Don't sell Google short

Submitted by R. Neal on Sat, 2008/05/31 - 10:41am.

Literally. Today's KNS has the sad tale of a local investment manger who was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to repay $8 million after being convicted of investor fraud.

His first mistake: shorting Google. His worse mistake: trying to cover it up.

I never understood the point of shorting a stock. The downside is virtually unlimited and the upside is limited to essentially the value of the shares you sell, which is exactly the opposite of a long position and a lot more dangerous.

I'm sure somebody understands it and can make money on it. Not me. Which is why I no longer dabble much in the stock market.



lovable liberal's picture
Go short on this comment

Warning: I don't know much about this, as should be obvious from the fact that I thought Google was overvalued on the day its IPO skyrocketed.

Most shorts these days hedge their positions to limit their downside risk, don't they?

Liberty and justice for all.

My home

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