How do you figure that makes longs "sooooooo screwed"?
1. There are lots of other brokers available that WILL take buy orders.
2. Longs are L O N G. They have their shares and are ready for the ETC dividend.
3. The two brokers you mentioned are not accepting BUY orders. I do not see how that would prevent a long from getting out of the stock if that was the choice.
You are assuming that just because two brokers are afraid of the short or naked short position in this stock, nobody will be able to get rid of their shares. I see it in just the opposite direction. People who have screwed around and waited to the last minute to buy shares in anticipation of the dividend are the ones that might end up "sooooooo screwed". The fact that both of those brokers freely accept SELL orders means that they are trying to help the MM's cover the shorts without the risk of increasing the same.
Two brokers are afraid of not being able to deliver real shares because of the way this stock is being treated. Why are they afraid of that? Because they know that this cannot be held down forever. That becomes an even bigger fear in the shadow of the ETC dividend.
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