Your information is incorrect. One cannot short shares in a ritirement account as the account is not allowed to be a margin account.

One can hoever loan shares from a retirement account.

Brgds,

Ludwig.

"1. No Shorting in IRAs
Shorting is not allowed in IRA accounts. One of the rules imposed on Individual Retirement Accounts is that you can't borrow within the account, or you risk having the account disqualified as an IRA. Therefore, for those of you who trade within your IRA account, shorting probably isn't an option under the current tax rules."