MOGO Trade on Nov 6, 2020 09:08 from apache2a: Tradervue User Stock Trades.

I used CenterPoint to short it. I have an interactive brokers IBKR LITE account that is commission free. I try there first and if it isnt shortable I go to centerpoint and pay. Locates were 1.9 cents on mogo. I also shorted ftsi at the same time. Those were 10 cents a share. 1.9 to 15 cents a share is pretty normal, sometimes higher. Probably about 1/2 of the time I can get shares on interactive brokers (usually the stocks I'm shorting are in the top 20 gappers for the day...anything lower than that is almost always available on interactive brokers).

Ib has a page with a study that shows the difference in execution between lite and pro. I've looked and looked but I can't find it today. If I remember correctly the pro executes on average .0023 per share better than lite because you get better routing. You pay a minimum of .035 a share though for pro, so for me lite made more sense.

I can across a page that says in has better fills than other brokers in the industry. It says they do better by 63 cents per 100 shares. I believe it. My fills on ib are almost always good, even on lite. My fills on centerpoint are questionable sometimes. I have to use cp to get locates but I ALWAYS go to ib first. Today I was going to short APVO. I went on centerpoint to trade it. The locates were $49 for 100 shares. I almost paid it, thinking ib wouldn't have them...I checked ib and they had 3000 shares (I was only shorting a small number...much less than 3k). So I saved 50 bucks with ib on that one trade. I pay centerpoint much more than I'd like, but ultimately they have me. If I want to trade the hard to borrow stocks, I have to pay. I did short OGI with cp today, but it was only 1 cent a share.

The only downsides I can really see to ibkr lite are:

1. You can't trade until 7. I don't trade before 7, but if you trade early pre market it can affect you
2. You can't use trader workstation and the tools they have. I use trade ideas as a scanner and tda for charts. I didn't like tws much when I had it. Some people are used to to it though.
3. If you trade on margin a lot, the margin rate is 1% higher. Not a huge deal for most people but could be an issue for some.

Awesome bro! Sounds good, glad I could help a little. I don't really like Das (or CP) much to be honest, but it definitely serves a purpose (getting those locates). The set up sounds about the same as what I have now. I use the ToS for charts...the only difference is I don't have the TWS set up.