No, not really, that makes no sense.Once you sell, you've...

No, not really, that makes no sense.

Once you sell, you've removed yourself from the possible upside.
Exiting a position by selling millions or 10's of millions worth of shares will take time and push the SP down, especially if stock is already falling and others are doing the same.
You'd be actively helping destruction of your own profits while exiting company you think has upside potential.
That would just be stupid, no?

Hedging your GXY long by opening a short in ETF doesn't hedge you against company specific developments!
You Might end up in position where GXY project fails miserably while it pushes ETF up as GXY supply is removed from the market, etc.
You'd double your losses, that's not a very smart hedge.
For example: if you hedged your long position in Vale by shorting Iron ore ETF, you'd be crying right now.

Shorting ETF doesn't work in your favor by pushing GXY SP down.
It also doesn't help your GXY long position when you decide to offload your shorts.

Lets say for example:
You locked in your GXY profits @$3.50 average and you have 20 million shorts.
GXY has good announcement, SP shoots up to $2.80 on open and hits resistance and large supply of sellers.
You'd cover your 20 million shorts into supply, helping to clear the resistance, take your profits on shorts, buy more GXY shares with it while helping move the SP up even more.
And of you go with rocket under the SP.

That's how your average 'short burn' works.
That's why you'll also see the SP going up in big and small waves over long term, on the chart.

Big funds help their bets work out themselves, unlike small fish like us!