Does the IEM offer anything similar to short sales?
Yes. First, buy a contract bundle, giving you one unit of each contract listed in the market at a total cost of $1.00. If you hold all of those contracts until after the market is closed and liquidated, you would get exactly your $1.00 back. If, on the other hand, you sell one (or more) of those contracts, that action is very much like selling short on other futures exchanges. And the $1.00 you paid for the bundle was like a margin deposit. For example. Suppose that you want to sell short AAPLi. You effectively place $1 on deposit with us by buying a unit portfolio consisting of AAPLi, IBMi, MSFTi, and SP500i. Then, you sell the AAPLi. If AAPLi does not pay off $1, you get your dollar deposit back as the liquidating payout on one of the other three contracts you hold. If AAPLi does pay off $1 we give the dollar you placed on deposit with us to the trader who bought the AAPLi who effectively shorted from you. Thus, you are out $1. The ONLY difference between this and “real” shorting is
