Replies to post #552 on Telkonet Inc (fka TKO)

[siriusadult]

No...not float...but IMO, since I am still learning myself, I think the reason the number of shares short has increased for September, is because the assumption was, that the price of TKO shares was headed down. The shorts borrow for, example, shares, giving a down-payment of 10 cents on the dollar, when the full price was 3 bucks, believing the price would go down to 2 bucks. When the price gets down to 2 bucks, they then pay the rest of the money owed (up to 2 bucks) and at the same time, get that extra dollar to put into their piggybank .....

The number of days to cover, however, has decreased, which is a positive thing....that means that the price of the stock will probably go up faster than it did in August...more volatility, I think--up and down--a daytraders' dream.

hahahaha

[siriusadult]

Float is a whole lot different....I have seen institutions 'loan out' ONE share, 8 and 9 times, to the shorts, who buy only pieces of a stock share...allowing one share to be shared by 8 investors, or 9investors...ALKS is one of those companies that is suffering from that...it can manipulate the price down, and hurts shareholders....Float however, is the measure of the number of shares that are AVAILABLE for sale......

In a nutshell, the outstanding shares (also known as issued shares) are those held by the public but possibly restricted from trading, and the float is the number of shares held by the public and available for trading.

Restricted shares might be those held by company employees, for instance, who have been given shares, but cannot sell them until after some period of time---but those shares are still 'outstanding'--just not part of the shares 'floating around' that you or I could buy.