Lightspeed Trader Adds Short Locate Functionality

[Robert Morse]

IB automates regular locates. I tried Lightspeed for about a week until tiring of all the phone calls required for authorization to short. I'll try it again if this issue gets resolved.

You should use an email request. Many support members watch those requests.

 

[Robert Morse]

compared to IB, ETrade and almost anyone else.

The process can be automated. The concern is that traders will ask for large and frequent locate requests and never use them, reducing the locates available for those that do. IB and Etrade are self-clearing BDs with millions of clients. They have to automated all their services or nothing would work. We are introducing brokers that offer a professional service to active traders at very low transaction costs. If you compare us to other introducing brokers, I say we are VERY competitive for these types of accounts.

 

[buysellhold]

Any sense for how your short availability / short fees compare to IB? For instance, I haven't been charged a locate fee from IB -- does this imply that they can generally find things without a fee, or that Lightspeed can locate more hard to borrows than IB, but only if the client pays a fee?

As far as borrow availability, Lightspeed's free Wedbush locates are much worse than IB. Velocity locate availability is much better than IB, with the caveats that it's expensive and Lightspeed/Wedbush prohibits shorting of stocks on the SHO threshold list, which are often the best shorts. IB never charges a locate fee, just overnight borrow.

Wedbush's overnight fees are pretty high as well compared to the other brokers and somewhat less transparent (you can't see them from the trading app -- Lightpseed's website does have indicative overnight borrow prices but real prices strongly vary). However, for stocks that are impossible to find outside of paid Velocity locates, the fees can be well worth it as there's generally a reason those stocks are so hard to borrow.