short sales report vil, page-82

"The car salesman is not shorting, how do you come to that. It is just what is known as a flip."

He is selling the trade-in before its officially his to sell.

"Re Mortgage sales, the person is not shorting either, they are going long. They see a bargain price and purchase, they are not selling something they do not own."

Its not shorting, but you are profiting from someone elses bad luck, either a bank forclosure or a family death. If your against profiting at anothers expense then most(all?) investment are 'immoroal'.

"As per ethics of short selling, I do think the broker should have to ask the buyer if they are happy to lend their shares."

I agree 100%

"Interesting to see a Director of a company recently lent his shares to be shorted and the damage it did (this is from what I understand of this this thread "

Yes, i posted a link to the down fall of Allco. BUT he didnt lend his shares, they were leant WITHOUT his knowledge.

Its about targeting weaknesses in a company, if you know a major shareholder has a margin loan against his shares it makes them a target. Short the stock, trigger margin call, force director to sell to cover loan, price falls, short closed.

Its all part of due diligence. Know YOUR company, debt levels, share registry, short positions, etc. Then use that info to either buy or sell in confidence.

If you dont like shorting, then dont. But atlest recognise that it may effect your long position and react accordingly.

In VILs case a short seems like a good stratergy(short term). VIL should either be flat or down until production news. Sorting out funding will probably push sp lower.

There is a chance though that on Monday it goes into a trading halt, and when it comes out VIL have addressed its funding and acquired a new project all in one. That would cause a short to lose.