Are shorts more available at Prop firms?

[Don Bright]

Quote from bl7077:

I often am not able to short certain NASDAQ stocks that have a made big move recently through my (nameless) online broker. Apparently they are not available to be borrowed. Would trading at a prop firm remedy this situation? Do prop firms have any better access to inventory then the online discount brokerage firms? Or does this also often happen to traders at pro and prop firms? Thanks.

It depends solely on the Clearing Firm....we use Goldman, and they make deals with Foundations, Pension funds, etc. to basically "rent" stocks by the year...and, of course, since they are an active trading firm, they have a lot of inventory as well.

I have been surprised when they allow some obscure OTC on the hard to borrow list to get an "over-ride" and be filled (mainly on my pairs).

Don

 

[alanm]

So who has BIDU (for something less than $0.30/share), and how much are you paying for it?

 

[john_nyc_trader]

Shorting stocks has a lot to do with the desk that handles short orders ("LOCATES"), as well as how early you place your short order relative to everyone else. A stock like FFH, will only have so many shares to short, NO MATTER WHERE YOU TRADE.


Actually, I find Penson pretty good. They are better than SLK in my opinion. Also, I trade with another firm that has electronic locates to multiple firms, i.e. GS MSCO LEH etc...