appear as separate lines, so the same ticker may seem repeated even though they represent different classes of shares.
23. Why can Net Flow % be near -100% or +100% in a fresh quarter?
During the first weeks of a reporting cycle, many managers have not filed yet. The prior quarter is usually much more complete, while the current quarter is still partial.
Because of that coverage gap, current quarter value and holder counts can be temporarily understated, which may produce very large percentage moves in Trends/ETF tables, including values near -100% or +100%.
This effect usually fades as additional filings are processed and coverage improves.