I have complained about shorting several times to ASX/ASIC, but no-one will listen. The problem is this :
In normal trading, at any given time there are x shares on issue, and the competition between buyers and sellers is balanced - no matter how many shares are traded there are always the x shares on issue.
But when y shares are sold short, there are x+y shares on issue. [The original owner of the shorted shares still owns them and benefits normally from all dividends etc. But another entity now owns the y shares too, and benefits equally - they have no knowledge that the shares they own.]. That is effectively a dilution, and the share price falls accordingly. So shorting shares itself manipulates the share price downwards. [Without the shorting, the new owner would have had to compete for the x shares in the market. In other words, shorters can simply take new buyers out of the market.]. There are controls on how much a company can dilute without shareholder approval. There are no controls on how much third parties can dilute without shareholder approval. The whole shorting system is manifestly unfair.
SGH Price at posting:
$3.60 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held