Related question (also posted as its own thread): is there a difference between long and short buying power? My IB account screen shows my buying power as four times my acct balance as per normal but so far I've only been able to use that much margin going long. I keep getting a message to the effect that my short trades are limited to what's in my acct. Is that the way it's supposed to work or what?
They're busy "locating" the shorts and will make them available as soon as it's clear market's going higher.