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To: SpinCity1 who wrote (17675)	9/21/2001 3:59:01 PM
From: HandsOn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 208838

Agreed, any military action this weekend and shorts are toast come Monday! Short ratio in micro LUMT is 11.29. WCOM green on big volume.

To: SpinCity1 who wrote (17675)	9/21/2001 4:03:58 PM
From: Wes Stevens	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 208838

You are right in that each share that is shorted increases the float. I tried to explain that once on another thread. It did not come across. But I disagree that it is destructive. The market reacts to the economy. If a stock has good earnings the price will only go down so far no matter how may shorts pile on. When it turns around they have to cover. The market always over corrects. It is probably at that point now. The shorts probably help the overcorrection. But in the long run they keep the market orderly. The stock price of a company - shorts and all - is just a refection of it's earning capabilities.

To: SpinCity1 who wrote (17675)	9/21/2001 4:38:46 PM
From: golfnut777	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 208838

Spin, I agree that at some point, like now, shorting should be stopped or at least heavily restricted. However, aren't shares available for shorting based on margin long positions ? I can't imagine being on margin in this environment but if everyone was on a cash basis then no shares would be available to short right ?

To: SpinCity1 who wrote (17675)	9/21/2001 5:32:53 PM
From: Hadrian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 208838

RE: Short Selling.... I often hear that shorting adds to the float, etc. What about the effects of margin buying? Stock is purchased that would not otherwise be bought due to margin buying. If shorting is banned then margin buying should also be banned. I don't want either one to become unavailable because they give traders great versatility. The extra upward pressure created by margin buying and the extra downward pressure created by shorting cancel each other out in the long run but in the short run help produce tremendous volatility both up and down. That benefits traders, especially those who play both sides. And finally, any company that produces consistently growing earnings and revenues will ALWAYS eventually overcome any shorts. Try telling this to a bunch of folks on Yahoo! who always blame shorts no matter what, even if their pet company loses millions per quarter. My opinions only and good luck! Hadrian

To: SpinCity1 who wrote (17675)	9/21/2001 11:38:45 PM
From: Mathemagician	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 208838

maybe someday soon people will wake up and see how destructive to the entire economy this "shorting" is. Really what is the goal to push the market to 0? You wipe you peoples retirement, companies ability to finance purchases and a whole load of other things. I explained long ago why short selling should not be allowed, number of shares that can be sold is almost twice the number that can be bought. A few days with volume like this and the tide could change. You should keep in mind that every share sold short results in a share bought at some later date, sometimes forcibly. In general, this activity cancels itself out but occasionally there are anomalies. Ask someone who sold their long RMBS position at over 100 whether shorting helped or hurt their portfolio. I could be wrong, but to me your post sounds like it was written by someone who held a highly leveraged long position in some companies with suspect business models and blamed it on "the shorts" when the inevitable happened. M