Looking for advice/help. I want to know how easy it is to short a stock. I have never done it before but am interested in views people have. How much will a broker charge to keep a short position open? Also, how easy is it to do? Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated. cheers.

If you use CFD or Spreadbet then it is very easy. No difference to a long. Often they pay you to keep it open (although not much, About 1.5%/yr at present). On high MCAP stocks then it is fairly easy to get market price but for smaller stocks the spread will be wider than market. Careful though as with large price movements (ie if the price more than doubles) you can lose more than their original face value. For shorter term movements then I regard the risk the same as longs.

Cheers. Having had look around i see most spreadbet companies encourage you to use a stop loss so you can never lose more than you have staked. I opened a spreadbet account and am thinking of depositing 500 and starting off small. The spreadbets seem to be more suited for betting on price movements over a quarter for example. What happens if you reckon a share will be a damn sight lower in a year but maybe not in 3 months?

Can someone recommend a spread betting company?

captainmerton

Unless you use a guaranteed stop loss, you may find that if a SP falls or rises dramatically your stop may well be bypassed. Essentially this means that can lose more than your stake. If you are speculating that a share will fall longer term, you could take out a CFD, although any profits will be taxable, unlike spread betting.

goal

I use IG and haven't had any problems, not sure how their spreads compare to other companies, although I would think they are competitive.

pth

Advice: Do NOT use 'Blue Index' unless you want to loose loadsamoney!! :o(

ptholden, markusantonius, thank you.

Cheers guys.