How does stock lending actually work?

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I’m on WealthSimple, and they’ve offered stock lending as a feature. According to the app, this leaves me with complete control of the stock, including voting rights, selling options and everything. Obviously though, people wouldn’t just pay to borrow a stock from the goodness of their hearts, so how does it actually work? I’ve seen conflicting information regarding dividend payments… Is that how the borrower earns their money? If so, does that mean they take all the dividend, or just a share based on how long they borrowed?

Thanks in advance!

In: Economics

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

I’m no expert, but this sounds like shorting. You borrow 100 shares worth £1 each to be returned in 7 days and sell them for £100. In 7 days, you buy them back and return them. If the price dropped in that time to £0.60 then you buy 100 shares for £60 and you’ve made 40 quid. Nice. However, if the price rises when you buy them back to £1.40, you need £140 to buy them back and you’re now £40 down. It’s gambling by another name.

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