What Is
Short Selling?
The
Basics
When an investor goes long on an investment, it means she has bought
a stock believing its price will rise in the future. Conversely, when
an investor goes short, he is anticipating a decrease in share price.
Short selling is the selling
of a stock that the seller doesn't own. More specifically, a short
sale is the sale of a security that isn't owned by the seller, but
that is promised to be delivered. That may sound confusing, but it's
actually a simple concept.
Still with us? Here's the
skinny: when you short sell a stock, your broker will lend it to you.
The stock will come from the brokerage's own inventory, from another
one of the firm's customers, or from another brokerage firm. The shares
are sold and the proceeds are credited to your account. Sooner or
later you must "close" the short by buying back the same
number of shares (called covering) and returning them to your broker.
If the price drops, you can buy back the stock at the lower price
and make a profit on the difference. If the price of the stock rises,
you have to buy it back at the higher price, and you lose money.
Most of the time, you can
hold a short for as long as you want. However, you can be forced to
cover if the lender wants back the stock you borrowed. Brokerages
can't sell what they don't have, and so yours will either have to
come up with new shares to borrow, or you'll have to cover. This is
known as being called away. It doesn't happen often, but is possible
if many investors are selling a particular security short.
Since you don't own the
stock (you borrowed and then sold it), you must pay the lender of
the stock any dividends or rights declared during the course of the
loan. If the stock splits during the course of your short, you'll
owe twice the number of shares at half the price.
Also, because you are being
loaned the stock, you are buying on margin. In fact, you have to open
a margin account to short stocks.
Why
Short?
There are two main motivations to short:
1. To speculate
The most obvious reason to short is to profit from an overpriced stock
or market. Probably the most famous example of this was when George
Soros "broke the Bank of England" in 1992. He risked $10
billion that the British pound would fall and he was right. The following
night, Soros made $1 billion from the trade. His profit eventually
reached almost $2 billion.
2. To hedge
For reasons we'll discuss later, very few sophisticated money managers
short as an active investing strategy (unlike Soros). The majority
of investors use shorts to hedge. This means they are protecting other
long positions with offsetting short positions.
Restrictions
There are many restrictions on the size, price and types of stocks
you are able to short sell. For example, you can't short sell penny
stocks and most short sales need to be done in round lots.
In July of 2007, the Securities
and Exchange Commission eliminated the uptick or zero plus tick rule.
This rule required that every short sale transaction be entered at
a higher price than that of the previous trade and kept short sellers
from adding to the downward momentum of an asset when it was already
experiencing sharp declines.
