but out of curiosity, you mean naked shorting as in the benefactor would be willing themselves to engage in criminal activity? or do you mean through some options play?

That was the term Cay Johnson used but I presume he meant via legitimate options trades. However, I think his point was and my point here is that any "legitimate" options trade is different than any practical options trade. Any option trade is already highly leveraged and works most effectively if the quantity of shares involved is a mininscule fraction of total shares being actively traded every day. For new shares in a company that was operating for 3-5 years privately and earning tens or hundreds of millions in cash, daily volume for that stock is likely to provide good liquidity in a predictable price range. If one trader comes along and wants to bet that firm will trade 30% lower than that range 6 months or 12 months out, it will be possible to find others willing to bet the opposite for a price and make a deal.

Truth Social won't exhibit either of those characteristics. The company has never made a profit and no published plan outlines how or when management expects to turn a profit. Those are not circumstances that will support a large short position worth potentially 14% ($455 million / $3.2 billion = 14.2%) of the expected market cap at the end of trading on IPO. To set up a short, you have to find a trader willing to bet the other way and there is probably no one on the planet that expects DJT to be trading at its IPO price that far out.


WTH