May 8, 2009
Short selling affects us all negatively. It's wrong when so many investors are allowed to short sell and affect the market in such a negative way. I have a 401k through the company I work for. I am struggling to get to retirement as are so many others because of this volatile market. Most of us don't know enough about investing or even how to invest our money. We all strive to achieve a reasonable retirement at a reasonable age but speaking for myself, I have watched my 401k go up and down daily and it seems to always end up at about the same level.
I recently moved some moneys into different funds and in less than 30 days from the day I moved it, I rebalanced. I received a letter stating that I was short training and if I did it again in less that 30 days, I would be restricted from moving any money for 85 days. I'm sure the couple thousand dollars I moved when I rebalanced didn't affect those funds I rebalanced in but I was told it was short trading and that I am affecting those funds.
I'm reasonably sure the daily market fluctuations are a result of short selling and the majority of 401k's are affected while these "short sellers" take their profits. If this is the rule, then the rules should apply to everyone equally and short selling should not be allowed if it effects us negatively. If you make an investment, you should be committed to the investment for a specific amount of time.