Stocks are not supposed to have over 100% short interest. Naked short selling is illegal. This set-up should never happen. Kudos to those who took advantage.
Irresistible to leave this moment alone - a thread to share some investment lessons:
1/ Size matters.
Melvin entered 2021 circa $12 billion in AUM and runs a highly levered balance sheet. That’s a lot of short exposure to move around if needed.
Stocks are not supposed to have over 100% short interest. Naked short selling is illegal. This set-up should never happen. Kudos to those who took advantage.
Keynes said “markets can be irrational longer than you can be solvent.” I suspect this won't take down any significant hedge fund, but it definitely hurts.
Academic finance teaches that “a short sale has unlimited downside and limited upside. Those events almost never play out, until they do.
On the short side, VW stock in 2008.
And on the long side (leveraged), CMBX in November 2008
Both traded to completely irrational levels for a time. True left tail events for those in the positions.
Peter Bernstein’s famous line about risk. A global pandemic leading to a soaring market? Negative interest rates? Online traders crushing monster hedge funds?
Beware those who think in certainties instead of probabilities. @AnnieDuke
We know the outcome of this with near certainty (99%+ probability). GME stock will fall back to a fundamental level when the weighing machine takes over from the voting machine. We have absolutely no idea when - a day, week, month, 5 years? No idea.
My understanding is that Gabe Plotkin is one of the very best investors (process, not outcome). I highly doubt #melvincapital missed much in advance. And yet, here we are. No rebates, volatility, untethered trading - shorting is brutal.
Melvin entered 2021 circa $12 billion in AUM and runs a highly levered balance sheet. That’s a lot of short exposure to move around if needed. And obviously, it's not alone in shorting stocks.