Pls shorted, page-772

That is the definition and I am quite aware of that. However, if a share has been lent AFTER it has been sold then effectively the same share can be sold many times. Regardless of the definition, the sale is in fact 'naked' in that the second (and any later) sale is not backed by anything that actually exists, ie, it is naked, regardless of any definition.

However, this is all rather meaningless since the great majority of shortselling is simply to manipulate the share price lower (easy when the sold shares did not have to be bought and so put upward pressure on the share price) so they can be bought back cheaper. The only losers are those that sold at the manipulated low prices (mostly retail holders) so the Regulators are hardly likely to take much action since it is likely many of them grew up through the industry they are now regulating.