Borrow Fee
Definition
The annualised cost of borrowing shares to maintain a short position, expressed as a percentage of the position's market value. Highly-shorted or low-float ASX stocks can carry borrow fees of 20-50% or more.
Related Terms
Rebate Rate
The interest a short seller earns on cash collateral posted to borrow shares, less the borrow fee charged by the lender. For hard-to-borrow stocks the rebate can be negative — the short seller pays to hold the position.
Hard-to-Borrow
Stocks where shares for short-selling are scarce, driving up borrow fees and increasing recall risk. Often coincides with a building short squeeze setup. On the ASX, hard-to-borrow status is broker-defined and not publicly listed.
Utilisation
The percentage of a stock's lendable float currently out on loan. High utilisation (>90%) indicates supply scarcity and rising borrow fees — a classic precursor to short-squeeze conditions.
See short selling in action
Explore real-time ASIC short position data for ASX stocks.