Most investment trading is positive, in that profits are made possible if the market moves up. Short selling, however, stands out as a trading strategy that speculates on a (hopefully) declining stock or other security. 

Short selling is generally considered an advanced trading strategy for use by experienced investors and traders, but there have been notable exceptions covered below. In this guide, we’re going to cover the best broker for short selling in Australia.

Table of Contents:

• How We Choose our Platforms
• Buying Guide
• Reasons to sell short
• Play-by-play: What was the GameStop short squeeze
• FAQs

How We Choose our Platforms 📚

---

The following brokers were selected according to our research criteria. Remember that, with trading, it’s often the user and not the tool, so take time to know your strategy, adapt to your chosen service and use good financial common sense.

• 1. IG Markets
• 2. Pepperstone
• 3. CMC Markets
• 4. TradeStation
• 5. Moomoo
• 6. Interactive Brokers
• 7. Tiger Brokers
• 8. Zacks Trade
• 9. TradeZero

1. IG Markets

---

📓 Reputation    

IG Markets has some protective features of trading by using short-selling, such as setting a minimum market cap for your chosen penny stock. The idea here is to limit how much risk you may be taken on in your portfolio. They also provide up-to-date tips on the best penny stocks by location. Information given will show the share price, movement in price, and the index as well as sector.

Their reviews of recommended penny stocks go pretty deep. They go into good detail on the background of the company, its progress since, reasons why it’s a penny and also why this may change in future. And so on. Trade either short-term or long-term using IG Markets.

This is done through their share dealing account, which also offers dividends if this is offered by that company. There are tutorials for how to actually invest in penny stocks, which are pretty extensive. And includes risks. 

Reasons to use IG markets include cheap dealing costs. There’s also a zero commission on some shares. Grab an enormous choice of investments, with over 12,000 shares, investment trusts, and funds to choose from. The account process is pretty quick, openable in a matter of minutes, with a mobile app to add things. The customer support is all-day, every day, except for the end of Friday and some of the weekend.

2. Pepperstone

---

📓 Reputation    

Pepperstone is actually based in Australia. Access to an enormous range of financial instruments, with good spreads and commissions.

As well as being able to pick pairs such as EUR/USD and GBP/USD, also get access to commodities like gold and oil, and access indices like the FTSE 100, penny stocks, and spread-betting opportunities. They have a large selection of chart-reading tools and technical indicators. There’s the option to use an automated expert advisor (EA). 

Overall, they’re a low-risk, special interests platform focused on oil and currencies on the FX. And they’re under FCA regulation. They’ve been around since 2010. Reasons for their forming were due to the founders being frustrated with the offerings on the market, which they found to be slow to respond to trading trends and hard-to-use for beginners.

So Pepperstone focuses a lot on technology, commonsense customer service, and is the winner of the ADVFN International Finance Award for Best Forex Platform (2020).

3. CMC Markets

---

📓 Reputation

Thought I’d add this last honorary mention – if you’re looking for a tool that can do short-selling investments, that also has copy trading features. A couple of the other platforms on this guide also have this feature. But AvaTrader is the biggest name at duplicating trades in a non-complicated interface.

4. TradeStation

---

📓 Reputation

Some apps out there are heavily geared towards beginners, but TradeStation is not one of them. In fact, they used to be primarily designed for professionals, but they’ve adapted some to welcome anyone who falls into the intermediate to advanced levels. If you are experienced, you will likely appreciate the differences compared to a novice app. 

You can short sell stocks easily here, as long as you qualify for the margin requirements. Considering most traders here are more advanced, this probably won’t be a problem unless you have a low risk tolerance. They are known for not having a minimum deposit, but still catering to advanced needs. 

You will certainly have access to stocks, ETFs, and bonds (all of which you can short sell), but you can also take advantage of crypto, futures, options, and other investment too. They have a desktop or mobile app available to users, and you can’t go wrong with the resources provided. 

While they don’t have commissions on trades, if you want the ability to short sell, you will likely see some fees. Certain features require upgrading to subscription-based services. Those tiers and fee structures are slightly more complicated, but still affordable. The high-powered trading abilities are likely worth the costs for most users that take advantage of it.

5. Moomoo

---

📓 Reputation 

Moomoo is a trading company that is headquartered in California, USA. However, they do have regulated platforms in other countries too, and that includes Australia. Here, they fall under the holding company Futu Securities, which is regulated by AFSL. This company simply doesn’t get enough recognition, but they are worth checking out. 

You have a lot of access to short selling stock here, which is harder to come by with many online brokers. It’s unusual to be able to make those decisions with 8,000+ stocks, but you’ve got it here! 

What they lack in customer service support, they make up for everywhere else. Hopefully you won’t need a lot of customer support thanks to the smooth operation of the app, and simple trading platform. It’s easy to use, which allows beginners to get a feel for the market, but doesn’t turn away the more advanced trading scene. 

Any fees that you might be subjected to are pretty minimal, with no commissions on options contracts or stock trades. There are some fees that still apply, though. They also have no minimum deposit, which allows users to get in and play around without having to have a ton of money to do so.

6. Interactive Brokers

---

📓 Reputation

If you’re looking for a company that has had time to really get to know the market and how to appeal to customers, Interactive Broker is it. This company has been in operations since 1977, and they continue to advance in technology and innovation for their clients. They have a mobile app, as well as desktop platforms for you to utilize and get things done with. 

One of the top things that people appreciate about this broker is the fact that they have low fees for most things. And with those low fees, you still get really great service. On the downside, going through the motions of opening an account isn’t always easy, and you might have to meet some stringent requirements to qualify. 

That being said, it’s designed for more advanced users, who can generally qualify if they have experience. You should be prepared for the minimum deposit, which is higher than most basic platforms. They have a ton of assets to choose from, and high-quality customer service, which are top attraction factors. 

The platform is robust, but if you have trading experience, you will be able to figure it out pretty easily. Their research tools are also advanced, with abilities to chart, track, and more all in one convenient spot on the platform.

7. Tiger Brokers

---

📓 Reputation

Tiger Brokers is an app that was newly launched in Australia early in 2022. However, so far, it seems to be a great platform and they are leaders in the industry for this like research and trading capabilities. In light of being a new investment choice, they have a lot to offer. The primary thing lacking is resources, but if you’re short selling stocks, you probably know where to look. 

This platform really is highly-intuitive and has a lot of great features. The designs are more applicable to traders with at least some experience. If you are a beginner, you can access the platform, but you might need to play with the demo and take time to really get to know the basics of the app. 

One of the top commendations for Tiger Brokers is that you can open an account really fast, and get right to work with trading. It’s unclear whether you might need additional process to be approved for margin or short selling, but you should plan on needing approval as that is common. 

This platform does not use MT4 or MT5, so it’s a whole different experience. At the same time, a lot of the more advanced and experienced traders will be happy to see they have their own proprietary software.

8. Zacks Trade

---

📓 Reputation

Zacks Trade is a name you might not be familiar with, but they’re a great choice for short selling stock. Much like some of the other brokers we’ve shared here, this one is designed to be simple for the experienced traders. Most of those traders short selling stock have experience. However, if you’re a beginner, you might not find this to be user-friendly. 

The research tools and the platform have a reputation for being complex. They are really great, with loads of quality information. It just might take a learning curve to really figure out what you are doing here. There is no minimum deposit, and only a few asset classes, but the stock choices are great. 

The most common complaint is that it takes a lot of effort to open an account. This is a process that they need to improve, and hopefully they are listening to complaints and working on that detail. It’s simply slow and more difficult to navigate than a lot of platforms. 

Deposits and withdrawals are also more complicated, as they only accept a limited number of utilizations to make deposits or withdrawals. And with those options, there are typically associated fees that you also have to contend with.

9. TradeZero

---

📓 Reputation 

TradeZero was actually voted as the best brokerage for short selling in both 2021 and 2020 through the Global Fintech Awards. This tells us they must be doing something right in the field. They are a top choice, because the platform is made for opportunities like this, and they have some great features. 

In many platforms, your leverage is highly controlled. While there are controls here, you have more capabilities than a lot of places. You can even take advantage of intraday leveraging 6:1. This platform has a lot of details like this that make it feel right for day trading, short selling, and highly active traders too. 

While they have a wide array of assets overall, and plenty of short selling stock choices, they are said to be limited overall on product classes. In most cases, you probably won’t even notice this though, depending on the type of trading you’re doing. 

The trading platform itself is pretty snazzy. It’s easy to use, and has tons of great information and tools available to you. People who are very active in trading appreciate the details and the tools. It makes it so much easier for people to accomplish what they’re after, and that’s important. 

Buying Guide

---

Let’s cover key concepts related to short selling. This will give you more context before starting your new journey:

What is short selling? 💼

---

Short selling goes against the market, in order to make a profit. 

You sell shares you do not actually own. Meanwhile, interest is racked up on the loan (borrowed shares). You hope a reduction in price, all fees considered, will be great enough that this leaves you with substantial profits after closing the loan (the loan is closed once you repurchase those borrowed shares).

This form of speculation has been historically used by portfolio managers or investors as a way to hedge against risks of slumps in the market or portfolios – which happens often with position traders (traders who hold long positions).

This kind of speculation has its own significant risk and is an advanced trading tactic. It isn’t normally used as pure speculation but in order to hedge. Hedging is more frequently the transaction of this vehicle, i.e. using short selling in order to offset another long position and to therefore lower risk exposure.

Short selling also technically differs in its composition. Equity is not directly offered to the short borrower/seller. Instead, a position is opened by borrowing shares of stock or another security from a brokerage that does own shares in that stock. Once again, the investor thinks this stock will depreciate in value.

The trader then sells those borrowed shares at the market rate. Borrowed shares are given back to the broker; before this happens, the investor expects that its price will have dropped so that it can be purchased at a lower cost. In short, no pun intended, a short seller borrows stock or another security then sells it on the live market, intending to repurchase it later for cheaper. The potential downsides of short sell losses are theoretically infinite because the price of any asset can climb to almost any point.

The ins-and-outs of short selling

To start with, a seller initiates a short position going through a brokerage to borrow shares. They do this with the intention that they can buy them back later at a profit because the price will decline by that point.

Shares cannot be directly owned – but must instead be borrowed – due to the fact that it’s impossible to sell shares that do not exist. In order to end a short position, the investor needs to repurchase the shares on the open market.

The hope is that the price will fall by this point, relative to when they borrowed the asset. But by repurchasing on the open market, this automatically returns those shares to the broker or lender. Keep in mind that traders need to soak up any interest charged by the broker, or trade fees.

Margin accounts 📉

A margin account is required in order to short sell, and interest needs to be paid on the value of borrowed shares during the position’s duration of being open.

Additionally, there are minimum values that the margin account needs to keep in its balance, which is called the maintenance margin. These criteria are enforced and set by FINRA and the Federal Reserve.

Whenever an investor’s account drops below the maintenance margin, additional funds are required, or the position may be forcibly sold by the broker. This reflects the high risk-to-reward ratio of this form of trading.

The actual finding of shares an investor can borrow, as well as their return at the close of a position, is managed on the backend by the broker. This feature is available through most trading platforms. But the eligibility criteria will differ according to each broker – in order for a trader to be able to short sell.

Reasons to sell short

---

The two most common reasons for short selling are speculation and, most commonly, hedging. Speculators are purely forecasting or betting on the decline of security in the future. A wrong decision means that you will need to buy shares back for more than they paid, eating up the loss.

As mentioned earlier, the potential shortfalls of losses are theoretically infinite. So regulations necessitate that a margin account is used, in order to buffer things. Additional risks associated with the trade approach mean that short selling normally happens across a brief time horizon.

Hedging a long position, by comparison, can lock in gains. Let’s say you own a long position; you could tactically sell short against their position in order to seal profits. Or, in order to damage-control potential depreciation, without needing to leave a long stock position, you can short a stock from a related or very associated stock.

Demo of a short sell at a profit

Let’s set a scene where a trader thinks ABC stock – currently valued at $50 – will depreciate in value across our quarterly period. They borrow a hundred shares then sell them off to a second investor.

This means the trader is now “short” a hundred shares because they gave away something they did not actually own but had in fact borrowed. It was only possible because they were loaned shares. (Note that this isn’t always possible if a stock is already being shorted by a lot of other traders).

A week passes, and the shorted company discloses poor financial performance across the last three weeks, so the stock plummets to $40. The original trader then decides this is the time to end the short position by purchasing a hundred shares at $40 apiece, on the open market.

This returns those originally borrowed shares. And a profit is made on the short job, minus commissions as well as the broker’s interest rate on the margin account – which would be $1000, i.e. 50 from 40 = $10 x 100 shares). 

Demo of a short sell at a loss

Continuing with the example given above, let’s say the trader decided to keep their short position open even after the price dropped to $40 per share; hoping to further capitalise on the downward momentum.

Unfortunately, Elon Musk purchases 10,000 shares then tweets about it. The price per share spikes up to $65 apiece, as the stock rises. The trader decides to cut his losses, before stock prices reach the moon, by closing the short position at $65.

If this happens, the short sale losses would be $1500. In other words, the $15 negative difference multiplied by 100 shares. This means that the trader needs to spend substantially more money to close the borrowed position than was paid to open it.

Demo of a short sell for hedging

Once again, short selling is not only used for speculation means – hedging is commonly viewed as more proper use of shorting, found in respectable financial investment services (e.g. hedge fund managers). It’s a vehicle for fine-tuning investments to personal risk appetites.

The central purpose of hedging is risk management, rather than being purely profit-driven. Hedging mitigates portfolio losses, but because it involves substantial expenses, most retail investors do not use it during periods of normal trading.

In terms of hedging expenses, there were two main costs. The first is borrowing costs. The second, associated expenses; can include stipulations in portfolio management where hedging is a premium add-on. Also the run-of-the-mill trading commissions and dealer-broker interest rates for borrowed shares.

Because it’s a conservative approach, there is an opportunity cost that puts a glass ceiling over a portfolio’s upside in cases where the market gallops ahead. For instance, if half of a portfolio closely tied to the Dow Jones is hedged, and the index rallies up 15% over the year, the portfolio will only register roughly half of this increase.

Play-by-play: What was the GameStop short squeeze?

---

GameStop CORP. (GME) grew overnight from $17.25 to $325.00 between January 4, 2021, to January 29, 2021; representing a nearly 1900% increase in valuation. But despite this price spike, a great number of hedge funds saw vast losses on their investments, cutting their portfolios in half. In fact, a total of $12.79 billion was lost as a result of this particular short squeeze.

How it started

This began when retail investors from r/wallstreetbets bought large numbers of shares of GameStop stocks. The flames were fanned by business mogul and CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk when he tweeted “GameStonks!!” Following the organised short squeeze, the r/wallstreetbets server was banned by Discord and Robinhood stopped the trading of its most volatile “meme” stocks like AMC and the GameStop.

Most stakeholders were investment research firms and hedge funds. For instance, one hedge fund (Melvin Capital) saw a 53% drop in its investments in January. Whereas a few other institutions such as BlackRock, (an investment management firm) held long positions on the stock, and so saw large profits.

In some instances, retail investors invested in GameStop saw double-profits – those who had also lent shares to short-sellers – also saw profits from extra fees from short sellers having to buy back the shares at an inflated price. A tail-end of retail investors came into the market when it was already at its peak.

What are “meme” stocks?

Meme stocks are named as such because the hype around them is built on social media platforms. Shares catch fire through social influences or special threads, such as on Reddit.

A quick trend of the up-swinging prices leads to skyrocketing stocks. But the traditional financial world sees this as extremely risky because they are rooted in strong interest from a small pool of investors, in order for the stock to rocket “to the moon”.

But is it fair to always see meme stocks as too risky? On one hand, they arguably go against the business fundamentals necessary in doing stock analysis. On the other hand, a business that has strong customer backing can eventually grow into a stable company.

Instances of this are no more quickly evidenced than in the cryptocurrency world, where previously unknown digital coins grow into consistently highly-traded coins. The fresh cash injected from new equity also feeds a company that has good starting principles.

Meme stocks typically skyrocket in a matter of days or hours due to a sudden influx of interest online or through social media. A small group of individual investors buys lots of shares. But the searches can often reverse just as fast. So it’s certainly a volatile vehicle. 

FAQs

---

What is a short squeeze?

Squeezes are a negative feedback cycle or loop triggered by short-sellers, then becoming an avalanche. A stock climbs in price, motivating short sellers to hedge their trades by purchasing their short positions back before the price rises even more.

This observed demand encourages greater supply; more buyers are attracted to the frenzy, which further increases stock prices, and encourages even more short sellers to also cover their positions by buying back short stocks.

What are the disadvantages of short selling

• Theoretical infinite loss potential
• Short squeezes
• Margin account needed, including interest rates

What are the advantages of short selling

• ☑️ Potential for great profits
• ☑️ Able to leverage investments
• ☑️ Small initial funding needed
• ☑️ Balance against (hedge) securities

---

You Might Also Like:

• How to Short a Stock in Australia & Profit from it (2024)
• What is Share Trading? (Beginners Guide)
• Best CFD Trading Platforms in Australia (2024)