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I started a couple months ago to learn more about the stock market and financial education in general, but this particular concept was hard to wrap my head around.

I understand there are bears and bulls behaviors in the stock market, but when I go and sell a stock, how can I sell it if I don't own any of that stock already?

I can understand if I go around the block, find someone selling shoes for 10$, I buy them, then I go two blocks down the street and find someone wanting shoes for 12$, I can make a profit by Selling to him.

But if I reach the guy that wants shoes, how can I "Sell" something I don't own yet?

Loop
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  • So, basically when you sell you also borrow the thing you are selling, it just happens fast because all stocks are in high numbers and digitized, and are considered equivalent. – Loop Aug 08 '18 at 10:02

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But if I reach the guy that wants shoes, how can I "Sell" something I don't own yet?

Going with your scenario, you borrow the shoes from someone and sell them to the "guy who wants the shoes". But you owe that exact pair of shoes to the person who loaned them to you.

Short selling is the sale of a security not owned by the seller. If available, your broker borrows them from someone who owns the stock. In simple numbers, this effectively creates two owners of the same 100 shares (+100 and +100) with the short seller having the opposite obligation ( -100) which nets out to the original +100 shares owned if no shorting was involved.

Bob Baerker
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  • this isn't exactly true, in reality you actually owe the exact stock (or other instrument) or an acceptable alternative. I know this is nit picking but it can be extremely important with corporate actions that mean that a stock no longer even exists. – MD-Tech Aug 03 '18 at 12:53
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    I don't follow the nit pick. If I borrow 100 shares of IBM from you to short, I owe you 100 shares of IBM. Also, if I borrow those shares, I can't promise to return an acceptable alternative (U.S.). It's shares borrowed, shares returned. As stated, "But you owe that exact pair of shoes to the person who loaned them to you." – Bob Baerker Aug 03 '18 at 13:01
  • this is more common in fixed income actually where the exact bond series might no longer be available. A (made up) example is if I borrow IBM series A 2020 bonds to sell short and IBM buys them all back I can't buy the same IBM bonds but I can buy IBM bonds with the same yield and maturity from another series which are effectively the same. – MD-Tech Aug 03 '18 at 13:06
  • Also if (due to a merger for example) IBM changes its name to "Apple2" [silly intentionally] I can't buy back IBM shares because they don't exist but I can buy the equivalent Apple2 shares. What constitutes an acceptable alternative will be listed in the loan agreement. – MD-Tech Aug 03 '18 at 13:08
  • Sure - if you own 100 shares of IBM (nothing to do with shorting), and it splits / sells out / renames etc, you continue to own that same (renamed, whatever) instrument. – Fattie Aug 03 '18 at 13:15
  • last one, I just thought of the case where I'm short selling convertible bonds that get converted by the company. What do I owe to the lender? It's not as easy as it sounds – MD-Tech Aug 03 '18 at 13:15
  • @fattie so if I own some IBM shares and they get taken over by apple for apple shares plus some cash (or even direct cash) I still own the same instrument? That sounds wrong to me, can you explain? – MD-Tech Aug 03 '18 at 13:19
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    Alternative instrument? OK, I get it now. This is a lot of hair splitting. If you borrow 100 shares of IBM to short, a corporate event occurs and the 100 shares shares turns into something else (stock split, cash and or stock merger/takeover, convertible bonds, etc. etc. etc.), then you owe the "something else" to the lender. Isn't that kind of obvious? This entire tangent is much ado about nothing. – Bob Baerker Aug 03 '18 at 13:57
  • Nominate this QA for "extreme hair splitting" award :) – Fattie Aug 03 '18 at 14:23
  • @Fattie - If you don't mind, if I win, I'd prefer a new toupee :->) – Bob Baerker Aug 03 '18 at 15:16
  • Often, even the exact stock is not acceptable. For example, if there was a dividend during the time you borrowed the stock, you owe the dividend as well as the stock. And things can get absurdly complicated if there's a subsequent lawsuit on behalf of shareholder's during the time the stock was borrowed. – David Schwartz Aug 03 '18 at 18:26
  • @David Schwartz - As for your comment, it's more hair splitting and incorrect. If you are short the stock, you owe the dividend to the lender on the ex-dividend date. After that, as I said above, if you borrowed the shares to sell short, you are responsible for returning the stock or anything that it has mutated into due to corporate events. – Bob Baerker Aug 05 '18 at 22:47
  • This conversation was more confusing to me. It seems the selling mechanics are more complex and require more steps than the buying mechanics, which are intuitive. – Loop Aug 08 '18 at 10:03
  • Shorting is no more complex in terms of mechanics. You sell first and buy to close later which is the opposite of buying first and selling later. Yes, there are borrow rates to pay, availability of stock to borrow and risk considerations but the mechanics are simple. This entire discussion about subsequent corporate events is just muddied water. If you borrow a $100 bill from a friend, does it matter if you return a $100 bill or five 20's or ten 10's ? With shorting you must return the equivalent of what you borrowed and that equivalent is simply determined by corporate events. – Bob Baerker Aug 08 '18 at 15:58