Disclosure: Nothing below or anywhere on this website is investment advice. We do not provide investment advice.
Tesla (TSLA) short sellers lost $1 billion on January 4th as Tesla’s share price had yet another record high. Yesterday, Tesla closed at a record high of $729.77, and this morning, when I checked my Robinhood app, it was over $738. Right now, as I write this, it’s $735 and some change.
As someone who is investing and holding my few shares in the stock, I feel rather proud of Tesla’s achievements. The stock market reflects what Tesla is doing now and what the company will do in the future. However, those who are not in favor of the stock are probably not feeling so optimistic at the moment.
In fact, I find it a bit insane that they keep shorting the stock. Many do so for various reasons, but some of the most severe are twisted half-truths presented in an almost religious view. “Elon Musk is a fraud, he’s going to go bankrupt and go to jail, and if you disagree with me, see you in court.” I’ve had those comments aimed at me before, and so have other Tesla investors, owners, and supporters.
I feel a touch of sadness, however, for those who fully bought into the anti-Tesla hype and lost it all. They have presented a picture of a villain who will go down because he’s killing people and were taught that they were on the side of good. The truth is, the villains were the ones convincing clueless short sellers to bet their house against Elon Musk then abandoning them or mocking them for giving up.
The fact that these dialogues have happened and do exist goes to show just how strongly resistant humans are to change. They don’t want to change their ways to make the environment better, so they vilify those who are trying to make a difference. Whether it’s tirades against Elon Musk by anonymous short sellers or rants against Greta Thunberg by Mark Spiegel, they don’t want to face up to the fact that they could be wrong about something.
Perhaps this is the core reason why Tesla’s short sellers lost more than the U.S. airline industry last year due to the pandemic. In 2020, Tesla’s short sellers lost $38 billion. In 2021, they lost $1 billion in the span of a day. As Tesla continues to succeed, stubborn short sellers will continue to lose.
My question is this: How much is too much? Also, how can they be perfectly fine with losing this vast amount of money? In my humble opinion, Tesla’s short sellers need an intervention and gambling addiction counseling. Seriously.
I know people who freak out over losing $5. I’m one of those people. They should be freaking out over the billions lost. They should be so freaked out that they admit defeat and stop trying to bring down a company that clearly isn’t a fraud, isn’t murdering people, and most definitely is not going bankrupt.