• The Dark Lord ☑️
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    4 months ago

    When you short a stock, you borrow a stock, then sell it, then you buy it back at a (ideally) lower price. Then, you have to give back the stock plus interest. This person can’t sell the stock because they have to give it back. It wasn’t theirs to begin with. They were just borrowing it.

    • Raiderkev@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Yeah, but the big number (-$56k) is not from a short, it’s from a call getting assigned. He sold it naked (didn’t have shares to back it) it expired ITM, and he has to cover. The broker is going to give the shares to the call buyer, and OP is out maybe a couple hundred bucks whatever the difference between spy close price, and the strike he sold *100 shares depending on what SPY closed at that day. He’s not -$56 k on that trade.