Nonsense. That’s silly and wrong as well. Here’s how it works:
1.Broker A has two customers, one selling 1 million shares of ASTA and one customer wanting to buy 1 million shares of ASTA, this trade will be marked "LONG" because there isnt a change in ownership, only the beneficial ownership is changed as to the exact customer. They call this "Internalized".
2.Broker A has a single customer selling 1 million shares of ASTA, Broker B has a customer wanting to buy 1 million shares of ASTA. Due to the fact they are not under the same brokerage system they requires a "DEALER" to complete the transaction. This Broker Dealer is going to sell to Broker B first 1 million shares of ASTA in the INITIAL leg of the trade transaction. On a separate leg of the same transaction the Broker Dealer is going to buy from Broker A the 1 million shares. The Broker Dealer doesnt want to assume any risk for being stuck with shares, as there net goal at the end of the day is to be NET 0 shares. There for it must sell open first and then close on the buy transaction the actual shares thus assuming RISKLESS PRINCIPAL.
Because the broker Dealer doesnt OWN the shares in the transaction, remember Broker A does, and it certainly doesnt have PHYSICAL possession of those 1 million shares because once again Broker A does, the trade must be marked "Short" in accordance with SEC Rule 200. Doesnt matter one bit that both retail were NET LONG.
3. Broker A has a Block Position of 200 million shares, a Broker Dealer sells 10 million shares to Multiple brokers in smaller blocks then concurrently buys 10 million shares from Broker A. This transaction is marked SHORT because once again the broker dealer doesnt own the shares and doesnt have physical possession of them.
That’s the difference between Short Volume and Short Interest.
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