Beta neutral portfolio

I am long a few stocks, and want to be beta neutral to the S&P500 since I don't have any view on the market in general.

I have an ETrade account, and it looks like shorting the SPY index will be expensive since ETrade will charge approx 5% interest on the margin. Similarly I could short other stocks but I don't really have a strong negative sentiment on any specific stocks and will also be charged the same interest on margin.

Any other thoughts on how to get this done cheaply? Would it make sense to use options, for example buying deep in the money SPY long term put options?

I am no expert in stocks, but options aren't really gonna help you, given the transaction costs you're likely to incur when delta-hedging. You'd better bite the bullet and do the index or find some stocks you don't like and don't mind shorting.

I'm probably overlooking something here but why can't you just sell up and buy the index?

Open a spread betting account, there you can hedge (cheaply) your stocks by shorting some index. Spread is the only cost if you choose a futures contract.

I don't hedge any of my stocks. I buy when I think the time right and will sell when I think the time is right. Hedging is for guessers.

The thread starter does not care for your trading.
He asked a very simple question.

Well, the only problem with this is that you'll have to post margin in two separate accounts, which may be a bit of a bummer. Obviously, depends on the specific circumstances.

I don't care for your opinion. I made a simple statement...f*cking people