November 25, 2025
What happened?
In the first quarter of 2025, firms were ready to comply with the new Rule 13f-2, which required monitoring short positions and filing Form SHO to report on certain short activity. The first Form SHO filing was set to be due on Valentine’s Day 2025, but the SEC pushed back the deadline to February 17, 2026. The question for 2026 is: Will Form SHO be delayed again?
Rule 13f-2 has faced legal challenges that reached the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In the August 25, 2025, decision, the Court did not vacate the rule. Instead, it held that the SEC failed to consider the collective economic impact of Rule 13f-2 and Rule 10c-1a, which added reporting requirements for covered securities loans. The Court remanded the two rules to the SEC “to allow the agency to consider and quantify the cumulative impact” and to “respond to further comments.” This placed the rules back with the SEC.
Chairman Atkins published a statement shortly after the Court’s decision. Atkins announced that he had directed the staff “to evaluate the rules in light of the opinion and make recommendations for appropriate Commission action, including potential changes to the rules and adjustments to the related compliance dates.” The rules and compliance dates remain unchanged, and no further announcements were published before the government shutdown or since reopening.
The current compliance deadline for Form SHO is February 17, 2026, and is still live.
What does this mean for me?
Last time around, the extension came days before the first filing was due. We may see this play out again as the SEC works through its post-shutdown backlog and decides on priorities for 2026. With a live deadline and no clear indication of the SEC’s next steps, firms must prepare and be ready to file.
The SEC now has a chance to change the course of this rule and adjust it from the point of view of the new administration. Whether they will make this adjustment before the compliance deadline is an open question. FilePoint will continue to monitor for developments with Rule 13f-2 and Form SHO.
If you have any questions, contact us. Our team of regulatory experts can help.
