In finance, a locate is an approval from a broker that needs to be obtained prior to effecting a short sale in any equity security, i.e. to "locate" securities available for borrowing. The requirement, in the United States, to locate a stock before 'shorting' it has existed for a long time. Each short sale must be matched to a corresponding locate. However, it is not necessary to secure a locate in the same broker – if a short sale purchaser can prove a secured locate at any broker that is sufficient to provide validity of a short sales transaction.