Hard to Borrow (HTB)

Hard to borrow describes a stock with so little lendable supply that brokers restrict or surcharge short selling in it. The opposite designation is easy to borrow (ETB), where shares are plentiful and the locate is automatic and near-free.

A stock lands on the HTB list when demand to short outruns the shares available to lend — typically low-float names, heavily shorted names, or fresh IPOs where most stock is still locked up. To short an HTB stock you need a locate, and the borrow fee is negotiated per stock and per day; on the most crowded names it can exceed 100% annualized.

HTB status is itself a trading signal. It tells you shorts are paying up for exposure, and it warns that any rally will be amplified — new shorts cannot easily pile in to fade it, and existing shorts are bleeding fees that pressure them to cover.