Quick Question about Short shares and Float (newbie)

[mdevp]

Confused about this,(last months data), if there are 23m Tesla shares short, 95.7m shares float and 80% of shares are owned by insiders and institutions, how are there 23m shares to short? Newbie here, I've never shorted anything, only bought long and rarely bought a few leaps here and there, thanks.

 

[MikeC]

Confused about this,(last months data), if there are 23m Tesla shares short, 95.7m shares float and 80% of shares are owned by insiders and institutions, how are there 23m shares to short? Newbie here, I've never shorted anything, only bought long and rarely bought a few leaps here and there, thanks.

I think the simple answer is that once a share is sold short, it can then be lent out to be sold short again by the new owner.

 

[FrozenCanuck]

It's simpler than this. If I'm long, so I own shares, my broker can lend those out to someone who wants to short the stock.

 

[wycolo]

It's simpler than this. If I'm long, so I own shares, my broker can lend those out to someone who wants to short the stock.

Negatory. Only margined shares can to loaned to 3rd parties. If you actually own the shares they cannot be loaned out by your broker.
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[FrozenCanuck]

Shares are not margined. Accounts are margined. But you are right that margin is a required component. There usually needs to be a debit balance in an account to use shares for borrowing.