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Why is there this attitude that short positions are somehow less moral than long positions? I really don't get it.
by cultus 6y ago
Why is there this attitude that short positions are somehow less moral than long positions? I really don't get it.
- ketzo 6y agoI think it's because short sellers are seen as pessimists -- on some level, you're betting for a business to fail (or perform poorly), and regardless of whether or not you're right, that means you're betting on people losing jobs, dreams going up in smoke, etc. etc. I don't subscribe to this narrative, but it's an easy one to spin when your stock is the one being short sold.
- electriclove 6y agoBecause sometimes the shorts do some shady things.. https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/elon-musk-vs-short-sellers.118431/ https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/elon-musk-vs-short-s...
- cultus 6y agoPeople holding long positions do shady stuff all the time as well. I don't see the distinction.
- electriclove 6y agoPlease share some examples. I'd like to understand so I can compare to the things in that link.
- dylan604 6y agoTheranos comes to mind
- electriclove 6y agoTheranos was a shady company. But it wasn't a public company. The shadiness was the company itself.
- dylan604 6y agoWere the people being shady not also stock holders doing shady things to keep the stock price up?
- electriclove 6y agoI think there is a difference in the company itself being shady and investors being shady to influence the stock price. The long pump and dumpers definitely fall into the latter category and similar to the shorts described in my link.
- GhostVII 6y agoEnron? Years of blatant fraud and earnings manipulation with the explicit goal of hitting stock price targets.
- electriclove 6y agoWas that the company itself or were there outsiders contributing to this too?
- wgerard 6y agoPump-and-dumps are an entire class of fraud that fundamentally relies on you being long.
- electriclove 6y agoThis is totally right and just as shady
- alain94040 6y agoBecause, to simplify, shorts are hoping for people to fail, while longs are hoping for people to succeed.
- ra7 6y agoWhat both shorts and longs are hoping for are profits on their investment. I doubt either really cares about businesses/people succeeding or failing. If you promise a bunch of long holders that a particular short trade is guaranteed to make profit, would they not take it out of concern for people?
- LegitShady 6y agoIt's not inherent to the shirt position but some short sellers definitely influence media.