Jinxer and Inceptus are right on the money with their points. Also, when shorting normally with borrowed shares, you take on risk. Just as you would when you purchase stock and go long. You have a possibility that you could get caught and the SP could rise, and you lose money, and it happens all the time. But, it does provide the savy investor with another way to make money, because there are some that look for overvalued stock or trade on technical analysis, and when they find those overvalued stocks or sell signals, they can short. It all boils down to risk, and normal shorting includes risk. Like the guys said, naked shorting is a problem, because you can sell what you don't own, not deliver the stock and then scoop up cheap shares...that is completely illegal and that's what must be regulated and cracked down on so hard that nobody would ever attempt such a thing.

Rocco:)