How do iBorrowDesk and Stonk-O-Tracker work?

Are you interested in short selling on stocks?

If yes, iBorrowDesk and Stonk-O-Tracker are two free services you might have heard of during your short selling on the stock journey. Both of these stock-related websites seem to be managed by investors who have spent several years in the field. Besides, neither website is linked to a bank. But, what exactly is stock short selling? We at TelegramFXCopier enjoy the subject.

Short selling is a trading or investing technique that bets on the price of a stock or other security dropping. Seasoned traders and investors are the ones who should employ this sophisticated approach.

Traders employ short selling as a speculative tool. Investors or portfolio managers utilize it as a hedge against downside risks from a long position in the same or similar securities. Speculation is a sophisticated trading strategy that bears a high risk of loss. Hedging, or taking an offsetting position to decrease risk exposure, is a more typical transaction.

Investors “short sell” a position by borrowing shares of a stock or other asset that they believe will lose value. The investor then sells these borrowed shares to market-rate bidders. The trader bets on continued decrease in the price of the borrowed shares. Once in profit, the position is closed. Because the price of any asset might rise to infinity. So the risk of loss on a short sale is theoretically endless.

Let’s look at what iBorrowDesk is now that we’ve established what short-selling on stocks means.

IBorrowDesk is a system or a tool for monitoring borrow rates and availability using freely available data from Interactive Broker. One of the services that IBorrowDesk relied on frequently is Interactive Brokers’ Stock Loan Availability Database, particularly for difficult-to-borrow equities. Meanwhile, Stonk-O-Tracker refers to a website that gathers stock information. It only includes information from GameStop and AMC Entertainment. Options traders (specifically from Interactive Brokers) may find useful information in borrow rates, and the availability of shares for borrowing.

Both iBorrowDesk and Stonk-O-Tracker on WallStreetBets

On platforms like Reddit, such as the WallStreetBets subreddit, iBorrowDesk and Stonk-O-Tracker are occasionally referenced in comments. Recently, a commenter highlighted that iBorrowDesk exclusively shows available shares to borrow from Interactive Brokers, excluding other brokers.

“Relying entirely on IBorrowDesk is inadequate data at best, and confirmation bias at worst,” the user stated. The purpose of this statement is not to discourage the use of iBorrowDesk. It’s to encourage users to seek additional sources for information regarding borrow rates and availability.

What Does iBorrowDesk Show?

iBorrowDesk tracks stock borrow rates through its clever database. The site displays equities, ticker symbols, borrow charge rates, and availability using data from Interactive Brokers. According to the owner of iBorrowDesk, the data refreshes every 15 minutes during open stock trading hours.

iBorrowDesk shows the borrow rates for each stock (fees traders must pay when borrowing shares needed for a short sale). It also displays the shares that are currently available from Interactive Brokers, as you can see above.

What Does Stonk-O-Tracker Show?

As we have mentioned earlier, Stonk-O-Tracker is another website that gathers stock information. It only includes information from GameStop and AMC Entertainment. For options traders (from Interactive Brokers only), useful information includes borrow rates and available shares to borrow.

The Stonk-O-Tracker shows the most recent stock price and the trading volume for GameStop and AMC. The author obtains call contracts from Yahoo Finance and displays the total value of the contracts.

Stonk-O-Tracker monitors short sale limitations, available borrowing shares, and accessible ETF shares for the tracked asset. Stonk-O-Tracker, like iBorrowDesk, solely uses Interactive Brokers data on available shares. Fails-to-Deliver, borrowed shares, and shorted volume per day are also provided.

iBorrowDesk VS Stonk-O-Tracker

iBorrowDesk and Stonk-O-Tracker provide services that are extremely similar and may be useful to investors interested in options trading. Throughout the open hours of the stock market, both websites update their information regularly.

Aside from GameStop and AMC, iBorrowDesk contains information on additional stocks. Passionate individuals who “enjoy the stocks” manage both websites. The iBorrowDesk owner has a background in banking and software development. However, there is no available information about the founder of Stonk-O-Tracker regarding their employment or training.

Important to note: The borrow rate data on these websites mainly pertains to Interactive Brokers. For short sells or options trading, investors should conduct thorough research, considering reliable sources. Short selling is a fundamental aspect of finance, and both iBorrowDesk and Stonk-O-Tracker are valuable resources for stock short selling.