Article

2021-01-29 Economy

Losses on short positions in U.S. firms top $70 billion

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Posted by badanov 2021-01-29 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11125 views ] Top

#1 The pros jumped in on the squeeze. They’re making out like bandits.

When the music stops, it will be the amateurs on Robinhood that will be suspended like Wily Coyote over the chasm.

Posted by KBK 2021-01-29 00:20|| 2021-01-29 00:20|| Front Page Top

#2 Day trading is all about knowing when to get in and when to get out. Basically the same odds as calling two consecutive coin tosses correctly.

Posted by M. Murcek 2021-01-29 06:14|| 2021-01-29 06:14|| Front Page Top

#3 ^ unless you know those who rig it. See - Congress

Posted by Procopius2k 2021-01-29 07:36|| 2021-01-29 07:36|| Front Page Top

#4 "Mortimer - turn those machines back on!"

Posted by Raj 2021-01-29 07:58|| 2021-01-29 07:58|| Front Page Top

#5 you shouldn't buy things that you cant pay for nor sell things that you dont own.

Posted by irish rage boy 2021-01-29 08:50|| 2021-01-29 08:50|| Front Page Top

#6 The pros might have jumped in but they were late to the party. The seventy billion dollar loss is not going to be felt by the retailers who used Robin Hood to do their damage. And by the way, after being closed out, they are back at work this morning on a half dozen stocks. The is like West Texas State beating Notre Dame.

Posted by b 2021-01-29 09:11|| 2021-01-29 09:11|| Front Page Top

#7 (1) Maybe I don't get what happened but wouldn't someone who sold it short (to hurt Gamestop initially) have no more stock because they sold it. And thus don't owe anybody, they just missed out on opportunity when it went up and up?

(2) Or did they sell at whatever price was set at the end of the day, they thought it was a buck but ended up 300 dollars or something like that?

(3) Lastly although I'm gleeful to see someone shank Wall Street, aren't those guys playing with other peoples retirement money and isn't it unlikely the folks who lost billions will ever be punished?

Posted by rjschwarz 2021-01-29 09:19|| 2021-01-29 09:19|| Front Page Top

#8 According to S-3 Partners which tracks short interest on a daily basis, they haven't liquidated anything. In fact they are even more short at 139.7% of the float and a hunk of it is naked short.

It is not some kind of state secret that shorting has the potential for unlimited losses. The redditt kids did excellent due diligence over quite some time. They further restricted their shares and used way out of the money calls to cement their position.

If S-3 is correct and they have been thus far, there hasn't been any short squeeze. At least not yet.

Posted by Cesare 2021-01-29 09:28|| 2021-01-29 09:28|| Front Page Top

#9 Many of the initial shorts at the $40 level have covered with a massive loss. Then the Redditers and hedgies rode it up long. Now it’s an obvious short again, if you can manage to borrow it. Lot of people getting an education.

Posted by KBK 2021-01-29 10:28|| 2021-01-29 10:28|| Front Page Top

#10 These kids think they are getting Wall Street back for 08. My son is in the group and bought AMC It’s kind of funny

Posted by Beavis 2021-01-29 11:43|| 2021-01-29 11:43|| Front Page Top

#11 No, WallStreetBets isn’t robbing Wall Street to help the little guy

Sooner or later, GameStop's stock is going to return to normal levels. And when it does, we are likely to find that little wealth was actually transferred from wealthy hedge fund investors to the general public. Short losses as the stock appreciated will be largely balanced out by short gains as the stock falls. The gains of GameStop shareholders as the stock appreciates will be balanced by losses as the stock declines.

But while there won't be a big transfer between short sellers as a group to shareholders as a group, there will be big wealth transfers within these groups. People who bought GameStop early and who had the good sense to sell near the top of the bubble will make a lot of money. People who buy into GameStop near the top and don't sell until after the stock starts to fall will lose money.

In other words, the GameStop bubble will have the same practical effect as any other pump-and-dump scheme: transferring wealth from those who got into the scheme late to those who got into it early. The fact that there are short-sellers on the other side of some of these trades doesn't change the analysis.

Posted by KBK 2021-01-29 14:10|| 2021-01-29 14:10|| Front Page Top

#12 @#7: Based on your comments it is clear you do not understand what stock shorting means. Plenty of information on the web for that. Also, plenty of information about what is actually going. Don’t wait to be hand fed, do some research.

Posted by Gritch Clomoting4297 2021-01-29 15:00|| 2021-01-29 15:00|| Front Page Top

#13 /\ I realize there's lots of frustration and angst out there, but let's keep it friendly and collegial here in Burgstad if we possibly can. Thanks :-)

Posted by Besoeker 2021-01-29 15:30|| 2021-01-29 15:30|| Front Page Top

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