Why the Game Spot action actually hurt small investors and discount brokerages.
Patrick Boyle on Hedge Funds and how the market works. A great insight to understand what was going on. Hedge Funds didnt get hurt. Their money and positions to cover came later. They are not that flexible. The early birds of the attackers were in the game ahead of the dumb money. At that time the Early Birds were selling their positions to the Dumb Money were buying it. Brokerages shut down their platforms since they had to leverage the positions of the buyers. Remember, the orders get settled a day or two later!!! They are leveraged to that point and the sheer volume was kicking the brokerages out of line. Business unusual.
Also, shorting stocks naked, that is without owning the stock, is not as simple as most people think it is. There is quite some borrowing fees to pay and if that short selling drops the price, buying it back to return the stocks to the rightful owner will raise the stock price back to the old level. But listen for yourself.