ownyourfuture
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2013
- Messages
- 1,561
I don't have a margin account, so I couldn't short stocks even if I wanted to.
Suppose I could buy put options if I really believed a company was in trouble.
I have nothing against shorting stocks. If someone wants to take a chance, who am I to say they can or can't.
But I also never liked the idea that someone could 'borrow' my shares, even if it's only for a very short period.
Up until the other day, I thought the only way to prevent this was to hold the actual stock certificates.
Then I came across this Q&A somewhere on the web:
Q.: What can you do to prevent your shares holdings from being shorted?
A: Now what can the average personal investor do to stop their own shares being shorted, as believe me your own broker, if approached, WILL sell your own shares that they hold on your behalf as a nominee account.
There are two things you can do, the first is to certificate them but this is not obviously to everyone’s advantage but the alternative solution is simple.
All you do is to phone your broker and put an order in saying that you wish to place your shares for sale at, for arguments sake, double today’s price.
As they are 'on order' they cannot be lent out by your broker and in turn you are reducing the amount of 'free shares' out there that can be used for shorting purposes. And don't forget to move your limit order up when the price starts to recover, then, that way your shares can't be shorted - not much but helps.
I tried to include a poll, but failed.
Do you
1 Certificate your shares.
2 Use the 2nd option & put in an astronomically high sell order.
3 Just let the brokerage hold them.
I'm a number 3, but considering 2
Suppose I could buy put options if I really believed a company was in trouble.
I have nothing against shorting stocks. If someone wants to take a chance, who am I to say they can or can't.
But I also never liked the idea that someone could 'borrow' my shares, even if it's only for a very short period.
Up until the other day, I thought the only way to prevent this was to hold the actual stock certificates.
Then I came across this Q&A somewhere on the web:
Q.: What can you do to prevent your shares holdings from being shorted?
A: Now what can the average personal investor do to stop their own shares being shorted, as believe me your own broker, if approached, WILL sell your own shares that they hold on your behalf as a nominee account.
There are two things you can do, the first is to certificate them but this is not obviously to everyone’s advantage but the alternative solution is simple.
All you do is to phone your broker and put an order in saying that you wish to place your shares for sale at, for arguments sake, double today’s price.
As they are 'on order' they cannot be lent out by your broker and in turn you are reducing the amount of 'free shares' out there that can be used for shorting purposes. And don't forget to move your limit order up when the price starts to recover, then, that way your shares can't be shorted - not much but helps.
I tried to include a poll, but failed.
Do you
1 Certificate your shares.
2 Use the 2nd option & put in an astronomically high sell order.
3 Just let the brokerage hold them.
I'm a number 3, but considering 2