Agreed, liquidity isn't where it could/should be, but AAPL and similar are very tradeable and some some business is getting done.
Broker with most available shares to short?
- Thread starter povstanets
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Agreed, liquidity isn't where it could/should be, but AAPL and similar are very tradeable and some some business is getting done.
glitches do not necessarily resolve themselves in a 5 minute period. therefore it counts as a one time occurrence. like previous advice see if it is a reoccurring event.
also what time was the order entered?
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Okay this is the advice I was looking for, thanks for steering me in the right direction.
Since IB has more day traders, do you think their liquidity may actually be better than Fidelity though? Or would Fidelity still have better liquidity just due to their sheer client base? Also, do you have any thoughts on Schwab vs Fidelity for "box" of shares as you put it? I had been considering them too.
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Unfortunately I cannot afford to troubleshoot their platforms issues; I lost money for an entire week waiting for that big move - the move came at open and I couldn't enter a position. I need a reliable broker.
Not having shares to borrow isn't an "issue" with their "platform." Brokers aren't legally obliged to offer you stock borrows; it's a courtesy, an added feature, offered at their discretion.
Its an issue when they provide me borrowed shares for 20 trades straight and then when the one trade that actually matters comes they deny me the shares. Are you suggesting a broker would or could act in this manner intentionally?
When stocks get volatile, borrows are generally in greater demand. No surprise there. You aren't the only daytrader on the planet. If you don't want borrow/buy-in worries, trade 1Chicago SSFs.
I just spoke to optionsX. They say right now they have 350K shares of Apple to short; that is 45 million approximately. It does not seem unreasonable to me that say 45 day traders with 1 million each could have bought all their shares on one morning - and it could even take much less than this based on their own internal allocation algorithm which they would not reveal to me, i.e. perhaps they only loan out 50% of available shares or such. Also, they said they had a technical glitch the morning I tried to trade; although based on the math above I'm not sure if that was really the issue or if they simply did not have shares.
45 million out of a company that has a 740 billion dollar market cap seems unacceptable to me; one of these large brokers must have at least 50 billion worth of apple right?
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Just talked to Fidelity and they have 700 million shares of Apple to short... Thanks Rmorse for that suggestion!
45 million out of a company that has a 740 billion dollar market cap seems unacceptable to me; one of these large brokers must have at least 50 billion worth of apple right?
Edit:
Just talked to Fidelity and they have 700 million shares of Apple to short... Thanks Rmorse for that suggestion!
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rmorse
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I think this should not be your only criteria for choosing a clearing broker. Fidelity Investments is one of the largest mutual fund and financial services groups in the world. From that, they have a giant box of stock to lend. However, other clearing brokers like IB, are provided access to this stock too.
Have you had any luck with SSF's? I noticed on their activity report that everything is done in large institutional blocks. Lots of 200, at least.