4 ms·

Yea I didn't follow the op's comment either. Shorting is not permanent or even a long term position. I mean..you could hold it for a longer term period I guess.

Yea I didn't follow the op's comment either. Shorting is not permanent or even a long term position. I mean..you could hold it for a longer term period I guess. In 2008-2009 there wasn't many other options to choose from. Short selling is basically selling a stock you don't own. You borrow against the stock when you think their is opportunity. Tesla was a pretty easy short honestly if done right. Personally I didn't short it, however I have enjoyed shorting Netflix, Google, Facebook and Amazon over the years. It sounds crazy to short Google right? But there were times when it was obvious there would be declines. Not permanent but short term. I personally never held someone all the way down, I'm in for a quick profit and out before the bounce. Sometimes I'll buy the stock after I short it so I can gain from the bounce as well. All that said I feel Tesla is a good company but if I was focused on them I'd just as well look for shorting opportunities. If it's not evident, I'm a fan of short selling.

davedx 10y ago
Good to get a perspective from a short seller. Thanks for posting. Personally I'm the opposite -- I only go long for the long term. But that's what I decided my risk tolerance was as a mid 30-year old. So far my long position in TSLA since late 2013 has been a pretty good result.
- brokenmasonjars 10y ago
  Thanks for the reply. My apologies for the delay. I'm used to places like reddit giving me notifications about replies so I just didn't really realize there was a reply. Risk tolerance is a very personal thing. It varies with individual and as a short seller I've grown to accept it a bit more. For any investment, one simply can not know everything. I gave TSLA up for another area which as paid well. I use to own in Google after the IPO, even during my ownership I would short at times. The same is true with any stock I'm long. If there is an opportunity that I'm comfortable with then I take it. I think too often people talk about short selling without any real experience doing it. So often it's realities get distorted with chatter. 2008 I learned to short basically during hands on learning as there just wasn't any great opportunity when things were going crazy. There were other great opportunities, my personal favorite was the government shut down under Obama and the predictable re-opening. That was some glorious profiteering right there...

davedx 10y ago

Good to get a perspective from a short seller. Thanks for posting. Personally I'm the opposite -- I only go long for the long term. But that's what I decided my risk tolerance was as a mid 30-year old. So far my long position in TSLA since late 2013 has been a pretty good result.

brokenmasonjars 10y ago
Thanks for the reply. My apologies for the delay. I'm used to places like reddit giving me notifications about replies so I just didn't really realize there was a reply. Risk tolerance is a very personal thing. It varies with individual and as a short seller I've grown to accept it a bit more. For any investment, one simply can not know everything. I gave TSLA up for another area which as paid well. I use to own in Google after the IPO, even during my ownership I would short at times. The same is true with any stock I'm long. If there is an opportunity that I'm comfortable with then I take it. I think too often people talk about short selling without any real experience doing it. So often it's realities get distorted with chatter. 2008 I learned to short basically during hands on learning as there just wasn't any great opportunity when things were going crazy. There were other great opportunities, my personal favorite was the government shut down under Obama and the predictable re-opening. That was some glorious profiteering right there...