The concept of shorting per_se shouldn't be a problem, however when it comes as an unseen wave in the form of targeted shorting, as is quite legal on the ASX, then it borders on criminal activity. Indeed, here we see evidence of parasites of the stock exchange doing their work.
The problem is, muscle bound entities with deep pockets are legally taking advantage of unskilled retail shareholders and they are allowed to use robotic measures to get their way. Retail shareholders are the losers, not institutions.
If our so called watchdogs carried out a postmortem of one of these attacks, they would find numerically, there was one, or maybe a couple of shorters working in unison, and not necessarily of Australian origin, and the losing side would be comprised of hundreds or even thousands of small retail shareholders.
It is all very well to justify these insidious practices with New York sayings such as "price discovery" and free market rules being good for our health, etc, but our own regulators obviously haven't looked beyond the Wall St paradigm for the ebb and flow of money on the ASX. Rather, they just blindly follow the American model as if somehow it must be the only way to conduct business. Disciples of American ways, if you like.
A transparent market for small investors - Rubbish, our stock exchange is a shark tank.
