I obviously lack a piece of the puzzle here, let me see if I get this right: a short means borrowing stock, selling it then rebuying it later (betting that the price would have fallen in order to turn a profit) before giving it back to its original owner.
I suppose if everybody shorts at the same time the huge amount of stock being sold could drive the price momentarily down, but then again the opposite happens when the stock is re-bought. So in the end it should be effectively zero-sum? Or is it just that a huge amount of people started shorting the stock at the same time which made it a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy?
I suppose if everybody shorts at the same time the huge amount of stock being sold could drive the price momentarily down, but then again the opposite happens when the stock is re-bought. So in the end it should be effectively zero-sum? Or is it just that a huge amount of people started shorting the stock at the same time which made it a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy?