okay so why is shorting unfair for mum and dad retail well the...

okay so why is shorting unfair for mum and dad retail
well the behaviour as outlined by whytee can be the problem
and with our inspector clouseau of a policeman (ASIC) the chances of getting caught or punished are minimal

but beyond that their are two big problems that I see for retail in this knife fight

firstly it is time line
retail generally has a shorter time frame on an investment - there are bills to pay, mortgages to meet etc-
whereas the short funds can wait several years to recoup their investments - put simply they can wait you out
it is a bit like playing competition chess .. only instead of 2 hours you have1 month to make your moves, and your opponent has 2 years ... guess who wins
oddly enough I won many a game of high school competition chess using this tactic of waiting out my opponent

secondly the stockmarket as whytee has already alluded to investing in the market is a bit like going to the casino
so you (retail) sit down a the poker table with your kitty of $10,000 while the guy next to you (short fund) has a kitty of $1,000,000 ...
guess who gets cleaned out ...
and to make the fight even more uneven you don't get to know the size of the short funds bet until 5 days after it has happened
meaning you can never know if a sudden downturn in the SP is a real market reappraisal or actually just an all in action by the short fund ...
sadly by the time you find out it was a fake move your stops have been hit and you are cleaned out and out the door