Best Short Selling Trading Platforms Compared & Reviewed

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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”.

Best Brokers For Short Selling Compared

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 PlatformMarkets AvailableMinimum DepositGMG RatingMore InfoRisk Warning
City Index Forex Trading13,500£100
(4.3)
See Platform69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Pepperstone Forex Trading1,200£1
(4)
See Platform75.3% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Spreadex  Forex Trading10,000£1
(4.3)
See Platform64% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Plus500 Trading Platform2,000£100
(4.2)
See Platform80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
IG Forex Trading17,000£250
(4.3)
See Platform70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider.
CMC Markets Forex Trading12,000£1
(4.2)
See Platform68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Saxo Markets Forex Trading9,000£1
(4.4)
See Platform65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Interactive Brokers Forex Trading7,000£1
(4.4)
See Platform62.5% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
eToro Forex Trading2,976$50
(3.6)
See Platform51% 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
Forex.com Trading Platform5,000£1
(4.2)
See Platform69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

Our Picks of the Best Brokers for Going Short Reviewed

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

City Index: Best for short selling trading signals and analysis

🏆Award Winner🏆

City Index

  • GMG rating:
    (4.3)
  • Markets available: 13,500
  • Minimum deposit: £100
  • Account types: CFDs & spread betting
  • Equity overnight financing: 2.5% +/- SONIA
  • Pricing: Shares 0.08%, FTSE 1, GBPUSD 0.9
  • Customer rating: 3.6/5 (98 reviews)

72% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

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.

City Index Review
Good Money Guide Recommended 2024

Name: City Index

Description: City Index is one of the oldest spread betting and CFD brokers based in the UK. They were founded in 1983 and offer trading in over 13,500 financial markets, to around 126,000 active clients. City Index is currently owned by StoneX, a US brokerage listed on the NASDAQ valued at $1.75bn.
69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

Why we like them:

City Index offers some of the best trading tools and analysis to help traders perform better. Their unique post-trade analytics and voice brokerage service make it an excellent choice for large and frequent traders.

Pros

  • Excellent trading tools
  • Post-trade analytics
  • Publically listed (part of StoneX)

Cons

  • Trading only, no investment account
  • Limited options markets
  • No direct market access
  • Pricing
    (4)
  • Market Access
    (4.5)
  • Online Platform
    (4)
  • Customer Service
    (4.5)
  • Research & Analysis
    (4.5)
Overall
4.3

Pepperstone: Best for short selling stocks on MT4 & MT5 

Pepperstone

  • GMG rating:
    (4.1)
  • Markets available: 1,200
  • Minimum deposit: £1
  • Account types: CFDs, spread betting
  • Equity overnight financing: 2.5% +/- SONIA
  • Pricing: Shares 0.1%, FTSE 1, GBPUSD 0.9
  • Customer rating: 4.6/5 (78 reviews)

74% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

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.

Pepperstone Review
Good Money Guide Recommended 2024

Name: Pepperstone

Description: Pepperstone were founded in 2010 in Australia and have since then grown to be a global brokerage with international offices and around 400,000 active clients. They offer spread betting and CFDs on 1,200 major market instruments, which means they focus on the most heavily traded assets, mainly forex and indices trading. Of those 900 are shares on the major stocks on international exchanges.
75.6% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

Why we like them

Pepperstone is a good choice for traders that want to automate their trading strategies through MT4. As far as MT4 brokers they are one of the biggest and best and offers so good EA packages.

Pros

  • Tight pricing
  • Wide range of MT4 markets
  • Pre-built MT4 indicator packages

Cons

  • Limited market access
  • Only third-party platforms
  • Pricing
    (5)
  • Market Access
    (3.5)
  • Online Platform
    (4)
  • Customer Service
    (4)
  • Research & Analysis
    (4)
Overall
4.1

Interactive Brokers: Best for on-exchange short trading

 

Interactive Brokers
  • GMG rating:
    (4.6)
  • Markets available: 7,000
  • Minimum deposit: £2,000
  • Account types: CFDs, DMA, futures & options, investing
  • Equity overnight financing: 1.5% +/- SONIA
  • Pricing: Shares 0.02%, FTSE 0.005%, GBPUSD 0.0008%
  • Customer rating: 4.3/5 (869 reviews)

60% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

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.

Interactive Brokers Review
Good Money Guide Recommended 2024

Name: Interactive Brokers

Description: Interactive Brokers is a major US online automated electronic broker company. The financial broker is listed on the Nasdaq Exchange with ticker IBKR. The firm operates in 150 electronic exchanges in 33 countries, and offers trading in 23 currencies. Interactive Brokers has more than 1.75 million institutional and retail customers.

Why we like them

Interactive Brokers is an exceptional trading platform that offers institutional-grade trading capabilities to private clients around the world. IBKR has some of the lowest trading and investing fees and the widest market range in the industry.

Pros

  • Very low dealing fees
  • Wide market range
  • Direct market access
  • Complex order types

Cons

  • Customer services can be slow
  • Pricing
    (5)
  • Market Access
    (5)
  • Apps & Platform
    (5)
  • Customer Service
    (3)
  • Research & Analysis
    (5)
Overall
4.6

Spreadex: Best for customer service

Spreadex Financials

  • GMG rating:
    (4.4)
  • Markets available: 10,000
  • Minimum deposit: £1
  • Account types: CFDs, spread betting
  • Equity overnight financing: 3% +/- SONIA
  • Pricing: Shares 0.2%, FTSE 1, GBPUSD 0.9
  • Customer rating: 4.2/5 (234 reviews)

72% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

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.

Spreadex Review
Good Money Guide Recommended 2024

Name: Spreadex

Description: Spreadex is a financial spread betting broker that has been in operation since 1999. It was founded by ex-city trader Jonathan Hufford and unlike many of its peers, it is not based in London, but instead is headquartered in St Albans Hertfordshire. Spreadex offers both financial spread betting and CFD trading from the same account. The company has some 60,000 account holders and offers access to more than 10,000 financial instruments, including UK small-cap shares, where it is something of a specialist.

Is Spreadex a good broker?

Spreadex is one of the most established spread betting brokers. They focus on providing excellent customer service through experienced dealers and a trading platform built from scratch in-house. A good choice for those that like to spread bet.

Pros

  • Spread betting & CFDs
  • Smaller cap stock trading
  • Great customer service

Cons

  • Not publically listed
  • Pricing
    (4.5)
  • Market Access
    (4.5)
  • Online Platform
    (4)
  • Customer Service
    (5)
  • Research & Analysis
    (4)
Overall
4.4

CMC Markets: Best for low-cost short selling

CMC Markets

  • GMG rating:
    (4.6)
  • Markets available: 12,000
  • Minimum deposit: £1
  • Account types: CFDs, spread betting
  • Equity overnight financing: 2.9% +/- SONIA
  • Pricing: Shares 0.1%, FTSE 1, GBPUSD 0.59
  • Customer rating: 3.7/5 (146 reviews)

77% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

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.*

CMC Markets Review
Good Money Guide Recommended 2024

Name: CMC Markets

Description: CMC Markets is one of the original spread betting and CFD brokers based in the UK. They have been providing forex trading services since 1989 and are now listed on the London Stock Exchange. The broker has over 300,000 active clients trading online and is operated from 13 global offices, with headquarters in The City of London.
68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

Is CMC Markets legit?

Yes, CMC Markets has always offered, and still does one of the best trading platforms for high-frequency and active traders. It’s a good choice for those who want to trade on tight spreads, with a platform built on exceptional tech.

Pros

  • Excellent trading platform
  • Good liquidity
  • Unique sentiment tools

Cons

  • Trading only, no investing account
  • Limited smaller cap stocks
  • Pricing
    (5)
  • Market Access
    (4)
  • Online Platform
    (5)
  • Customer Service
    (4)
  • Research & Analysis
    (5)
Overall
4.6

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.

IG Review
Good Money Guide Recommended 2024

Name: IG

Description: Founded in 1974 as Investors Gold Index, then IG Index, now just “IG” is one of the world’s largest margin trading brokers. IG offer CFDs, FX and Spread Betting (in the UK) alongside share trading and prime brokerage to over 313,000 active clients and offers 17,000 tradable markets. IG also recently introduced physical share dealing and smart portfolios for longer-term investors.
70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider.

Is IG a good trading platform?

Yes, IG provides an excellent all-round trading and investing brokerage service. IG pioneered online trading and financial spread betting for private clients and remains not only one of the largest online trading platforms, but also one of the best. IG stands out through deep liquidity, high market range and excellent added value such as trading tools and analysis.

Pros

  • Vast range of markets
  • Excellent liquidity & DMA equities
  • Listed on the London Stock Exchange

Cons

  • Customer service can be slow
  • No DMA futures trading
  • Still charges inactivity fee
  • Pricing
    (4.5)
  • Market Access
    (5)
  • Online Platform
    (5)
  • Customer Service
    (4)
  • Research & Analysis
    (5)
Overall
4.7

Saxo: Best for DMA short selling

  • GMG rating:
    (4.6)
  • Markets available: 9,000
  • Minimum deposit: £0
  • Account types: CFDs, futures & options, DMA, investing
  • Equity overnight financing: 2.5% +/- SAXO RATE
  • Pricing: Shares 0.05%, FTSE 1, GBPUSD 0.7
  • Customer rating: 3.6/5 (72 reviews)

70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

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.

Saxo Review
Good Money Guide Recommended 2024

Name: Saxo

Description: Saxo is one of the largest CFD brokers worldwide and provides direct market access to equities, bonds, forex, futures and options as well as being a major liquidity and infrastructure provider to wealth managers, banks and smaller brokers.
65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

Is Saxo Markets a good broker?

Yes, Saxo is a good choice for more sophisticated traders. The platform, analysis, and direct market access may be too complicated for beginners. But, for experienced traders its coverage, commissions and research are unrivalled.

Pros

  • Direct market access
  • Low commissions
  • Robust trading platform

Cons

  • Seen as a trading platform for professionals
  • Pricing
    (4.5)
  • Market Access
    (4.5)
  • Online Platform
    (5)
  • Customer Service
    (4.5)
  • Research & Analysis
    (4.5)
Overall
4.6

eToro: Best for copying other short sellers

eToro

  • GMG rating:
    (4.1)
  • Markets available: 2,976
  • Minimum deposit: $50
  • Account types: CFDs & investing in USD
  • Equity overnight financing: 6.4% +/- SONIA
  • Pricing: Shares 0.15%, FTSE 1.5, GBPUSD 2
  • Customer rating: 3.4/5 (273 reviews)

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

With eToro you see what other traders are short selling and copy their positions. The social trading platform is easy to use and offers traders and investors the opportunity to go short on a wide range of major shares, stock market indices and commodities.

eToro Review
Good Money Guide Recommended 2024

Name: eToro

Description: eToro is a social trading platform that lets their users share new and existing CFD positions and their investment portfolios. eToro was founded in 2007 in Tel Aviv, Isreal and has grown to offer investing and trading on 3,000 global assets (including real cryptocurrencies) to 30 millions users worldwide.
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

Is eToro a good broker?

Yes, eToro does have its flaws for experienced investors, but if you are just getting started eToro is a great introduction to financial markets. eToro is actually a very innovative trading platform offering copy trading, social networking and unleveraged CFDs.

Pros

  • Really simple to use
  • Social and copy-trading
  • Set your own leverage
  • Pre-built sector portfolios

Cons

  • Can only trade and invest in USD
  • No SIPPs or ISA
  • No direct market access
  • Pricing
    (4)
  • Market Access
    (4)
  • Online Platform
    (4.5)
  • Customer Service
    (4)
  • Research & Analysis
    (4)
Overall
4.1

⚠️ 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.

How does short selling work?

Short selling is speculating that the price of a financial asset will go down rather than up. Short selling is mainly used for trying to profit from falling shares prices, protecting investment portfolios in bear markets and derivatives trading like CFDs, spread betting and futures trading.

When you go short you are selling a stock that you do not own in the hope that it will reduce in value before you buy it back. The principle of shorting stocks is not new, professional traders and hedge funds have been shorting stocks it for years.  It works like this:

  1. Fund A thinks the share price of Vodafone will go down and they want to bet on a drop in the short term (a few months).
  2. Fund A knows that Fund B has a long term (a few years) position in Vodafone shares.
  3. Fund A asks to borrow Fund B’s Vodafone shares so they can sell them to someone else.
  4. Fund B lends Fund A the Vodafone shares and charges 5% of the value as a fee.
  5. Funds A sells the Vodafone shares on the London Stock Exchange
  6. A month later Vodafone shares have dropped in price and Fund A buys them back.
  7. Fund A then gives the shares back to Fund B.

Different ways to “go short”

The main ways to short-sell the market are:

  • Financial spread betting – take a bet on a stock
  • CFDs – a contract based on the difference between the opening and closing price of your trade
  • Inverse ETFs – these are exchange-traded funds that go up when the asset they track goes down
  • Options – you can either buy puts or sell calls to speculate on the market going down

Short selling with financial spread betting

For the private spread betting investor, going short it is much simpler as you do not have to go through the process of borrowing stock to sell it.  You can just bet a certain amount per point that the shares will go down. Plus, with a financial spread betting profits are tax-free as trades are structured as bets.

To do this, you will need an account with a spread betting broker that will either net the position off against one of their clients that is long or will borrow the stock just like Fund A did in the example above.  Then give it back when you close your position.

This example is based on a single trade and the intricacies of a brokers stock lending and borrowing team are much more complex than this.

So for example, if you bet £10 a point (cent) that Deutsche Bank stock (priced at 7.72) moves then you could potentially make £7,720 if it goes to zero. In order to execute the trade you would have to deposit £1,500 in initial margin and make sure you have enough money on your account for daily P&L margin.

Another benefit of shorting as a spread bet is that even though Deutsche Bank trade in Euros you can have a GBP position.

Short selling with CFDs (contracts for difference)

Short selling with a CFD is similar to spread betting in that you trade on margin but instead of betting a £ per point you buy and sell an equivalent amount of CFD instead of selling the shares. Be mindful that you always trade in the currency of the underlying asset so using our DB example, your P&L will be in Euros.

Short selling by buying a put option

Buying a put option will give you the right to sell a certain amount of stock in Deutsche Bank at set price.

So taking an example from the below options chain on Deutsche Bank shares. If you buy some 7.6 January 2019 put options you will have the right to sell your Deutsche Bank at 7.6 even if the price is trading on the market at 6.  Of course, you don’t have to wait till the option expires, you can sell your option position.  If the price has moved lower the intrinsic value of the option will have increased from 0.41. However, the closer the option gets to expiry the lower the time value will get.

You can read more about calculating the time value of an option for options trading here.

The risk with options is that you lose the premium that you paid and the option expires out of the money worthless. The benefits of shorting via options are that your risk is limited, but they can expire worthless.

An example of a put options order execution ticket below:

Short selling buy selling a call option

This is a very high-risk form of short selling because your losses are unlimited. Unlike buying a call options where your losses are limited to the premium you paid for the options and your potential profits are unlimited. When selling call options (or writing call options) your profit is limited to the price you receive for the call option but your losses are unlimited.

Pros & cons of short selling

Advantages of short selling

Disadvantages of short selling

👍Make money when the market goes down 👎Unlimited losses if the market rises
👍Can be used to hedge long term investments 👎Can be hard to borrow stocks
👍Simpler alternative to trading options 👎Short positions can be called in and automatically closed

Bull and bear markets are the yin and yang of financial cycles. Learning to short-sell may prove to be lucrative when the markets head south.

When people think of short selling, they associate it with financial vultures, unscrupulous hedge funds, and doom merchants. Even regulators are not too kind towards this activity. Banning short-selling activities is the first thing they do during market panics. But is short selling really that negative?

In a modern, sophisticated and complex financial market, short selling is an invaluable activity. It helps to burst the unfounded optimism of a sector, prevent irrational buying of assets, and uncover frauds. It is a vital part of an efficient market and price discovery.

The risks of short selling

Short selling is taking a punt on the downside of a stock. To short sell a stock, you borrow shares from someone who already owned them, and sell these shares on the market hoping to back them back cheaper in the future. For example, you borrow XYZ plc shares and sell them at 120p now. If prices go down to 100p next week, you make a 20p gain.

After you buy back the stock, you return these shares back to the original owners.

Unlike buying shares, short selling is not cheap. On top of the usual CFD or spread betting brokerage fees, short sellers may have to pay a fee to the owners of the shares and whatever dividends accrued to them during the period shares out on loan.

Moreover, short selling is fairly high risk. This is because a stock’s upside is limitless. The most XYZ plc can only go down is 100% (bankrupt). But it can double or triple over a short period of time. Thus brokers who arranged the shares often require counterparts to post large collateral to guard against this risk.

But this is not the most crucial factor. The most dangerous risk for CFD traders short selling is a short squeeze. This describe a manic scramble to buy back shares previous shorted. The catalyst could be better-than-expected results, a takeover approach, or a new product discovery. Suddenly, every short seller rush to cover their short positions by buying back the shares they previously shorted. When everyone buys a stock, it creates an immense upward pressure on prices which hurt short sellers even more.

One example is Tesla (TSLA), which was heavily shorted in 2018-’19. But when its financial position was not as dire as predicted, Tesla began to surge – and prompted a massive wave of short covering. The spike to near $1,000 indicates this panic buying. Once this wave passes, prices collapsed back to $400. That’s why naked short selling is often limited to experienced and sophisticated investors with deep pockets.

Benefits of short selling

  1. Short selling could be suitable for experienced investors who enjoy going against the grain. It is a lucrative activity for successful investigative traders who know what they are doing. There are professional funds that are dedicated to this activity alone.
  2. Short selling pays off just when you need it. For example, your short-selling activities may net you a fortune during severe bear markets. This gives you a layer of protection on your long-only portfolios.
  3. Short selling allows you to take more aggressive long activities because you have some downside hedge.
  4. There are plenty of opportunities for short sellers in the UK. During a relatively steady year (2019), there are many blue-chip FTSE stocks that plummeted in value.  For example, Centrica (CNA), Fresnillo (FRES), Glencore (GLEN) all drop by double digits (see below). This created opportunities for short sellers.

 

When to consider short selling

There are three scenarios where short selling can be considered, speculation, fraud and portfolio protection.

Speculative Mania

When stock markets have been rising to stratospheric levels and  incredibly expensive valuation, it is ripe for short selling. One instance that comes to mind is the dot-com boom. Many stocks slumped by 99% in the crash that followed. Not to forget is that during the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 many short sellers made a fortune because they bet against the credit bubble. One key thing to bear in mind is that selling a mania requires a near-perfect timing. An expensive stock can become even more expensive before prices turn down.

Undiscovered Fraud

This means that investors are generally unaware of the underlying ill financial health of a company. One recent example in the UK is NMC Health (NMC), a former darling of the stock market. In December of 2019, the company was accused by Muddy Waters – a specialised research outfit that targets financial frauds – for concealing its true debt levels. Initially, the firm rejected these accusations. Then the true picture emerged weeks later and NMC was suspended, but not before its share prices collapsed by 75% from its peak (see below). If you smell something fishy about a stock, stay away. Better still, short sell it.

Bear Markets

During a bear market, most stocks will depreciate. Prices decline as profit outlook turn negative. Valuation of a stock shrinks. This means that the path of least resistance is to the downside, create trends that are favourable to short sellers.

Short selling in summary

Short selling stocks is speculating that the price of a stock with go down and trying to profit from that move by selling a stock before you own it and buying it back later.

If you think that a share price is going down then you can put on short position to profit from a falling market. Here’s a quick guide to shorting stocks, the risks, the potential rewards, the types of trading and the brokers that offer short selling.

There are three main ways to of short selling stocks, spread betting, CFDs and options.

  • Spread betting – take a $ per cent bet on the stock. Spread betting is one of the most popular ways for private investors to short US stocks. Commissions are worked into the spread, so you just see one price. Profits are also tax free.
  • CFDs – are a contract for difference between the opening and closing prices of a trade. Spread betting tax benefits are unique to the UK so Europeans trade CFDs instead. CFDs are also useful for larger more tax efficient traders who want DMA (Direct Market Access) to get better pricing.
  • Options– this gives you the right to sell a certain amount of stock at a certain level in the future. You don’t have to which is why it’s called an option. If you think a share price is going down, you would buy a “put” which gives you the right to sell stock at a certain price. The price of a put will increase the further down the stock goes, allowing you to sell the put at a higher price and therefore making a profit on the options.

 

How to short sell stocks

To short sell stocks you need a broker that offers short selling. But before actually place your trades, given that short selling is risky, you should consider these factors that may increase your success:

    1. Know the company inside out, especially if you are short selling individual stocks. You need to be able to ascertain a company’s true financial picture better than the market. Not easy to do, given markets are relatively efficient. Seek discrepancies in the firm’s debt, cash flow, product sales, etc – and compare it with its peers. Does it make sense? Is high valuation a reason to short sell it?
    2. Look for triggers. Shorting a stock on its way up is highly dangerous because you may not have the financial power to sustain margin calls. Better to wait until prices peak and start to come down. During the dot-com, one trigger to short a stock was the expiration of lock-up periods. When these lock-up expired, management, early investors, and founders all dump their stock holdings to turn their paper wealth into cash. This created massive downward pressure on prices.
    3. Start small. Only add when prices are starting to move favourably in your direction. Stoplosses are essential.
    4. Analyse short activities. Find out what other funds are shorting – because this may create herding behaviour

Risks of short-selling stocks

  1. Unlimited potential losses: The main risk is that share prices can go up indefinitely, but only down to 0. So in theory, if you are shorting Facebook stock you potential losses are infinite. Also, if the company is bid for or a takeover rumour emerges the share price will surge.
  2. Over leverage: Shorting shares is generally done on margin. Using leverage to trade means that you get exposure to more stock than funds on account. So for example, if the margin rate for Facebook is 10% you can short $10,000 worth of stock with only $1,000 on account. If the stock drops 50% you make $5k, but if it rallies, just 10% you’ve lost all your money.
  3. Currency Risk: Facebook is an American stock so there is a currency exposure. If the GBPUSD rate changes significantly, this can wipe out all your profits. You can avoid this through by trading a GBP position in a USD stock with a spread betting or CFD broker.

Rewards of short-selling stocks

  1. You can profit when the stock goes down. Shorting stocks, is not a new principle for UK investors. Spread betting and CFD trading have been around for years. Spread betting and CFD traders have been speculating on currencies, indices and stocks going up and down for decades. Shorting is of course an excellent tool for protecting long term investments against short term downtrends. But also provides a trade for short term speculation. It is risky though, so always make sure you understand the risks involved.
  2. Receiving income from overnight financing. When you trade on leverage there is an overnight financing charge for long positions. Most accounts are set to charge 2.5% over/under 1 month LIBOR (or thereabouts). What this means is that if you are long, you have to pay 2.5% plus the 1 month LIBOR rate to hold the position. But, if you are short you should receive the interest. In practice though (at the moment) interest rates are so low the short credit ends up negative so you check with your broker if you actually pay interest on short positions.

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.

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