Highest Borrow-Fee Stocks Today: September 30, 2026 — Hard-to-Borrow Rates
JZ carries the costliest borrow fee in today's market-wide ranking at 556.2% annualized as of September 30, 2026, with 15 names sitting in the hard-to-borrow or extreme tier.
TL;DR: As of 10:50 PM ET on September 30, 2026, JZ carries the highest IBKR borrow fee in Tapeboard's market-wide ranking at 556.2% annualized. TOPS ranks second at 502.7% annualized and TNON third at 498.2% annualized, both as of September 30, 2026.
The costliest name to borrow on a market-wide basis is JZ at 556.2% annualized as of September 30, 2026. Fees on today's list span 2.1% to 556.2% annualized; the median is 16.1%. It is worth stating plainly: a triple-digit borrow fee is typically a marker of distress, extremely low float, a recent reverse split, or a recent listing where shares are nearly impossible to locate in the lending pool — not, by itself, evidence of a conventional short squeeze setup. The gap between the top three names (all near or above 500% annualized as of September 30, 2026) and the rest of the list illustrates how extreme the scarcity is in a small pocket of the market while the median name on this list costs 16.1% to borrow.
Today's Hard-to-Borrow Rate Table
| Rank | Symbol | Annualized Borrow Fee | Rebate Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JZ | 556.2% | −552.3% |
| 2 | TOPS | 502.7% | −498.8% |
| 3 | TNON | 498.2% | −494.3% |
| 4 | XPON | 135.0% | −131.1% |
| 5 | PARA | 61.5% | −57.6% |
| 6 | CETX | 46.4% | −42.6% |
| 7 | KITT | 31.7% | −27.9% |
| 8 | BYND | 27.4% | −23.5% |
| 9 | FNGR | 25.2% | −21.3% |
| 10 | SES | 21.7% | −17.8% |
| 11 | OPTT | 20.1% | −16.3% |
| 12 | GRRR | 18.1% | −14.3% |
| 13 | ATER | 16.1% | −12.2% |
| 14 | OPAD | 15.8% | −12.0% |
| 15 | BIRD | 12.0% | −8.1% |
| 16 | SPWR | 6.9% | −3.0% |
| 17 | AISP | 4.9% | −1.0% |
| 18 | ACB | 4.4% | −0.5% |
| 19 | CHPT | 3.6% | 0.3% |
| 20 | EVTL | 3.5% | 0.4% |
| 21 | IMPP | 3.5% | 0.4% |
| 22 | RUM | 3.4% | 0.4% |
| 23 | FUBO | 2.7% | 1.2% |
| 24 | INO | 2.2% | 1.6% |
| 25 | TE | 2.1% | 1.8% |
*Source: IBKR Securities Lending rates as compiled by Tapeboard, September 30, 2026 10:50 PM ET. Market-wide ranking across all IBKR-tracked securities. Not investment advice.*
Borrow-Fee Tiers
Tapeboard categorizes annualized borrow fees as normal (under 2%), elevated (2-10%), hard-to-borrow (10-50%), and extreme (above 50%). On September 30, 2026, 15 names on today's market-wide list fell in the hard-to-borrow or extreme tier. Five of those — JZ, TOPS, TNON, XPON, and PARA — sat in the extreme tier above 50% annualized as of September 30, 2026, while names like BYND at 27.4% and BIRD at 12.0% occupied the hard-to-borrow band.
What a High Borrow Fee Signals
An annualized borrow fee is the stock-loan cost a short seller pays to maintain a bearish position. A high fee reflects scarcity in the lendable pool: when few shares are available to borrow, lenders charge more. Critically, a high fee does not by itself predict a squeeze. Names carrying triple-digit fees are often distressed companies, very-low-float stocks, post-reverse-split names, or recent IPOs where shares are almost impossible to locate — a high cost-to-short is not the same as squeeze potential. That is why borrow fee is weighted only 25% in Tapeboard's composite squeeze score, which also factors in short interest, price momentum, and volume. See the methodology for the full breakdown.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which stocks have the highest borrow fees today?
As of September 30, 2026, JZ leads the market-wide ranking at 556.2% annualized, followed by TOPS at 502.7% and TNON at 498.2%. All three sit deep in the extreme tier, reflecting severe scarcity in their lending pools.
What is considered a high stock borrow fee?
Tapeboard's tier framework classifies fees under 2% as normal, 2-10% as elevated, 10-50% as hard-to-borrow, and above 50% as extreme. Anything in the hard-to-borrow band or higher represents a meaningful carrying cost for short sellers.
Where do these borrow rates come from?
Tapeboard compiles IBKR Securities Lending borrow fees daily and refreshes them each evening across the full market universe. Rates are daily snapshots, not real-time intraday figures, and may differ from rates quoted by other brokers.
Data and Methodology
Borrow fee: IBKR Stock Loan Availability data, updated daily each evening, covering the full market-wide universe of IBKR-tracked securities. Rebate rate: IBKR Securities Lending data, where available; negative rebates represent an additional cost to the borrower. See today's full squeeze analysis for the 7-factor composite ranking, or the hard-to-borrow leaderboard for the live pillar.
This post is for educational and informational purposes only and is not investment advice. Borrow fees reflect securities-lending conditions reported in IBKR's daily data; they are not real-time intraday rates and may differ from rates at other brokers. A high borrow fee does not constitute a buy or sell signal. Short selling carries unlimited downside risk. Editor: Marcus Reilly.