SHORTING BROKERS

N

NKNY

I have been doing alot of shorting latley and would like to find a direct access broker with the largest short list.

Brokers clearing through Penson and computer clearing don't seem to have enough.

I have narrowed it down to three... MB trading who clears through southwest securities. I'm told they have a short list just under 5,000 stocks. THey use realtick III

Southeast is my other choice(NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH SOTHWEST ABOVE) they clear through Spear, Leeds, and Kellogg
and have 6,500 stocks in there short list. THey use the REDI trading platform from SPK.

The other is Interactive brokers who is owned by their clearing house timber hill. They have betweem 4 -5 thousand
shares and their commission are great. But they still don't do ACAT account transfers, not for another 2 months. I have some long term core positions that I don't want to sell.

Anyone know of any other brokers with a huge short list...?


Nick

------------------
Happy Trading
WWW.perfumeshack.com
 
I don't think IB has that extensive of a short list. When I've been unsuccessful shorting stocks through their system, I've had more luck shorting through Cyber or ABWatley, which both use Penson.
 
mjt,

that's funny, because I've had great success shorting at IB, although I don't usually short "mainstream" stocks (csco, msft, dell, etc.).
 
I won't be shorting mainstream stocks either...
I tend to go with 5 to 25 dollar stocks trading under ther 200 ma . I look for the last advance to be lower then the one before ...and the last low should be the lowest low for at least 6 to 9 months. I only want the stock to be standing on one leg....No double bottoms. Then i look to short the next advance. It should not break the high of the advance before it. Odds are the stock should come back to test if not break the low.

Thats how I enter, still working on my exits....

A direct trading broker with a large short list should help me with my executions.

Thats how I enter, still working on my exits

PCOR IIXL ABTL PKS CTXS XLA are what I'm in now...

 
Spear,Leeds & Kellogg(SLK-clearing firm) is one of
the largest clearing firms in the US and the largest
stock specialist on the NYSE. I would say their
short list is probably the largest in the industry. Most
"Direct Access Brokers" who clear through SLK use their
proprietary software "REDI+". Major daytrading
and trading firms who clear through SLK include
On-site trading, Southeast Securities , Electronic
Trading Group(ETG) and Stocktrade Network(Lieber
& Weissman Sec., LLC). A stock must be able to be
"borrowed" before it is "sold short" , even for
a daytrade. Check your brokers "short list" or
with your trading desk before entering a trade
in "hard to borrow stocks".


Gene Weissman
Lieber & Weissman Sec., LLC




 
I have found that terranova, the parent of mb trading, who uses southwest has a very poor shortlist....You will notice that terranova is changing to instinet to clear.... Does anyone here have any experience with them, and their short lists? I have heard that if you call up and ask, terranova will let you choose your clearing firm, I was told that bear stearns was great. Does anyone know if this is true or not? I miss being able to short as much, it almost makes me miss datek, or want to open a second account with them 'cause of their short lists and the ability to short without an uptick on the island ecn during non-market hours.
 
praetorian2,

I'm surprised to hear your comments regarding Terra Nova. I've used a Terra Nova/Southwest broker for some time, and rarely have had a problem shorting whatever stocks I wanted. Some of the less liquid and lower priced stocks can sometimes be unavailable, but overall the availability of stock to short has been excellent. Of course, if someone wished to short a stock and was having problems with their broker, they could always simply buy put options (assuming your broker allows option trading).
 
Well, I think I'm moving my account from scottsdale to datek for now, they seem to be able to short every stock I
Try!!!!!! MB is my 2 nd chioce....they seem to have most of the stocks.... Spear,Leeds & Kellogg(SLK-clearing firm) seems to have the largest short list but they didn't have many of the nasd stocks I needed.....I think they are big on listed... IB.... well, They can't even transfer my account so their out.....

nkny

------------------
Happy Trading
WWW.perfumeshack.com
 
NKNY,

Just curious, why did you pass up IB just because you couldn't transfer your long term holdings? Couldn't you have two accounts, one for investing and one for trading? That setup actually has some advantages. Also, aren't you allowed to sell your long term holdings and buy them back within a certain amount of time and not be penalized taxwise?
 
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