Shorting Equities? Which Broker is best?

[koonsdawg]

I am sure this questions has been asked in the past, but which broker is the best to use for shorting stocks? I am currently using scottrade for my trading needs. I have read a lot of bad things about scottrade. However, I think they have done a pretty good job. The reason I like using them is because of the scottradelite platform. Can someone point me in the right direction here? Is there a brokering firm that has low commisions, active platforms, and is good for shorting? I need a platform that is active with my current positions.
Thanks,
Brandon

 

[alanm]

It has certainly been asked and answered.

In short "all of them" or "none of them", depending on which stocks you want to short. If you're trying to short the latest blowup or buyout rumor, you'll find the stock hard to borrow everywhere. Otherwise, most big firms have pretty big short lists for any reasonably liquid stock with a reasonable market cap.

I'll note that IB allows shorting of stocks under $5, though with increased margin requirements to compensate for the risk. Most other firms either disallow this completely, or make you jump through hoops to do it.

A downside of IB is that they do not have a facility to allow you to manually request a locate for a hard-to-borrow stock (at least not for small retail traders), while other firms may have a stock loan department that you can call.

If you care about certain stocks, check the firms' websites or call them.

 

[GTC]

Usually bigger firms tend to have better available short lists.
Ameritrade (not Izone) is lot better than Scottrade specially if you use their direct routings and trade triggers. Among the direct access firms, IB's short list is better than the most.