It is illegal is to sell shares short that you have neither borrowed nor made arrangements to buy. Such is being “naked.”
So when the seller cannot cover or “settle” in this instance, the price of Gamestop shares skyrocket as there were simply no shares to buy.
When the system provides the ability to sell an unlimited number of non-existent shares in a publicly-traded company, those firms have the power to destroy and manipulate the share price at will.
It is illegal. It is manipulation.
Wall Street turns a blind eye to their large hedgefund accounts that routinely participate in these illegal transactions because of the large fees they collect from them. These institutions are actively facilitating the destruction of shareholder value in return for short term windfalls in the form of trading fees. Wall Street, not retail investors, are the problem and are complicit in aiding hedge funds to create counterfeit shares.
Given that Wall Street’s regulators are effectively owned, including the Federal Reserve and the Treasury, there is little incentive to “fix” the system. It is much easier to punish a retail investor for playing the same game and calling it a victory to appease the media.
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