Shorting - Margin Acct

[rkahn]

Anyone short using Scottrade? What are their fees like? Do they generally have the stocks on hand for borrowing?

[wallstreetsedge]

normally you have to call in your broker to see if there are any available to borrow that day. i think they also have a section that shows available shorts

normally the fees are exactly the same when you short vs buy

[netwrangler]

Originally Posted by wallstreetsedge

normally you have to call in your broker to see if there are any available to borrow that day. i think they also have a section that shows available shorts

normally the fees are exactly the same when you short vs buy

That's not my experience.

With Schwab, I enter an order to short a stock from the trading window.
OK, sometimes there are no shares to be borrowed, but most of the time the trade goes through.
I don't need to call my broker to have him check his computer and tell me what my computer already knows.

[wallstreetsedge]

technically youre supposed to see if there are shares to short but some will allow you to still short whether you check or not.. i think there was a post where i said that and basically violates aiki's law of ethics lol

http://www.onlinetradersforum.com/sh...ght=short+call

[netwrangler]

Originally Posted by wallstreetsedge

technically youre supposed to see if there are shares to short but some will allow you to still short whether you check or not.. i think there was a post where i said that and basically violates aiki's law of ethics lol

http://www.onlinetradersforum.com/sh...ght=short+call

Of course you must actually borrow the shares. I'm not talking about naked shorts here [which is something of an oxymoron, come to think of it.]

I'm talking procedure and automation.
I suppose some brokers still require their clients to talk to a human being about whether there are shares available to short.
Other brokers [Schwab amongst them, it would appear] have that information computerized. A person to person live conversation is not required to determine if there are shares available.

[wallstreetsedge]

i agree with you 100%... i just throw my order in as well and if it doesnt go through then it doesnt go through but usually itll just hit anyway