Purpose – In this paper, the authors aim to test the assertion that options act as a substitute for short sales by allowing investors an alternative way to act on bearish sentiment. An empirical test of this assertion requires a researcher to observe both types of firm – those that weren’t...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate what is denoted as episodes of concentrated short-selling activity, or consecutive days of abnormal short-sale activity in a particular stock. The motivation to do so is two fold. First, US regulators and regulators in other countries have...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study short sales trading as part of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) batch open and National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) opening cross. The paper examines whether short transactions at the open can predict future...

Purpose – Research draws the distinction between noise traders and informed traders. Research also documents market biases in equity returns due to cloud cover, a non-informational (noise) event, showing that returns decrease on cloudy days. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the announcement and implementation of short sales and margin trading regulation affects Chinese stock returns and trading volume. On 31 March 2010, the Chinese regulators launched a pilot programme, allowing short sales and margin...