GUIDE • HOW-TO
How to Find a Fund's 13F on EDGAR
Every 13F ever filed is free, public and searchable. No account, no subscription. The hard part is not access — it is knowing which of several similarly named entities actually holds the positions.
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The short version
To find a fund's 13F: go to EDGAR full-text search, search the manager's name, filter to form type 13F-HR, and open the most recent one. The information table inside lists every disclosed position. It is free and needs no account.
That works most of the time. The rest of this guide covers the cases where it does not — which is more often than you would expect, because large managers file through multiple legal entities with near-identical names.
Method 1: EDGAR full-text search
EDGAR full-text search is the fastest route and lives at sec.gov/edgar/search. It indexes filing contents, not just company names, which matters when you are searching for a manager whose legal name differs from the brand you know.
- 1.Enter the manager's name in the search box.
- 2.Set the form type filter to 13F-HR. This is the single most useful step — without it you will wade through unrelated filings.
- 3.Sort by date and open the most recent result.
- 4.In the filing, open the information table — usually an XML or HTML document listing each position.
One limitation worth knowing: EDGAR full-text search covers filings from 2001 onward. For anything older, use the company browse interface instead.
Method 2: Look up the CIK first
A CIK (Central Index Key) is the unique identifier the SEC assigns to every filer. It is the reliable way to track a manager over time, because names are messy — they get reused, abbreviated, and changed after rebrands, while the CIK never moves.
Search the manager on EDGAR company search, note the CIK on the results page, and from then on query by that number. Every filing the entity has ever made sits under it.
WHY THIS MATTERS IN PRACTICE
Large asset managers commonly file through several registered entities — a management company, one or more advisers, and offshore vehicles. Searching by name returns all of them and gives no hint which one holds the book. Pinning the CIK removes the ambiguity.
CIK, CRD and the cover-page identifiers
Three different numbers identify a 13F filer, and they come from different systems. Confusing them is the most common reason a search returns nothing.
CIK — SEC, FOR FILINGS
The Central Index Key, assigned by the SEC to every EDGAR filer. This is what EDGAR actually indexes on, so it is the identifier to search with.
CRD — FINRA, FOR REGISTRATION
The Central Registration Depository number, operated by FINRA for securities regulators. It tracks registration and disciplinary history, not filings. For an investment adviser firm it is sometimes called the IARD number. EDGAR cannot be searched by CRD.
SEC FILE NUMBER — REGISTRATION RECORD
A separate registration identifier. Since the 2023 Form 13F amendments, filers must give both their CRD number and their SEC file number on the cover page.
IF YOU ONLY HAVE A CRD NUMBER
Look it up on the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure system to get the adviser's exact legal name, then search that name on EDGAR and filter to 13F-HR. For filings made since 2023 you can also try full-text searching the CRD number itself, since it now appears on the cover page.
The cover page is also where the adviser name and identifiers live — the manager's legal name, its Form 13F file number, and since 2023 the CRD and SEC file numbers. If you are completing the form rather than reading it, those are the fields being asked for, and they describe the filing manager rather than any security it holds.
Which filing to open
Three form types show up in the results, and only one of them holds the data.
13F-HR — OPEN THIS ONE
The holdings report, containing the information table with every disclosed position.
13F-NT — A POINTER, NOT DATA
A notice saying the holdings are reported by a different affiliated filer. It contains no positions. Finding one means you are looking at the wrong entity, not that the fund holds nothing.
13F-HR/A — AN AMENDMENT
A restatement of a previously filed report. Amendments can add or correct positions, so check whether one exists before relying on the original.
Our column-by-column guide covers what to do once the table is open, including why you should compare share counts rather than values.
Four traps that hide the holdings
- —You found a 13F-NT. The positions live under an affiliated filer. The notice itself usually names the entity that reports them.
- —The manager files under a legal name you do not recognise. The brand and the registered entity often differ. Full-text search helps here because it looks inside documents, not just at names.
- —Positions are split across several entities. Summing one entity understates the book; summing all of them can double-count shares where discretion is shared. The “Other Managers” column is what disambiguates this.
- —Positions were withheld. A manager can request confidential treatment for specific holdings, which are disclosed later. The cover page indicates when this applies, meaning the table you are reading is knowingly incomplete.
There is also the structural limit that no amount of searching fixes: a 13F only ever shows long positions in US-listed equities. Leverage, shorts, foreign listings and private stakes never appear.
Pulling data programmatically
If you want to build something rather than click through, EDGAR exposes the same data over HTTP. The full-text search endpoint accepts a form filter, and the SEC publishes a ticker-to-CIK mapping file that saves you from scraping name lookups.
THE RULE THAT GETS PEOPLE BLOCKED
The SEC asks automated clients to send a descriptive User-Agent header identifying who you are and how to reach you, and to keep request rates modest. Requests without one are commonly rejected. This is the single most frequent reason a script that works in the browser fails in code.
Filings themselves are XML, so parsing the information table is straightforward. The work is not in fetching — it is in joining across quarters on CUSIP, adjusting for stock splits, and reconciling entities that share discretion.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find a hedge fund's 13F filing?
Go to the SEC EDGAR full-text search at sec.gov/edgar/search, enter the manager's name, and filter by form type 13F-HR. Open the most recent 13F-HR and read the information table, which lists every disclosed position. EDGAR is free and requires no account.
What is a CIK number?
A CIK, or Central Index Key, is the unique identifier the SEC assigns to every filer. It is the most reliable way to pull a specific manager's filings, because fund names are frequently similar, get reused, or change after a rebrand. Once you have a manager's CIK, every one of their filings sits under it.
What is adviser name and identifier for SEC EDGAR 13F?
On Form 13F, the adviser name is the legal name of the institutional investment manager filing the report, and the identifiers are the numbers that identify that manager to regulators. Since the 2023 amendments, filers must give their CRD number and their SEC file number on the cover page, alongside the Form 13F file number. These identify the filing adviser, and are separate from the CIK that EDGAR uses to organise the filings themselves.
How do I find a 13F filing using a CRD number?
A CRD number cannot be searched directly on EDGAR, because EDGAR indexes by CIK rather than CRD. Look the CRD number up on the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure system at adviserinfo.sec.gov to get the adviser's exact legal name, then search that name on EDGAR full-text search and filter to form type 13F-HR. Filings made since 2023 also state the filer's CRD number on the cover page, so full-text searching the number itself can work for recent filings.
Are 13F filings free to access?
Yes. All 13F filings are public and free on the SEC EDGAR system. No account, subscription or payment is required. Commercial data providers charge for cleaned, joined and enriched versions of the same underlying filings.
Why does a fund's 13F show no holdings?
The most common reason is that you are looking at a 13F-NT rather than a 13F-HR. A 13F-NT is a notice stating that the manager's holdings are reported by a different affiliated filer, so it contains no information table. Find the affiliated entity and its 13F-HR to see the actual positions.
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Keep reading
HOW-TO
How to Read a 13F Filing
Once you have found the filing — every column explained, and the share-count trick.
GUIDE
What Is a Section 13(f) Security?
The official SEC list that decides what can appear in a filing at all.
GUIDE
What Is a 13F Filing?
Who has to file, when, and what the form leaves out.
CALENDAR
13F Filing Deadlines
When new filings actually appear on EDGAR.