Why is Naked Short Selling Both Illegal and Common Practice?
First American Stock Transfer, undated
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation or DTCC (the final depository where all U.S. trades are settled and cleared) cannot settle fraudulent trades. According to the DTCC website, “We don’t have any power or legal authority to regulate or stop short-selling, naked or otherwise.”
While DTCC may not have the authority to regulate any short selling, it could create computer programs that would track share holdings to determine if they are real shares or simply entitled. Some believe that the DTCC chooses not to monitor these transactions more closely, because they make money on the interest and the loaning of these shares.
