Mr X (or individuals a, b, an c) borrowed 119,000 shares of NOT from brokerage Y on or about 10/31/16 for $0.265 per share. He then sold them to investor Z (for the same price or higher) and was credited $30, 924. Mr. X is hoping that the price of the NOT shares will drop over the next few days or weeks, so that he can buy 119,000 shares on the open market at a lower price and return them to his brokerage firm, whilst pocketing the difference. { He is betting that the share price will drop due to a number of possible reasons (i.e He has heard/read in the media the phrase "We need to get it right" ad nauseum and he believes that some NOT longterm holders will finally capitulate and sell their position or a portion of their position out of frustration, or he believes that year-end tax loss selling will occur earlier this year, or he fears a major general market crash , or he has heard rumours that drilling results are not good, or whatever) . He waits for the price to drop to $0.245 and then buys back all but 7,770 (7,770 may be his lucky number, or his "digital signature" or a coded signal to other market participants , or perhaps he is just greedy and hopes to buy back the remaining 7770 shares at $0.24 so he can make a few mores dollars . ). He has pocketed 2 cents per share x 111,230 shares ($2,224.60 ) minus whatever his transaction costs to his broker are ( typically a percentage of the original share value, which accrues for each day that the shares have been lent out) . The SP of NOT then does drop a few days later to $0.24 and he buys the final 7,770 shares and returns them to his broker, thus closing out his position.
This is just one hypothetical scenario. Perhaps there were two (or more ) holders of the 119,000 shares, and one closed out his 111,230 share position and the other holder of 7,770 shares is still hoping that he can profit from a further SP drop.
Of course , if Mr X purchased 119,000 shares on 10/31/16 expecting the SP to drop, but then NOT released some barnburner drill results and the share price exploded to $0.565 , he would then have to scramble to buy back his shares before the price continued higher. In this instance he would lose $0.30 x 119,000 shares or $35,700. if he had to pay $0.565 per share.
Cheers,
Luker
