OT: When you talk about "shorting" a stock, I think options contracts. Sell Short, etc... You collect a premium for agreeing to sell the stock at a price lower than current market value and at a later date. Then if the price of the stock rises, you loose your stock. If it stays the same, you keep the premium and the stock.
If you sign the contract, your stock gets shorted.
Zep, Any stock that is placed in the hands of a broker for safe keeping or whatever unrestricted or restricted shows up on your brokerage account and thus shows up on the clearing house account for that broker in a long position and yes it can be shorted against by forces in the market with the ability to borrow against the long positions.
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