Short Availability

Discussion in 'Retail Brokers' started by surfer25, Mar 3, 2017.

  1. surfer25

    surfer25

    Hi,
    Just curious about opinions on short availability for low float stocks under $10. Which brokers do you think have the best consistent availability?
    Thanks.
     
  2. Robert Morse

    Robert Morse Sponsor

    Do you have a list..maybe a dozen or so?
     
  3. If there is any broker other than IB we would all like to know.
     
    10_bagger likes this.
  4. truetype

    truetype

    If he gave you the names, he'd be violating the Sykes newsletter's terms of service. ;)
     
    zdreg and Lou Friedman like this.
  5. Robert Morse

    Robert Morse Sponsor

    In general, asking "short availability for low float stocks under $10" is way to general to get an answer that can help you. And, the list can change from day to day. The clearing firms on the street each do business with each other to accommodate their clients with locates. We can get locates from two sources; Wedbush and Velocity. The Wedbush locates are free and the Velocity service has a cost. https://www.velocitycapitalllc.com/#/

    The third party locates are expensive but great for those that can take advantage of them with high beta names.
     
  6. zdreg

    zdreg

    the other key point is can you do the order right off your screen, on hard to borrow stocks, without having to talk to anybody.
    once you have to talk somebody who then has to talk to stock loan to find shares you have missed the market.
    Mr. Morse is the Lightspeed platform fully automated to go short hard to borrows?
     
    Last edited: Mar 3, 2017
  7. zdreg

    zdreg

    correct.
    even a 50% annualized borrowing rate comes to only$6.97/day per $5000 amount of the trade e.g. 1000 shares at $5.
     
    Last edited: Mar 3, 2017
  8. zdreg

    zdreg

    trading is a serious business. "just being curious" does not satisfy.
     
  9. surfer25

    surfer25

    The list would change every day and even hour by hour. I don't normally trade these kind of stocks but am looking into it for some additional trading opportunities. zdreg is correct that it would need to be immediate on the platform or available for pre-borrow to be useful.

    I was wondering about general experience with this type of asset class because I have very little experience with it. I know there generally is difficulty getting locates on them when you need them and was wondering if anyone knows from experience who usually has good availability.

    Robert, the problem with giving you a list it might be different an hour later...
     
  10. Robert Morse

    Robert Morse Sponsor

    Then my response is that I feel that Wedbush is competitive with locates. Adding third party locates makes us better than most retail firms.
     
    #10     Mar 3, 2017