How to short with IB tws

Thanks for your quick replies. So just to confirm...

Let's say I wanted to short a stock that was testing it's intraday high of 10.00, and I wanted to enter the position if the price collapsed below $9.75.

All I would have to do is put a SELL limit order at 9.75? How would i know if the amount of shares i wish to short were available? For instance, say i put sell order for 5,000 shares, but only 3,000 were available. Will my order get cancelled? Will i get the 3000?
 
If you put in a limit order to sell at 9.75 with the stock trading close to 10, you will be filled immediately. If you want to sell only if it breaks 9.75 you need to use a sell stop or sell stop/limit.

Don't worry about how many shares are available, if you put in an order to sell more than the amount available, a message will pop up letting you know, then just reenter with fewer shares. I never check the short list before putting in a trade, I just place the order and if there is none available TWS will let me know.
 
it will pop up a message similar to "that stock is not available to short sell" or "your order is greater than the total number of shares available". i know when i have to short, i sometimes have to adjust my number wanted based on what they have.
 
Another scenario comes to mind, let's say that I am long 1000 shares of xyz, and i see that xyz starts to drop like a rock. Can i place an order to Sell 2000 shares, so that the 1000 shares i am holding are sold, and then would automatically short the remaining 1000 on the order?

If this isnt possible, then what is the most efficient way to totally reverse the position from long to short?
 
if its xyz (3 digits) than we are talking nyse. you have to sell the long first (1000 shares) and then the remaining can be executed short ONLY if its a Reg SHO stock (no uptick rule). If not you MUST wait for the uptick to get short.

If it was as easy to short as that, I could have easily made another 100K+ last year (stupid rules!) :D

Quote from Relleum:

Another scenario comes to mind, let's say that I am long 1000 shares of xyz, and i see that xyz starts to drop like a rock. Can i place an order to Sell 2000 shares, so that the 1000 shares i am holding are sold, and then would automatically short the remaining 1000 on the order?

If this isnt possible, then what is the most efficient way to totally reverse the position from long to short?
More...
 
Quote from Relleum:

Another scenario comes to mind, let's say that I am long 1000 shares of xyz, and i see that xyz starts to drop like a rock. Can i place an order to Sell 2000 shares, so that the 1000 shares i am holding are sold, and then would automatically short the remaining 1000 on the order?

If this isnt possible, then what is the most efficient way to totally reverse the position from long to short?
More...

since there is no "sell short" button - yes, that is what happens.
 
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