Float is the number of publicly tradeable shares. Low float means small buys move price more. Learn float math, why it matters for penny stocks.
Shares outstanding is the total number of shares a company has issued. Float is the subset that's actually available for public trading — outstanding minus insider holdings, restricted shares, and locked-up positions.
Low-float stocks are penny-stock favorites because small dollar amounts can move the price dramatically. A ‘low float’ stock with 5M shares can spike 100% on $100K of buying. The same $100K wouldn't move a 1B-share float by 0.1%. Float matters even more for shorts: low float + high short interest is the classic squeeze setup, because shorts can't quietly cover into limited available supply.