Short selling is a type of trading where you try to profit from the price of a stock, index, commodity or ETF going down rather than up. You can either short stocks through financial spread betting, CFDs, inverse ETFs of single stock futures. In this guide, we explain what short selling is and review some of the best trading platforms for “going short”.
City Index: Best for short selling trading signals and analysis
City Index was one of the original CFD and spread betting brokers to enable retail investors to short the market. You can go short on around 4,700 global shares, 84 currency pairs, 40 indices and 20+ commodities. Spreads and pricing is competive, but the main benefit of City Index is their trading signals and post trade analytics. City Index have their own trading signal feature called SMART signals which generates signals when markets are a potential sell. They also have Performance Analytics which tells you whether you are better at going long or short the market based on your trading history.
Pros:
- Smart short trading signals
- Post-trade short trading analytics
- Good education and analysis program
Cons:
- No DMA short selling
- Limited traded options as CFDs & spread bets
72% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Interactive Brokers: Best for on-exchange short trading
Interactive Brokers offers on exchange DMA trading so you can short stocks and markets with direct market accounts. They also have transparent, low commissions and financing rates for short positions.
Pros:
- Low cost index trading
- On exchange index futures & options
- Excellent trading platform & apps
Cons:
- US-based
- Desktop platform too complex for beginners
60% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Spreadex: Best for customer service
Spreadex offers short selling on thousands of large and small cap stocks, via financial spread betting or Contracts For Difference on the world’s major stock indices – with low commission on stocks and tight spreads on the most popular markets from 1pt on UK 100, 1pt on Germany 40 & 1.7pts on Wall Street.
Pros:
- Easy-to-use platform
- Low minimum deposit
Cons:
- Limited put options
- No DMA short selling
72% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
CMC Markets: Best for low-cost short selling
With CMC Markets you can short thousands of markets, but also see what their most profitable traders are bearish on. You can go short via CFDs or spread bet with tight spreads, lightning-fast execution and the highest-rated customer service in the industry.*
Pros:
- Excellent client sentiment indicators
- Tight pricing
- Very good trading platform
Cons:
- No investing ETFs
- No DMA short trading
77% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Pepperstone: Best for short selling stocks on MT4 & MT5
Pepperstone has one of the largest ranges of stocks to short through their MT4, MT5 and cTrader trading platforms. Pepperstone’s strength is tight pricing in liquid markets and is a good option for those that also want to automate their short trading on major indices.
Pros:
- Good for automated index trading
- Lots of indices on MT4/MT5
- Tight index pricing
Cons:
- No DMA index trading
- No index options
74% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
IG: Best liquidity for large short sellers
IG has some of the best liquidity due to it’s size and customer base which means it is especially good for large traders who want to short stocks in size. They can often provide better liquidity than the underlying exchanges. Plus they offer smaller-caps stocks for shorting, not just the main market shares.
Pros:
- Excellent short selling liquidity
- Wide range of shares to go short
- Good short signals & analysis
Cons:
- No on exchange futures
- Put options only available as a CFD and spread bet
69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider.
Saxo Markets: Best for DMA short selling
Saxo Markets has offered short selling facilities to larger individual and institutional traders for decades. They cater slightly more towards more professional short sellers and can help with larger borrow requests and access to on exchange liquidity and options strategies.
Pros:
- DMA short selling
- Tight pricing
- Excellent analysis and data
Cons:
- No short selling spread betting
70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Pros:
- Simple to use
- Copy and social trading
- Set your own index leverage
Cons:
- USD only accounts
- High FX conversion fees
- Spreads can be wide
51% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money
❓ Methodology: We have chosen what we think are the best brokers for going short based on:
- over 7,000 votes in our annual awards
- our own experiences testing the short selling on the platforms with real money
- an in-depth comparison of the features that make them stand out compared to alternatives.
- interviews with the CFD short-selling platform CEOs and senior management
Compare Brokers For Short Selling
Use our comparison table of what we think are the best brokers for short selling to compare how many markets they offer, how much it costs to short sell major instruments, minimum deposit amounts and what the overnight financing costs are for holding longer-term short positions.
Trading Platform | Markets Available | Minimum Deposit | GMG Rating | More Info | Risk Warning |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
13,500 | £100 | See Platform | 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | ||
1,200 | £1 | See Platform | 75.3% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | ||
17,000 | £250 | See Platform | 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider. | ||
10,000 | £1 | See Platform | 64% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | ||
12,000 | £1 | See Platform | 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | ||
9,000 | £1 | See Platform | 64% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | ||
7,000 | £1 | See Platform | 62.5% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | ||
2,976 | $50 | See Platform | 51% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money | ||
578 | £100 | See Platform | 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider | ||
5,000 | £1 | See Platform | 68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. |
⚠️ FCA Regulation
All short-selling trading platforms that operate in the UK must be regulated by the FCA. The FCA is the Financial Conduct Authority and is responsible for ensuring that UK brokers that offer short-selling are properly capitalised, treat customers fairly and have sufficient compliance systems in place. We only feature short-selling platforms that are regulated by the FCA, where your funds are protected by the FSCS.
Short Selling Broker FAQs:
You make money shorting when you sell a stock or asset before you own it and buying it back cheaper. It is also possible to make money by receiving interest on overnight positions.
Some brokers will credit your account with overnight interest if their rate is less than the local rate. For example, if a broker charges =/-2.5% SONIA and interest rates are 5%, you should receive 2.5% from overnight funding?
Yes, if an exchange “calls in short” positions a broker will be obliged to buy back your position in the market or close off if you have traded OTC.
If you have a short position in a stock that gets suspended you will not be able to trade out of it until it comes back to market or you broker agrees to close the position. You will also have to put up efecetilvey 100% margin for the position as you cannot have leverage positions in suspended securities.