When can IB stock be sold short?

J

John_Wensink

I have an account at IB and cannot place a short on their stock, is IB not allowing short sales of their stock if you have an IB account?
 
I'm not sure why it can't be short there nor am I suggesting any dubious activity but it's very odd to say the least.

It's a good question though, is it legal to bar shorting of your own security at your own firm.
 
If they let you short it, then they have to buy it, don't they? Assuming they take the other side of the trade, and they don't want -- no way -- to buy their own stock. LOL
 
I'm curious to know the real answer.

I do know that you are not allow to make a market in your own stock, so IB cannot act as a MM in its own shares. Does offering short capability fall under this restriction? (Or perhaps to avoid falling into this restriction, you need to pass the short off to someone else and IB just didn't bother to build that infra?)

Also, I recall someone made a snide remark about how quickly IBKR options were available -- hmm..... I think BX was even faster.
 
They'll post options on anything as long as there's enough liquidity and demand.

They could offer options on how many stupid IB posts will show up here a week, and do very well.


Hey, how come no one suggested they were keeping all the shorts they could find for themselves? lol
 
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