Short Sale Cost
Short Sale Cost
Calculating the Cost of Borrowing Stock at Interactive Brokers
There are two factors for daily cost/revenues associated with short selling of stocks and bonds at IBKR:
- Borrow Fee
- Short Sale Proceeds interest paid to you by IBKR
Sell Short 100 AAPL
Stock Borrow Fee
TWS shows the following data for AAPL. The Fee rate* column reflects the Borrow Fee the account will be charged and shown on the account statement.
*TWS Fee rates are indicative intraday and may change due to market conditions between trade execution and settlement.
Statement
Value Date
Rates are based on a one-day look-back. The statement above is as of 6/21/2017 with a value date of 6/20/2017. That means the fee is being charged for holding the stock over market close on 6/20/2017.
Price
This is the cash collateral mark used to calculate interest. To see more information on collateral marks and how they are calculated, please see this page: Short Sale > Collateral
Value
Collateral cash value.
Fee Rate (%)
The annualized percentage borrow fee the account is charged.
Borrow Fee
The cash amount the account will be charged to borrow AAPL for 6/20/2017.
Short Sale Proceeds Interest
IBKR pays interest on Short Sale Proceeds based on the following schedule, calculated on the total short balance of the account.
The Short Sale Proceeds Interest rate that IBKR would pay an account with a short balance of USD 5,000,000 is 0.628% (assuming the benchmark is 1.16%), computed as a weighted average of the tiers.
The weighted average rate can be computed on the calculator here.
Net Cost
The net cost/revenue to short AAPL for an account with USD 5,000,000 in short balances is a credit of 0.378%, or USD 0.15 per day, as illustrated in this chart:
Sell Short 100 of SNAP
TWS shows a Fee rate of 50.19%
Statement
Net Cost
Taking into account the Weighted Average Short Sale Proceeds Interest on a balance of USD 5,000,000 (similar to the AAPL example above) of 0.628%, the net borrow cost/revenue is -49.56%, or a debit of USD 2.48 per day.
Interest Paid to You on Short Sale Proceeds Cash Balances
View ExamplesFor the purposes of crediting interest on cash equal to short stock collateral values, only accounts with Net Asset Value (NAV) exceeding USD 100,000 will be eligible to receive credit interest on these cash balances.
For balances held in CHF, JPY, or RUB, IBKR may apply an effective negative rate to long balances held. The negative rate applied to accounts holding these currencies is the same regardless of account size. For other currencies in which the effective rate is less than zero, the interest paid is 0%.
BM = Benchmark Rate
| Currency | Tier | Rate Paid: IBKR Pro | Rate Paid: IBKR Lite |
|---|---|---|---|
| USD | 0 - 100,000 | 0% | 0% |
| 100,000.01 - 1,000,000 | 3.580% (BM - 1.25%) | 2.580% (BM - 2.25%) | |
| 1,000,000.01 - 3,000,000 | 4.330% (BM - 0.5%) | 2.580% (BM - 2.25%) | |
| 3,000,000.01 + | 4.580% (BM - 0.25%) | 2.580% (BM - 2.25%) | |
| AUD | 0 - 140,000 | 0% | 0% |
| 140,000.01 + | 1.144% (BM - 2.25%) | 0.144% (BM - 3.25%) | |
| CAD | 0 - 130,000 | 0% | 0% |
| 130,000.01 - 1,300,000 | 2.390% (BM - 1.75%) | 1.390% (BM - 2.75%) | |
| 1,300,000.01 - 3,000,000 | 3.040% (BM - 1.1%) | 1.390% (BM - 2.75%) | |
| 3,000,000.01 + | 3.240% (BM - 0.9%) | 1.390% (BM - 2.75%) | |
| CHF | 0 - 90,000 | 0% | 0% |
| 90,000.01 + | 0.000% (BM - 2.25%) | 0.000% (BM - 3.25%) | |
| EUR | 0 - 90,000 | 0% | 0% |
| 90,000.01+ | 0.334% (BM - 2.25%) | 0.000% (BM - 3.25%) | |
| GBP | 0 - 80,000 | 0% | 0% |
| 80,000.01+ | 1.596% (BM - 2.25%) | 0.596% (BM - 3.25%) | |
| HKD | 0 - 780,000 | 0% | 0% |
| 780,000.01 | 0.420% (BM - 2.25%) | 0.000% (BM - 3.25%) | |
| MXN | 0 - 2,000,000 | 0% | 0% |
| 2,000,000.01+ | 9.035% (BM - 4%) | 8.035% (BM - 5%) | |
| SEK | 0 - 900,000 | 0% | 0% |
| 900,000.01+ | 0.263% (BM - 2.25%) | 0.000% (BM - 3.25%) |