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Technology Stocks : Ascend Communications (ASND) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jeff Jordan who wrote (22459)	11/10/1997 7:53:00 PM
From: sepku	Respond to of 61433

>>>Are you sure? Isn't it the short selling that keeps a stock up?<<< I'm positive. I know it's confusing. What you are probably thinking of is the "short squeeze"...when the brokers call short-sellers and force them to cover their positions by buying back the borrowed shares and returning them to the owner. When shorts cover their positions en masse, they help propel a stock up. However, with ASND bleeding like it is, there's no way the short-sellers are going to be squeezed out of their positions. If anything, we have a problem with too many shorts selling ASND shares...they are contributing to our slide. Style Pts.

To: Jeff Jordan who wrote (22459)	11/10/1997 7:54:00 PM
From: Chi-X	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

Jeff, I can understand your confusion. Here's the scoop. What Style Pts said is correct when he stated: It's the opposite way around, Jeff. Shortsellers borrow shares from longs and immediately sell them (causing down pressure), with intentions of covering them by repurchasing the shares later (causing upwards pressure). Additionally, shorts can also cause a stock to go up higher in what is referred to as a "short squeeze". For example, if I were to be short ASND at $35 and this stock dramatically rose to $40 and $45, then me and other shorts would be in danger of a short squeeze. This is where all the short sellers begin to panic and try to cover their short positions all at the same time. Also, in rare instances brokers may require you to cover a short position if the shares no longer become available. All those buys plus buying from momentum players cause the stock to accelerate upward. This is why it is bullish for a stock to have a large short position. A large short position can cause the stock to make dramatic moves upward and sustain a rally. ASND only has around a 22 million short interest which is only 11.7% of the shares outstanding. Not really enough to be considered a bullish factor. Short squeezes usually happen when a stock is going up. Not when a stock is going downhill since short sellers are under little pressure to cover their positions. Cheers, Chi-X hath Spoken! "There shall be no bouncing, before its trouncing"

To: Jeff Jordan who wrote (22459)	11/10/1997 8:04:00 PM
From: sepku	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

I thought this "press release" at the Fool was worth a good chuckle... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re:ASCEND NEWS Date: Mon, Nov 10, 1997 17:48 EST From: JUGGU DADA Message-id: 19971110224800.RAA06061@ladder01.news.aol.com> Company Press Release: November 11th, Ascend Communication CEO Mory, announce today to show goodwill the company will open soup kitchen for her investor in 15 U.S big cities. All the Ascend investors are entitle for one bowl of Ascend soup and one piece of loaf of bread, to get all these goodies Ascend advise his share holder to bring Ascend share certificate with them. This might be forward looking statement, you might not get loaf of bread in all 15 locations Ascend Communication: IR: Absent one 1-800-kiss- my ---