About cost to borrow
This page ranks US stocks and ETFs by what it costs to sell them short. The borrow fee, or cost to borrow, is the annualized rate a short seller pays to borrow shares, refreshed every 15 minutes. A fee that is high or climbing means lendable shares are scarce relative to demand from short sellers.
More about this page
Borrow Rate Momentum and Borrow Rate Persistence are Finshort scores from 0 to 100. Momentum rises when the fee climbs quickly over the past hours and days; Persistence rises the longer the fee stays elevated, up to two weeks. Every ticker has its own cost-to-borrow page with intraday and historical fee charts and the shares available to borrow.
Frequently asked questions
What is a high cost to borrow?
Most large stocks cost well under 1% a year to borrow. Fees above 5% mean shares are getting harder to find, and fees above 20% are usually called hard to borrow. Some heavily shorted small caps cost more than 100% a year, which means a short position loses more than its full value in fees over a year unless the price falls.
Why does a rising borrow fee matter?
A short seller pays the fee every day the position is open, so a fast rise squeezes their returns and can push some of them to cover by buying shares. Rising fees together with high short interest and few shares available to borrow are common ingredients of a short squeeze.
What do Momentum and Persistence measure?
Borrow Rate Momentum measures how fast the fee is rising compared with its own recent history. Borrow Rate Persistence measures how much of the past two weeks the fee has spent elevated. A stock can score high on persistence with no momentum when its fee is high but steady.
Why are some stocks missing?
Only stocks with a current borrow quote are ranked. Stocks without a borrow quote in the last three days are left out, so a delisted or no-longer-lendable name does not linger at the top with an old fee.