Highest borrow fee stocks today
Live stock-loan rates · sortable by fee · methodology disclosed
The 25 US stocks with the highest annualized borrow fees. Source: broker-dealer stock-loan data, refreshed daily at 6:30 PM ET. Fees above 25% indicate active borrow stress; fees above 100% indicate the borrow market has effectively closed.
As of 9:50 PM ET on November 4, 2026, DKI carries the highest borrow fee in Tapeboard's market-wide ranking at 601.1% annualized. JZ ranks second at 596.8% annualized, and BIAF ranks third at 170.2% annualized.
| # | Symbol | Annualized Borrow Fee | Rebate Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DKI | 601.1% | -597.3% |
| 2 | JZ | 596.8% | -592.9% |
| 3 | BIAF | 170.2% | -166.3% |
| 4 | CETX | 117.7% | -113.8% |
| 5 | PSKY | 81% | -77.1% |
- DKI enters the top 5 at rank 1 (601.1402% annualized), new to the leaderboard
- JZ enters the top 5 at rank 2 (596.8014% annualized), new to the leaderboard
- BIAF enters the top 5 at rank 3 (170.1882% annualized), new to the leaderboard
- CETX borrow fee moved from 91.6% to 117.6736% annualized since the previous record
- SHFS borrow fee moved from 173.4% to 60.3964% annualized since the previous record
- SHFS drops out of the top 5 (was rank 1, 173.4% annualized)
Frozen record for this date: /short-squeeze-stocks/highest-borrow-fee/2026-11-04 · full archive · Frozen daily record for 2026-11-04. Data captured at publication; diffed against the 2026-11-03 record.
Top 25 stocks by borrow fee
Desk study: We analyzed 30 days of borrow fees, 5 names never left triple digits
What is a borrow fee?
A borrow fee is the annualized cost a short seller pays to borrow shares from a broker's stock-loan inventory. Quoted as a percent per annum, it is the carry cost of holding a short position. A 1% fee means $1,000 per year on a $100,000 short. A 100% fee means the short is paying the full notional in carry every year, a level that signals the borrow market has effectively closed for that name.
Fees are set by supply and demand at each broker's stock-loan desk. When a stock has plenty of unowned shares sitting in margin accounts, fees stay below 1%, the "general collateral" or GC band. When float utilization climbs past 90% and shorts have to compete for the last available shares, fees can spike into double or triple digits within hours. The borrow desk is essentially auctioning a finite resource. Tapeboard sources fees from broker-dealer stock-loan data. Retail and prop borrow desks are only part of the market. Prime-broker rates from Goldman, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan can diverge, and large funds with long-standing relationships sometimes secure rates well below the retail print.
High borrow fee combined with high short interest as % of float is the structural fingerprint of a squeeze setup (the leaderboard shows SI % of float, capped at 100%, not a broker borrow-desk utilization reading). Fees in the 25-50% band suggest active stress; fees above 100% suggest the borrow market has run out of supply and the next short seller has nowhere to source shares without paying punitive overnight rates. Tapeboard's full squeeze score methodology weights borrow fee at 25%, second only to short interest as a percentage of float (35%).
Compared with Ortex and Fintel
Paid short-data tools go deeper in places: Ortex models intraday borrow and short-interest estimates from lending data and Fintel keeps a longer history. Tapeboard is the narrower, free version: end-of-day fees from broker-dealer stock-loan data plus FINRA short interest. Full comparisons: Tapeboard vs Ortex, Tapeboard vs Fintel, the squeeze leaderboard, and the full cost comparison.
| Tool | List price | What it covers | Date and source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tapeboard | Free | Daily top-25 borrow-fee list, short interest % of float (capped), FINRA data and the daily squeeze score | |
| Ortex Basic | $49/mo | Delayed short interest, analysts, insiders and fundamentals | Checked 2026-11-06, Source |
| Ortex Advanced | $149/mo | Intraday short-interest and borrow estimates from lending data, options and signals | Checked 2026-11-06, Source |
| Fintel Bronze | $14.95/mo | Short interest, insider and 13F data, longer history (third-party sourced price) | Checked 2026-10-04, Source |
Borrow fee FAQ
How fresh is this data?
Borrow fee and price are live and refresh daily after market close. The short interest (SI %Float) column is on a different cadence: the short interest column is settled as of Oct 15, 2026, because FINRA publishes short interest on a settlement schedule and the figure is held between readings. There is no real-time short interest in US markets, so the SI as-of date is stamped on the SI column header rather than presented as today's value.
What does a 100% borrow fee mean?
A 100% annualized borrow fee means a short seller pays the full notional value of their position per year just to keep it open. On a $100,000 short, that is roughly $274 per day in carry. Fees this high signal the borrow market has effectively closed for that name, every available share has been lent out and the broker is rationing what is left through pricing.
Where does Tapeboard get its borrow fee data?
Tapeboard sources daily borrow fees from broker-dealer stock-loan data. The data reflects a meaningful share of retail and prop stock loan, but rates from prime brokers (Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley) and from large institutional desks can differ. It is a real number, not the only number. Tapeboard discloses the source rather than synthesize a market-wide rate it cannot see.
How often do borrow fees update?
Daily. Tapeboard's ingest runs at 6:30 PM ET each weekday after the stock-loan inventory file refreshes. Intraday spikes during the trading session are not captured, the publication cadence is end-of-day. Real-time intraday borrow rates are not publicly available; even Ortex models them rather than streaming live broker rates.
Why are most stocks under 1% borrow fee?
Roughly 95% of US-listed common stocks sit in the "general collateral" band, fees of 0.25% to 0.75% per annum. There is enough idle inventory in margin accounts that brokers can supply borrow demand at minimal cost. Only stocks with very high short interest, very tight float, recent stress events, or specific event-driven setups (deal arbitrage, bankruptcy, going-private) push into the higher fee bands.
Is a high borrow fee a buy signal?
No. A high borrow fee is a structural condition, not a directional signal. It tells you shorts are paying punitive carry, which is one of the ingredients for a squeeze, but it does not predict price direction. Many stocks with high borrow fees are high-fee precisely because they are weak fundamentally, bankrupt retailers, fraudulent microcaps, or deal-arbitrage situations where a bid has fixed the upside. Pair the fee with the full squeeze score, news catalysts, and your own thesis before drawing trading conclusions.
Is there a free alternative to paid borrow-fee or short-interest tools?
Yes. This top-25 borrow-fee list, the full squeeze leaderboard and the threshold list are free with no card. Ortex Basic is $49/mo and Ortex Advanced is $149/mo (vendor pricing page, checked 2026-11-06); Ortex models intraday borrow and short-interest estimates from lending data. Fintel Bronze is listed at $14.95/mo by third-party sources (checked 2026-10-04). Tapeboard publishes end-of-day fees from broker-dealer stock-loan data, refreshed daily at 6:30 PM ET.
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