Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has said shorting is legal "only for vestigial reasons". The comment comes a day after retail investors caused a rally in video game retailer GameStop's shares.
The traders caused a surge in GameStop's share price, causing a short squeeze and hurting hedge funds who had shorted the stock.
Musk also put out another tweet that took a dig at "shorty apologists".u can’t sell houses u don’t own
u can’t sell cars u don’t own
but
u *can* sell stock u don’t own!?
this is bs – shorting is a scam
legal only for vestigial reasons
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2021
Here come the shorty apologists
Give them no respectGet Shorty
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2021
In response to a query by a Twitter user, Musk has advised investing in stocks "that make goods & produce services you love"
On January 27, Musk tweeted the word "Gamestonk" and shared a link to the Reddit chat forum 'Wallstreetbets', of which participants had reportedly driven the spike in GameStop's share price.Buy & hold companies that make goods & produce services you love
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 29, 2021
Gamestonk!! https://t.co/RZtkDzAewJ— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 26, 2021