US regulator alleges Elon Musk Tesla fraud

[orin]

What's with this time limit on shorting a stock?  There are various reasons one might need to cover a short sale, but a time limit isn't one of them...  I happen to have an account at Schwab and this is their fairly well written take on it.  Some stuff in there I didn't know as in you could be forced to cover the short at any time if there are no longer any shares to borrow and that if you have a margin account and allow your stock to be borrowed, dividend 'payments' might have alternate tax treatment (here in the USA anyway).

https://www.schwab.com/active-trader/insights/content/9-frequently-asked-questions-about-short-selling

When you start talking about time limits, I'm thinking stock options which adds yet another level of confusion.

[Rick Law]

What's with this time limit on shorting a stock?  There are various reasons one might need to cover a short sale, but a time limit isn't one of them...  I happen to have an account at Schwab and this is their fairly well written take on it.  Some stuff in there I didn't know as in you could be forced to cover the short at any time if there are no longer any shares to borrow and that if you have a margin account and allow your stock to be borrowed, dividend 'payments' might have alternate tax treatment (here in the USA anyway).

https://www.schwab.com/active-trader/insights/content/9-frequently-asked-questions-about-short-selling

When you start talking about time limits, I'm thinking stock options which adds yet another level of confusion.

If you are interpreting my post and/or nctnico's post as having a time limit, are you inferring something that is slightly different.

With shorting, you "borrow a stock to sell".  Borrowing means you will eventually have to pay it back.  So, there is a time duration you are operating under.  Since lender is gambling that the stock will go up within the duration, and borrower is gambling that stock price will go down in the duration, the exact duration is important.  It is a time limit only in the sense you are reaching the date you must pay back the stock.

I am skipping lending/transaction fees and such.  With a large enough fee, the lender can still make money can still be made even if the stock goes down.

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

Judge HALTS Elon Musk & SEC's Settlement; Requests Joint Brief

[maginnovision]

Judge HALTS Elon Musk & SEC's Settlement; Requests Joint Brief

From what I've read it is just this judges MO, probably going to amount to nothing.

[nctnico]

What's with this time limit on shorting a stock?  There are various reasons one might need to cover a short sale, but a time limit isn't one of them...  I happen to have an account at Schwab and this is their fairly well written take on it.  Some stuff in there I didn't know as in you could be forced to cover the short at any time if there are no longer any shares to borrow and that if you have a margin account and allow your stock to be borrowed, dividend 'payments' might have alternate tax treatment (here in the USA anyway).

https://www.schwab.com/active-trader/insights/content/9-frequently-asked-questions-about-short-selling

This FAQ is very much geared towards how Schwab deals with short selling. Where I used to work the regular day traders where not allowed to keep short positions over night due to the large risks. If you have a short position the holder of your portfolio (usually a bank) will require you to also put enough money into the account to cover the losses of a short position. BTW it is yaw dropping how much turnover a day trader can do. Billions of Euros in a single day isn't an exception.

When you start talking about time limits, I'm thinking stock options which adds yet another level of confusion.

Stock options are a different beast indead. A possible scenario is to limit the losses on a long or short position using options. Options do have a fixed expiration date.

[drussell]

Wasn't there an episode of Family Ties where Alex was trading stocks on margin with his dad's (Steven's) AT&T stock as collateral?  It started as a fictitious school project and went awry when he started trading real, actual stock on his dad's account, IIRC.  This sounds vaguely familiar from my childhood, anyway...  I'll have to look it up... 

It did not end well for Alex.

[nctnico]

Wasn't there an episode of Family Ties where Alex was trading stocks on margin with his dad's (Steven's) AT&T stock as collateral?  It started as a fictitious school project and went awry when he started trading real, actual stock on his dad's account, IIRC.  This sounds vaguely familiar from my childhood, anyway...  I'll have to look it up... 

It did not end well for Alex.

That kind of stuff happens for real too. One of the first lessons when maintaining trading platforms: trade with small (low cost) quantities when testing even when in the simulated trading environment. If you are trading on the real exchange by mistake it can not lead to taking the company down by accident.