Short selling, what am I missing?

[amonk]

I've been trading in my ISA for nearly 5 years now, but never shorted anything.

I understand the concept behind it but seem to be missing something when it comes to opening a trade.

IG help topics simply state, click the sell tab. When I do this I get the message, you have no shares to sell??

Please don't reply with "if you don't know what your doing... don't do it"
I'm asking for help, not advice.

Thanks in advance.

[neueneuen]

@amonk, if you're trying to short on an ISA account, this is contrary to ISA rules and is restricted everywhere. The motivation is kind of that ISA is intended as cash-only account and shorting implies loan (when you short, the counterparty loans you the shares which you sell). The only way to somewhat of short on an ISA is through long on an inverse ETF (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/inverse-etf.asp), but this is more complex than simple shorting, and I'm not sure if any are available at IG (I haven't checked).

Edited June 12 by neueneuen

[amonk]

Thank you neueneuen.

Really appreciate that reply.

[TheGuru12]

To short a stock in spread betting, you don't need to own the shares because you are betting on the price movement rather than trading the actual shares. Shorting allows you to profit from a decline in the asset's price, making it a useful strategy for hedging or speculating on downward market trends. On platforms like IG, to open a short trade, you need to navigate to the spread betting section and click the "Sell" tab to initiate a short position. You then specify the amount you want to bet per point movement. Unlike traditional trading, where you would borrow shares to sell and later buy them back at a lower price (paying interest on the borrowed shares), spread betting involves no borrowing or actual ownership of shares. Instead, you pay a spread (the difference between the buy and sell prices) and possibly overnight financing charges if you hold the position beyond a trading day. This way, you can profit from falling prices without the complexities of borrowing shares.

[amonk]

Thanks Guru.