barnaby,
I don’t quite understand what you mean with shorting using TDAmeritrade. One time you mentioned that it was difficult, the other time you mention “short LEND and TDWaterhouse”. I am short all kinds of stocks in my TDWaterhouse acount, and it works very well. I never have to call them. I was even able to short rare stocks like “CLM” (not for the faint of heart). The only problem I found is that when shorting I don’t get credited the dollar amount versus my stocks on margin. So I still have to pay margin interest for some of my longs, and don’t get any interest for my shorts. This makes me tend to use in the money puts, that have another advantage for the small investor that premiums are automatically deducted from your profits, so your tax is reduced without itemizing.
I read that most retail-brokers don’t credit the short-balance against your margin (or pay interest). This puts you in a hole by 5% annually versus the professional. Does anyone know a broker that would credit the short-balance?
