I notice that IB seems to have a very decent short list for the US market and a mediocre short list for markets outside the US. Penson seems to have a list that is even worse than Tradestation, which is just as bad OptionsExpress, which in turn are all bad compared to IB. Genesis Securites list is not that good compared to IB either, and they do not have international trading. I have constantly noticed that IB, Ameritrade and Schwab seem to all have decent short lists. However, Schwab does have a slightly better list when it comes to shorting on the TSX. I am thinking of switching to Schwab Global Trader from IB for this very reason. Also, since I am a swing trader I am willing to accept Etrade as well. My question is outside of the institutional broker-dealers (Bloomberg Tradebook, ITG, Newedge, Goldman Sachs, etc) which broker has the best short list?
Other things to consider: - will they charge you extra for a short after you've already made the transaction - how frequently do they do forced buy-ins
Cobra Trading hands down.....next time you can't find something hit them up on their live chat and see if they have it. Bet you find more than you do at IB.