I think some readers view shorters as being long term shorters. Based on that theory, once the share price departs from the fair value of the share, the resistance on the price becomes higher and higher until resistance gives way and the share price is restored to its fair value and "the shorters get burnt".
But, if shorters are more like day traders and they buy and sell in pips on the way down, then they make a lot of money on the way down and only really stand to lose a relatively few pips when the share price begins heading back to the fair value.
What we don't know is the range of prices that the current shorters are locked into. If the majority of shorters are trading in pips, perhaps it will not take too many pips to unwind their short positions, in which case the share price is not so likely to spring back to a fair value as if it were a tightly coiled spring.
It is hard to know how much the shorters stand to lose and how difficult it will be for them to exit their positions because we don't have the data on the price each shorter entered and hence would owe/lose to exit their position if the price rebounded.
I think shorters should have to be transparent in their dealings and information should be publicly available indicating who they are and the price of the share and quantity when they took their short position.
GXY Price at posting:
$2.25 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held