Shorting stocks

[infudibu]

My broker said that a certain stock is not available to short. What are the rules about shorting stocks?

[lori]

all brokers have their own rules about shorting and trading. sometimes it depends on acct size or even how long you've been trading. ask your broker what their specific rules are.

[DTfire]

I know that some companies are not shortable, because their price is too low. What is that minimum price allowable for shorting?

Also, there needs to be enough of a "float", so a thinly traded stock can't be shorted. I don't know what the limits are of this float either. Can anyone explain this?

[plasma]

You have to have a margin account, and I think you must have a certain amount of $$$ in your account. In the USA I think you need $25,000 ??

[FXtrad]

Another quirk about stocks, you can only short them on an up-tick. This means that you can only short if the price is rising. Your short price cannot be lower than the last execution. Isn't that weird?

This is called the "plus tick rule" or the "tick-test rule". This rule is meant to prevent traders from shorting a stock to drive the price down. Why do stocks need that protection, when the futures, minis, FOREX don't?