[dta5003]

I really like this and how it explained current events re: NFTs.

But then I read this paragraph and it's so incorrect that I can't trust the rest of the article:

> ... One thing that I like to think about short selling is that it creates new shares of a company, and to some extent those shares compete with the shares issued by the company. If you short a bunch of oil-company stock, someone who wants to buy oil-company stock might buy it from you instead of from the company. In the limit, if enough people embrace the idea of shorting oil stocks, they will crowd out the oil companies; it will be impossible to finance oil drilling because any money you put into oil stocks will go to short sellers, not drilling.

[unmole]

That seems broadly correct to me. What do you find wrong about it?

[HWR_14]

The share the short sellers are selling are borrowed from the available share. That is, if I want to short GME, I am borrowing someone else's GME shares to do it (and will repay them in GME shares). So the total demand should also be going up.

Imagine this situation. You are super bullish. I am super bearish. So I short 50% of the company directly to you. Okay, $$$ has changed hands, but you have the same number of shares and I have the same number of shares. You just also have a promise that I will deliver more shares to you in the future. I might make or lose a fortune delivering them, but I haven't altered the total amount of shares in the world.