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Technology Stocks : XYBR - Xybernaut -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scott Moore who wrote (919)	6/12/1998 7:33:00 AM
From: William Johnston	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6847

Scott: First of all, I do not short shares and don't play the don't pass line on the crap table. Goes against my grain. If I don't like a company, I don't buy its stock. I believe shorting is gambling, not investing (but, you can make the same argument as regards investing in high-tech). I AM XYBR LONG. But, with that said, will get back to your question. This stock has been shorted by some people (in small amounts) since the beginning of the year. I'm sure there has been some money made, and much money lost, trying to short it. It is listed on the NASDAQ page as a shortable stock and there is short activity reported on both NASDAQ and Quote.com. Try brokers with whom you have no account (Schwab, Prudential, etc.). If they allow shorting in this stock, they will require you to place an adequate amount of money in a margin account to allow for cover. If none of them will allow a short trade, check in the SEC registration filing for the stock and call one of the original brokers handling the IPO. I, personally, have informed my broker I do not want my shares borrowed. If the short activity continues, I will order my broker to send me my certificates so that I KNOW they cannot be borrowed. As most XYBR holders are doing the same thing and the management of the company has such large holdings, there is just not that much stock out there which can be borrowed. Also, as the stock is not marginable, most legitimate brokers wouldn't take the risk of allowing someone to short it, because the certificates which are being held at broker's officers are being held in cash accounts and, therefore, cannot be borrowed. There are escrowed shares deposited with the brokerage who handled the original IPO and they may be allowing shorts of those certificates for a limited amount of time. However, I believe all this will be moot soon, as I believe XYBR will be marginable when it stays above five (well above five) in the near future. I have nothing against shorters. I see opportunities for short gains every day with overprice stock. I do not see why you would express so must interest in shorting this particular stock at this time, however, as the owner's base seems to be so solid, the shares so tightly held, and the stock so narrowly traded as to make any profits to be made in shorting XYBR to not be worth the extreme risk of taking a short position in it. This stock is so closely watched right now that any good news could cause it to explode to the up side. Note that each time it has a spike, it finds a higher bottom upon its return down. Thereby destroying all of the short positions. If you insist on taking a short position, track down the original broker and they may be able to assist.

To: Scott Moore who wrote (919)	6/16/1998 8:11:00 AM
From: Mama Bear	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6847

>>>Those must be institutional or shorts with inside connections to some broker, because I checked EGRP, Datek, MB Trading, and A.B. Watley when XYBR was above $5 and none of these on-line brokers would allow me to short it.<<< Scott, Datek allowed me to short XYBR yesterday. I believe it has to close over 5, and then be over 5 as well, before Datek will allow you to short it. I see that XYBR closed at 4 15/16 on 6/11, that was probably your difficulty, with Datek at least. Barb