Replies to post #4417 on The Jailhouse (JAIL)

[Mark Marcellus]

Do you always see the glass as half-empty?

I always hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

I liken it to playing Blackjack, except I don't have to get on a plane and book a room in Vegas!

That analogy works for me too. Unlike you, I prefer to do my gambling in a casino. The drinks are free, and the food is better.

Pardon me for saying so, but by doing so aren't you taking money from the very people you claim to be trying to help?

Barring outright manipulation (which is wrong no matter who does it) the opposite is true. The shorter is selling (and driving down the price) when everyone is buying, and buying (and driving up the price) when everyone else is selling. In the case of the real garbage stocks, the shorter is the entire buyer's market when everyone is dumping their stock for their 99.9% tax loss.

For the record, I have shorted occasionally but never the pennies and rarely microcaps. Those stocks are too much work, are too easily manipulated, and are too hard to get a borrow on. For me, shorting is mostly done as an educational activity. You do learn a lot from shorting, and when you're researching a company you'll learn a lot by listening to what the shorts have to say. Those potential unlimited losses have a way of weeding out the people who don't do their homework.

Also for the record, I'm not a fan of a lot of the shorters you're referring to, especially the ones who are into the trash talking. I respect the research of some of the trash talkers, others of that ilk I consider to be nothing more than camp followers.