Where does the stock come from when you sell short?
407689
You do borrow shares from someone if you short.  Typically it's the brokerage you are shorting with, who is using the shares of another account holder. If they don't have the shares, they borrow from another firm.  Interesting problems happens when they run out of shares to borrow.  Or even better, the owners of the borrowed shares decide to sell their's.  Often when you want to short in a tight market, brokers will trash your trade while advising "no shares available" so you can't always short when you want, no matter the price you offer. \n  Where do the dividends come from?...your pocket if you are holding the short because you have basically a negative stock.\n\nFYI, there's no reason to hold a short unless you are selling a "covered put"; which will be never.\n\nMost traders buy puts to play the downside of an equity.     \nAgain: don't ever short a stock. Use puts.\n\nGood luck to you....
491670
short sales are reported only once a month, I believe. So not only not in real time but also not in any time at all.
1104537
There are two fund families that promote short selling strategies.\n  They are Rydex Funds, and Pro-Funds\n  Obviously the government permits it AS LONG AS THE CUSTOMER HAS BEEN INFORMED OF IT.  IT IS LISTED IN THE FUND PROSPECTUS.\n  Additionally, typical hedge funds participate in these actions.
673080
They last posted a dividend and cap gains distribution on Dec 2, 2005.  It has been 6 months and I think they had another distribution, which lowers the sales price.\n\nEDIT:\nI confirmed on their website that distributions of dividends and capital gains do occur in May and Dec.  If you have your distributions reinvested then it should be a wash for you.  If you have your distributions paid out, then you have the same number of shares at the lower price.
1109165
The term "short squeeze" refers to the pressure on short sellers to cover their positions as a result of sharp price increases or difficulty in borrowing the security the sellers are short. The rush by short sellers to cover produces additional upward pressure on the price of the stock, which then can trigger a short squeeze. If the stock goes up instead, the need to lessen losses can trigger the buying of stock.\n\nIn other words, the squeeze trigger refers to the way in which short-sellers (people who have "borrowed" stocks from brokers for a certain amount of time...) will have to buy back the stock from the open market so they do not lose money.  It usually happens for small-cap stocks.\nSo, if the trader is "short" the stock that he borrowed for twenty-four cents and he can buy shares back for ten cents, then he has made fourteen cents a share when it is time to give it back to whomever he borrowed it from.  The problem comes in when the stock goes up and not down and, of course, they would like to avoid that if they are short.  If the majority of short-sellers bought at twenty cents, that can be called the "squeeze trigger" (simplified, not counting commisions, premiums, etc.).  Suppose the stock climbs to twenty-one cents...now, they have to buy the stock back as fast as they can in order to "cover" their positions with their brokers because they are losing money with every up-tick in the price.  With all those guys buying at twenty cents or better, the stock price can jump through the roof all of a sudden one day ("spikes"...), then trades back down to its normal level.  If you do not know the trigger, you may not know what and when to expect it.  But there are sites online where you can find the squeeze triggers of 15,000 stocks.\nThe best advice is to not play that game because those guys are good at it and they take their chances with having a "short" go "long" (forced to buy...) on them.  It is a chance they have to take.\nYou, on the other hand, should not worry about it.  The best thing you can do is to set your sell point when you get into a stock if you are a trader.  If you are an investor, forget about it altogether. If you are going to trade the stock, decide at which percentage you want to get out, set your open order (Limit Order...) to that level and then leave it alone.  Perhaps your "sell" will be triggered itself in this frenzy of buying that occurs and you will get lucky that way.  Know when you want to sell and it is really that simple.\nAs far as the stock itself, always look for well-led companies with an interesting and innovative product.  If the product is something you can imagine and believe in, then stay in it.  If not, get out.  Ask yourself, what does LVTI do, exactly?
410774
Some foreign companies have their stocks listed on US stock exchanges. These stocks are classified under "ADR's" or American Depository Receipts. Or you can buy mutual funds that hold a portfolio of stocks. Also some brokers allow you the flexibility of buying foreign stocks which are specified with a ticker symbol. Figure out what you want to invest in, then go from there.
722283
Short selling is absolutely insane for you if you are asking a question like this.\n\nA "short sale" is basically a minus sign in front of what would happen if you bought a stock. \n\nSo, if you normally buy a share of stock (say for a hundred dollars) and it goes up a dollar, you make a dollar (or a 1% return). And if it goes down a dollar, you lose a dollar (for a -1% return). When you have sold a share short, if the real share goes up a dollar, you lose a dollar, and vice versa.\n\nThat's all there is too it. You lose money if the stock goes up, and make money if it goes down, the opposite of what would happen if you engaged in the normal transaction of purchasing a share.\n\n(There are a number of related things that happen because you have to pay interest on the borrowed share, but you can invest the money that you got from selling, but at the same time you can't invest the money that you used to buy a share... you can ignore all this and interest you pay or receive all comes out in the wash; the market is fair.)\n\nSo, if it's so simple, why would it be insane for you to do? Because, most stocks go up most of the time. \n\nOther investors have invested their money in companies that are out there, and many of those investors both have done more homework than you, and are smarter all around investors anyway. So, If a company has shares traded, that means that other people think that investment is going to go up. The stock market is not flipping coins, companies create value out of thin air by people working hard. So, people work hard and create value and shareholders benefit from that.\n\nSo, since shares are expected to go up, when would you ever bet that they'll go down?\n\nAnswer: NEVER\n\nSo, why would you short sell?\n\nWell, you short sell to get rid of risk in your portfolio from other investments. Here is the easiest example: if you are Henry Ford VI and you inherited a bunch of Ford shares and you are not allowed to sell them, you can keep them, and short sell somebody else's. You still own yours, but if they go up $1, you don't earn the $1 because you also short sold another one which lost a dollar, so no matter what Ford does, you break even. Now you can invest your money sensibly in what you want, instead of all in Ford. All in Ford is risky, and short selling for you actually reduces your risk instead of increasing it.\n\nThat (and similar transactions) are what short selling is for.
1165611
There's a company called buyins.net that keeps a list of stocks that look like someone shorted it without connecting it with real borrowers.  There's more information at their site.
735266
The different websites use different providers for their stock data.  Sometimes these data providers will pick up late, after market, trades instead of the true closing price.
130311
you dont have the shares but you got to know that xyz share will fall due to mno reason,,so in anticipation of a fallin share price you sold it first and then purchased it latter on with in the stipulated time frame permitted by stock exchange authorities,,,purchasing a share and selling it latter is common,,here the cycle is reversed,,but the basic funda is same---sell at higher and buy at lower to earn profit otherwise you are a looser,,you are short while selling and then you purchase it to cover the short fall thats why its called short covering,,
268
Shorting a stock (or selling short) ideally works like this:\n\nWhen you think a stock is going to go down...\n1. You borrow shares of stock you don't own, typically from your broker.\n2. You sell those shares at today's price.\n3. You wait for the stock to go down.\n4. You buy the same number of shares back at a lower price.\n5. You return the borrowed shares.\n6. You pocket the difference between the buying and selling price.\nSteps 1 & 5 are actually done automatically when you issue a short sale order with a broker.\n\nThe advantage of shorting is that you can make money when stocks are going down.  (With a normal stock purchases, you only make money if the stock goes up.)\n\nThe disadvantage is that in theory, you could lose an unlimited amount of money.  For example, if the stock goes up to five times its original value, you've just lost four times your investment.  (With a regular stock purchase, the most you can lose is the amount you originally invested.)
354033
This is kind of like asking how the government works. Its a little too broad a question. But basically when you buy stock, you buy a "small piece of the company" that can either go up or down in price for whatever reason. The stock markets are where these orders get traded. Its difficult to learn a lot about it because the more you know the less you need help from financial professionals. Just remember there are a lot of smart people with big money in the market and they want to get all the profit and stick the smaller fish with the losses. Wall Street Journal put out a book that shows you how to read the WSJ newspaper. Its a good way to learn about the market and the overall economy.I learned about the market from AM financial radio shows. Although they are always selling you something, if you listen close you can get alot of free advice. Between that and actually getting into the market I learned a ton. Just remember its all a risk and if you can't lose than don't play. Good Luck !
86595
Not only you can profit from buying low and selling high - you can also profit from buying high and selling low! does that blow your mind? well welcome to the world of trading stocks for a living.\n\nTraders profit from the markets from following trends be it a short term trend that lasts for a day or a week or a longer term trend that lasts for weeks or months and even years.\n\nGood Luck!
276468
If you have to ask this question you've got a lot to learn before considering "short" selling.\n\nYes... An ETF can be "shorted".  Unless you realy know what your doing.... stay "long" or sell.  The potential loss on a "short" stock is unlimited............
470263
In the short run stocks can move on emotion & incorrect information/assumptions/rummor. In the long run these all balance out with reality. Over time, valuation is ultimatly reflected. That's not an exact point in time. But the value of a stock over (let's say) ten years is more of an indication then the last week.
460933
They don't really buy the stock.  Normally, they can get stock options granted to them as part of their compensation package.  Usually, though, the exercise price of the options is above 0.  This doesn't really matter.  They're still getting "free" money in that they don't have to buy the stock on the open market.
82883
This is the ultimate goal of a short seller.  Remember, when you short a stock you really don't have a position.  You are borrowing shares that belong to someone else and then selling them.  If the stock goes to zero, you keep the proceeds from the sale and then you return the worthless piece of paper.