Failure-to-Deliver / Continuous Net Settlement (CNS)

DTCC's Continuous Net Settlement system permits the generation of 'phantom' or synthetic shares via persistent Failure-to-Deliver (FTD) cycles, ex-clearing arrangements, and total-return swap derivative exposure. Naked short selling (executing short sales without legitimate pre-borrow) produces FTDs that synthetically dilute the reported float. The exact magnitude of synthetic shares at any given moment is deliberately opaque — classified as proprietary clearing data by the DTCC, which is an SRO owned by its member banks. Documented by Dr. Susanne Trimbath ('Naked, Short and Greedy'), Wes Christian forensic work, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) aggregate FTD data. Quantitatively unresolvable with current public disclosure. See Divergence: FTD / Synthetic Share Data.