Seeing lots of good arbs lately, and no way to put the trade on short availability never there when you want it
It is similar in result to a hot ipo allocation. Retail traders are at the the back of the line when it comes to availability.
dont see the comparison between getting a hot stonk at a discount and short availability maybe you'd like to compare it to hitting the lottery too ;-)
Since in both cases it is not necessarily on a first come first received basis the comparison is valid. It depends on firm policy. However there are firms which treat the general public, hedge funds and hft traders equally.