I'd like to weigh in here on the shorting
discussion, what burns me up is the ability
of short sellers to intentionally manipulate
a stock down out of greed. I was punished
badly for riding a stock down through August
and September--and it turned out the stock
was being sold short just so these "investors"
could convert toxics a the lowest possible price.
(Ariad vs. Promethean Investment Group and HFTP
Investments --it's a lawsuit now.)
Now I'd be pretty quick to agree that the
market is inherently risky, and whining is not
generally allowed, but imagine if something like
this happened to you: You know that a company is
worth no less than a couple bucks a share,
you start buying at that price, increase your
position dramatically after it is halved to
a buck, and then really load up as the position
is halved again--manipulated by these bandits
(except you don't know it's being manipulated,
you're just thinking how cheap is the stock...)
Eventually you come around to the fact that
"the market" must know something you don't
know, and you finally bail.
I'm fine now, but this sort of short should
not be allowed. I eventually sold most of my
shares at what turned out to be the exact low
of the year, and sure enough, as soon as I was
shook out, Ariad turned things around and
addressed the problem, and aria went from fifty
cents to $2. I have a mind to start a lawsuit myself!
The problem is that shorts can take a stock
down far from what it's basic value is, and
that makes the market a notch too dangerous
for the average trader like myself. I know
there are many sophisticated traders out there
(some of them are right here on this thread)
but the market should not be stacked against
the average person. Stocks should reflect
what the market thinks--not the price to which
a group of bandits are allowed to take the share
price. As far as I'm concerned, these bandits
stole 30 grand from me, and although I wont
let it happen to me again, It still pisses me off.
Of course I'm also mad at myself for moving my
stops and doubling down, but in the end, I was
right about the value of Ariad, and you should
not lose money when you are right dammit! <g> |
