Best Short-Selling Brokers in 2026

Founded in 2015 in the Bahamas, TradeZero has built its reputation around one core strength: short-selling U.S. equities. The broker later expanded to the United States in 2018, to Canada in 2022, and, most recently, entered the European market via the Netherlands, bringing its short-focused trading capabilities to a wider global audience.

TradeZero is particularly well known for facilitating short sales of hard-to-borrow securities, including stocks subject to Regulation SHO. While easy-to-borrow (ETB) large-cap stocks are readily available across most brokers, TradeZero stands out in its ability to support shorting opportunities where borrowing is more challenging.

A key feature supporting this focus is TradeZero’s use of single-use (SU) locates. These locates allow one short-sale transaction per day and are especially well-suited for one-time trades in Regulation SHO securities.

Additionally, TradeZero allows traders to “mark locates for credit” if they are no longer needed. This makes the locate available to other TradeZero clients and can help traders recover part of the original locate cost, ultimately reducing overall short-selling expenses.

Beyond its short-selling strengths, TradeZero’s broader mission is to combine a no-commission trading structure with the ability to trade stocks, options and ETFs (ETFs not available through its Netherlands entity).

The broker offers its proprietary TZ1 platform free of charge to all users, including ZeroMobile for traders on the go. More advanced traders can opt for ZeroPro, which typically costs $59 per month but is waived when trading more than $100,000 in shares per month. Both ZeroPro and TZ1 also include ProScanner, a real-time U.S. equity market scanner built directly into the platforms at no additional cost.

Please note accounts are denominated in USD, and currency conversion fees only apply when funding in another currency.

Although TradeZero originated in the Bahamas, it has since obtained top-tier regulatory oversight across its global entities. TradeZero operates through regulated subsidiaries in their respective jurisdictions, including oversight by the SEC (U.S.), CIRO (Canada), AFM (Netherlands), and the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, which significantly reduces regulatory concerns and strengthens confidence in the broker’s credibility.

Each entity also operates under different margin conditions. TradeZero offers margin accounts with the following leverage across its entities:

• Up to 6x leverage in TradeZero International: 2:1 (intraday), 6:1 (overnight)
• Up to 3x leverage in TradeZero Canada: 3:1 (intraday), 2:1 (overnight)
• Up to 4x leverage in TradeZero America: 4:1 (intraday), 2:1 (overnight) on qualified stocks with a balance of $25,000
• Up to 3x leverage in TradeZero Europe: 3:1 (pre-market & intraday), 2:1 (post-market & overnight)

Finally, TradeZero currently offers a welcome bonus based on the size of an initial deposit, with full details available on the company’s website (use the promo code “IITW”).

Founded in 1978 and listed on NASDAQ (ticker: IBKR), Interactive Brokers has seen rapid growth in its customer base, as evidenced by the meteoric rise of its share price in recent years. As such, it is arguably the industry benchmark when it comes to a reasonable mix between low trading costs and wide market access.

Interactive Brokers’ main appeal is its wide geographic footprint, allowing traders to trade in hundreds of different markets across more than a dozen currencies. As such, for investors interested in short selling, IBKR’s main advantage is the ability to short assets in multiple jurisdictions from one platform.

The process of shorting shares on IBKR is intuitive, with a full description available in the IBKR Traders’ Academy here. Key considerations when shorting shares through IBKR include the fee rate (the annualized interest on borrowed shares), which is charged daily. 

The platform also provides information on shortable shares (shares currently available for shorting at IBKR) and utilization (demand versus supply in the lending market for shares sold short).

As long as locates are available, you can short the shares you wish, and your order should fill automatically. If locates are not available and IBKR is unsuccessful in locating them, the order will be held until it expires and will not execute.

Given the vast number of markets tradeable by Interactive Brokers, IBKR is arguably the most regulated choice among the five brokers in our selection – its regulators include the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the U.S., the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the U.K., as well as local regulators in markets where IBKR has direct market access, such as MNB in Hungary and MAS in Singapore. IBKR is also a member of self-regulatory organizations such as FINRA in the U.S. Investors can also monitor the broker’s financial health via its financial statements.

As such, I believe IBKR is the natural choice for investors looking for wide geographic diversification at a low cost.

You can read our IBKR review and check IBKR’s website for more information.

Founded in 2007 in Israel, eToro has quickly become the market leader in social trading. The broker puts an emphasis on ease of use, making its platform the ideal choice for beginner traders. Presented in a user-friendly way, traders have quick access to analyses and news that can help them make the right trade.

eToro allows users to go short on a particular stock or ETF via contracts for difference (CFDs). The process is straightforward, with a full description of the process available here. While the use of CFDs arguably makes shorting shares less complicated, investors still need to pay attention to the borrowing fees associated with stocks. Indeed, borrowing fees on CFDs mirror those on actual stocks, indicating that investors are exposed to the same abrupt changes in short borrowing costs.

For instance, for hard-to-borrow stocks (with a borrow fee over 10%), you also need to pay the overnight fee. You also pay an overnight fee when shorting CFDs on ETFs, indices, commodities, and currencies.

The principal differentiating factor for eToro is the ability to use social trading when researching short sell ideas. eToro users can follow and automatically copy other short sellers. 

eToro is regulated by top-tier institutions such as the FCA in the United Kingdom, ASIC in Australia, and CySEC in Cyprus. As such, I think eToro is a reliable choice for investors looking for an easy-to-use social trading platform.

I should also mention that eToro now offers a sign-up bonus of $40-$500. For a full assessment, read our comprehensive eToro review and explore eToro’s website. 

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 52% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Started in 2004 as X-Trade Brokers, XTB has now grown to one of the largest brokers specializing in CFD trading.

The broker offers a tiered pricing structure, with monthly trades on stocks and ETFs up to 100 000 EUR coming at no cost to the customer. This makes it ideal for more casual investors. 

XTB would be a good choice for traders looking to short commodities, indices, and currency pairs via CFDs. The broker also offers shorting of individual stocks via CFDs, but as we have seen so far, this is not a differentiating factor for XTB.

Instead, XTB is best suited for investors looking for a one-stop shop for CFD trading, allowing traders to participate in downside moves in a wide array of assets, ranging from commodities such as oil, gold, and silver to cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum.

XTB currently offers over 11,000 different instruments for trading, the vast majority of which are also available for shorting. If you decide to hold your short position overnight, you will have to pay a swap fee dependent on the individual instrument you are trading.

XTB is regulated by the KNF, Poland’s financial services watchdog, and the FCA in the United Kingdom. Other regulators include CySEC in Cyprus, the DFSA in Dubai, and the FSC in Bulgaria.

Want to know more about XTB? Check out our XTB Review and visit XTB’s website.

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 69-80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Founded in 1992 in Denmark, Saxo Bank now offers a comprehensive array of investment options, totalling some 79,000 different instruments across more than 30 countries. 

SaxoTrader is the broker’s principal platform, offering the complete array of available investments and markets. It is available in two versions – SaxoTrader for Desktop comes with full functionalities such as charting, while SaxoTrader for web and mobile is suitable for quick trades on the go. Last but not least, SaxoInvestor may appeal to novice investors with a longer-term horizon, as it offers a limited array of investment options, confined to stocks, bonds, and ETFs.

Saxo’s fees are higher than the market average, making the broker a poor choice for traders focused solely on trading costs. As we all know, however, sooner or later, investors will need the help of customer service with more nuanced cases. This is where Saxo Bank stands out, providing top-tier service to clients.

Saxo does not offer shorting stocks in the traditional way of borrowing and subsequently selling a share. Instead, as explained here, there are four main ways to participate in downside movements if you are a client of Saxo Bank – through CFDs, futures on stock indices, ETFs that rise in price when the asset they are shorting goes down in value (inverse ETFs), and options.

CFDs are the most straightforward way to short a stock or commodity you are bearish on. As always, if you hold your position overnight, you will incur a swap fee dependent on the instrument you are trading.

Another easy way to make a short-term bearish bet is to go long inverse ETFs. Just pay attention to whether the ETF itself uses leverage (300% ETFs have become popular in recent years).

Futures trading is a convenient way to position for broad downside movement in a stock index. Here, the key factor to watch is margin requirements. Last but not least, buying put options allows for a tailored bet on individual companies, with the risk limited to the premium you pay upfront.

Saxo Bank is regulated by top-tier institutions such as the FSA in Denmark, as well as the FCA in the United Kingdom, which, in my opinion, is an indication of the low risk associated with using Saxo as a broker in your investment affairs. The company is rated investment grade by Standard & Poor’s and boasts assets under management of over $110 billion.

In summary, Saxo Bank offers a comprehensive trading toolbox to investors willing to bet on downside movements in asset prices, ranging from broad bear markets via index futures and inverse ETFs to idiosyncratic company movements via put options.

Want to know more about Saxo Bank? Check our Saxo Bank Review and visit Saxo Bank’s website.