Current literature shows that short sellers earn positive returns on their trades and that the superior performance of short sellers is due to their better analytic skills. In this paper, we investigate, if it is poss...Current literature shows that short sellers earn positive returns on their trades and that the superior performance of short sellers is due to their better analytic skills. In this paper, we investigate, if it is possible for a short seller to make profits even if he does not have insider information or is not sophisticated. We use a one period model and assume that stock price follows a random walk with a positive drift to show that the＇ expected return for an uninformed short seller is always negative and his risks are always greater than the risks of a stock buyer. Hence a short seller would not trade unless he has superior trading skills and/or information. We also show that the market conditions when the stock＇s dividend yield is greater than the risk free rate gives the shortsellers advantage over stock buyers.展开更多
文摘Current literature shows that short sellers earn positive returns on their trades and that the superior performance of short sellers is due to their better analytic skills. In this paper, we investigate, if it is possible for a short seller to make profits even if he does not have insider information or is not sophisticated. We use a one period model and assume that stock price follows a random walk with a positive drift to show that the＇ expected return for an uninformed short seller is always negative and his risks are always greater than the risks of a stock buyer. Hence a short seller would not trade unless he has superior trading skills and/or information. We also show that the market conditions when the stock＇s dividend yield is greater than the risk free rate gives the shortsellers advantage over stock buyers.
