Do I pay interest when I "Short" a Futures contract?

Trading and Investing Helping Traders
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We were asked today: Do I pay interest when I “Short” a Futures contract? **

A:** No. In the stock market, shorting requires you to “borrow” shares, which incurs interest fees. In futures, a “Short” contract is simply an agreement to sell at a later date. You are not borrowing anything, so there are no “hard to borrow” fees or interest charges. Shorting the S&P 500 (ES) is mechanically identical to buying it.

We hope this information helps traders.

Best,
Matt Z