I'm brand new to day trading but I've been swing trading off and on for a few years where I only took long positions and now I'm preparing to transition to day trading going both long/short. I'm assuming I will probably be switching brokers at some point this year, but at the moment I'm using TD Ameritrade and using their thinkorswim platform. Is there any way to figure out the short selling fees of a stock prior to taking a day trade without having to call TD Ameritrade for every HTB stock I want to short? I want to factor the fees (locate fees/interest/etc) into my risk management in case the stocks I'm shorting get suspended, like with what happened to TOP recently, and I'm stuck paying interest on a stock I can't get out of for extended periods of time. I appreciate any info since I'm such a newbie to day trading and I don't know much at all yet.
The cost of borrowing stock can change minute-by-minute with market conditions. You may short something when it's not hard to borrow, and then two days or two weeks later, it becomes hard to borrow, and the cost of maintaining the short position goes up. This can happen without any warning. The broker has to let you know, with an e-mail or an alert in your account. And in most cases, if you don't want to pay the higher cost of borrowing, you can certainly buy to close. But of course you might have to take a loss to do that. I can't answer your question specifically for TDA. However... At most US retail brokers, there is a standard fee to borrow stock that applies to all short sales of stock except those that are HTB. It should be easy to look up and calculate the standard fee. It's not going to be different for each stock. For a stock that is HTB, you should get a warning on the screen when you place the order. The warning should appear before the final click to approve the order. The warning message will probably tell you what the HTB fees are for that stock. But if it doesn't, then you probably have to call.
@E-Strat, if the stock has options then LongPut options can be an alternative to ShortStock, and this is usually easier as well much cheaper to get than trying to short the stock. Of course always try to get the stuff at MidPrice or better, by using limit order, never use market order.
Thank you both very much for the responses. BMK, great point about an ETB stock possibly changing to HTB later. That's something to definitely keep in mind, thank you. And earth_imperator, LongPut options are a great idea as well, I just have never dabbled in options but will possibly do so in the future. Thank you both for the information, much appreciated!