Originally Posted by
Dr. Dave
I put in an order to short one once to see what restrictions pop up, I think they were stocks under $1, and also no big board stocks. I don't blame them, as, that would mean they'd have to actually hold the things, which would mean that the value of their company would also move with those stocks. Having a basket of big board stocks isn't so risky, especially when you consider the commissions on trades as dividends, but you'd still be surprised at how few shares of the ones they do have are available. I've been unable to go short on some very popular liquid stocks at times, like AAPL, since they only have so many.