What you're saying might be true, but I've found much the same thing in practically every company I've ever followed, most of them are biotechs, but it's far from limited to them. I really don't know what's behind it, but then I don't believe in shorting companies and frankly wish it were illegal.
That said, it's not illegal and it sickens b me that some people make billion dollar bonuses managing hedge funds that are short in most, if not all their investments. The idea of bringing down companies for a profit is repugnant to me, but it's legal, what happened in 2008 resulted in huge profits for some funds, in some cases things were judged to be illegal, but other than some fines, no one went to jail.
We are not prevented from doing it ourselves, but we don't have all the tools that those who practice it routinely do. For every stock in which options are available, you can buy or sell puts and calls. I've never bought puts, but on a few occasions I've written covered calls when I believe a stock I was in was prematurely higher than I believe it warranted at the time. I recently purchased stock for 70% of what it was selling for because I purchased some out of the money calls that I thought were very cheap, and I was right. While I would rather these markets didn't exist, they do, and I suppose they are largely the reason that bashers exist. I cannot say if any one of them is honestly a short themselves, or it's their profession and they're being paid good money to do it.
When I spoke with a hedge fund manager about my opinion, he was sympathetic about my feelings, but indicated that even if it were illegal here, it would simply move the practice offshore. Even if most nations in the world agreed to make it illegal, it's so lucrative that somewhere in the world they'd make it legal, and wealth would be created there by bringing others down.
In some ways it's like cannabis in places where it's illegal, those who want it have always been able to get it. I feel much the same about prostitution and gambling, we're better off making the legal, cleaning them up, and taxing the gains in the business. In Nevada, cannabis and gambling are legal everywhere, and prostitution is legal in most counties, but not in those covering the biggest cities where their are no limits on the escort services, but technically prostitution isn't legal. I believe that in time recreational cannabis in at least some form will be available everywhere, it may not be legal to smoke it, and that's a reason I really like our sublingual tablets.
Gary
That said, it's not illegal and it sickens b me that some people make billion dollar bonuses managing hedge funds that are short in most, if not all their investments. The idea of bringing down companies for a profit is repugnant to me, but it's legal, what happened in 2008 resulted in huge profits for some funds, in some cases things were judged to be illegal, but other than some fines, no one went to jail.
We are not prevented from doing it ourselves, but we don't have all the tools that those who practice it routinely do. For every stock in which options are available, you can buy or sell puts and calls. I've never bought puts, but on a few occasions I've written covered calls when I believe a stock I was in was prematurely higher than I believe it warranted at the time. I recently purchased stock for 70% of what it was selling for because I purchased some out of the money calls that I thought were very cheap, and I was right. While I would rather these markets didn't exist, they do, and I suppose they are largely the reason that bashers exist. I cannot say if any one of them is honestly a short themselves, or it's their profession and they're being paid good money to do it.
When I spoke with a hedge fund manager about my opinion, he was sympathetic about my feelings, but indicated that even if it were illegal here, it would simply move the practice offshore. Even if most nations in the world agreed to make it illegal, it's so lucrative that somewhere in the world they'd make it legal, and wealth would be created there by bringing others down.
In some ways it's like cannabis in places where it's illegal, those who want it have always been able to get it. I feel much the same about prostitution and gambling, we're better off making the legal, cleaning them up, and taxing the gains in the business. In Nevada, cannabis and gambling are legal everywhere, and prostitution is legal in most counties, but not in those covering the biggest cities where their are no limits on the escort services, but technically prostitution isn't legal. I believe that in time recreational cannabis in at least some form will be available everywhere, it may not be legal to smoke it, and that's a reason I really like our sublingual tablets.
Gary
