The following is a news from tradestation today. This is so great for tradestation. Tradestation now can beat any broker with this improvement. It is as good as Interactive Brokers (IB) now. I have been moving funds out of tradestation and traded much less with tradestation because of this problem since they became self clearing last year. Now I am happy with tradestation again. Another improvement for TS will be to low commission as IB did recently! I hope they will do this soon. >> TradeStation Significantly Increases List of Stocks that can be Shorted with Release of Expanded 'Easy to Borrow' List On Monday, October 24th, we launched a significant improvement to our Easy To Borrow list that greatly expands the number of stocks available to short in accounts that clear at TradeStation. This includes significant improvements to the breadth of shorts available for NASDAQ, NYSE, and AMEX stocks and ETFs. For example, for trade date 10/19/2005, the new enhanced Easy To Borrow list would have increased our list of available shorts from 3,163 tickers to 5,627 tickers (a 78 % improvement). This improvement breaks down as follows: over 50 additional ETFs, over 1,100 additional NASDAQ, over 750 additional NYSE, and over 300 additional AMEX stocks.
Yes, this is exciting! I have noticed a big difference in TradeStation's available shorts. A friend of mine emailed me that memo last week announcing the improvements. It's very obvious. Great job TS! This has always been my biggest complaint about TS.....time to shut up. I hope things keep improving & the short list stays extensive. The lower commissions would be a plus.
Thanks for all the posts in this thread. I am with ETG currently, which is getting merged with Schonfeld. They have their own proprietary trading platform which is an updated version of the old watcher program. You can also use Redi Plus, but I find both of these software programs not to my liking. I have used Tradestation charts for 5 years now, but they had a horrible short list so always used someone else to trade with. I currently clear thru Golman so to answer your question on margin, Golman will provide some sort of margin on stocks above $2. Merrill limit is $4, while SWS is at $3. I am currious as to what stocks you are able to short on Tradestation that you were unable to short before. Also, does the platform have an average cost feature for previous day purchases or does it mark-to-market you everyday. I really like Instaquote for this feature, but will move to Realtick if I can find a decent firm out there. There is no way I am staying with the Redi Platform or Schonfelds. Thanks again for a great thread. Troy.