NPR

So What Is Short Selling? An Explainer

A primer on what you need to know about short selling as an army of amateur investors battles it out against hedge funds.
Source: Connie Hanzhang Jin/NPR

By now, you've probably heard that an army of amateur investors ganged up on short sellers, causing them painful losses while sending shares of the beleaguered retailer GameStop soaring. You also may be asking, OK, but what is short selling?

Short selling has nothing to do with summer wear or workout gear. It's a

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