no shares available to short?

Ive tried to short wamu, f, c, bac, and leh today but
I wasnt able to short any of them. Anyone have the same
problem or am I just using a crappy broker?

 

none available at Fidelity - no MS or MER either.

 

Two alternatives

a) Short ONE single stock futures. Wide spreads but better than nothing.
b) Go long deep in the money puts.

 

c) buy shares of SEF or SKF ... short and ultra-short financials, respectively

(post edited)

 

Go long deep in the money puts.


Last resort yes, but it sure slows trading down with a fast Market!

 

You can built a synthetic short with options
http://www.voptions.com/bearish_strategies_synthetic_short_stock.htm
bid ask spreads are annoying though

 

Yes

 

Where you able to short F or WM?
Which broker are you using?

 

You know every now and then you are in the forest, don't see the trees and somebody points out the obvious...

I had not thought of the option where you have deep in the money puts. Good for the theta...

BTW I had been struggling with this for quite a while. I am also very unhappy with the spread on the single stock futures. They are HUGE...

Thanks...