Hedges and Shorts

The benefit of SLR's "sophisticated hedging" is underappreciated. Currently, the gold price is $A1636. As per SLR's Diggers & Dealers presentation, SLR has 76k oz hedged at $A1655, and I'm lead to believe they have increased that when the gold price topped recently ... so over 60% of production is hedged, and ASIC's are declining as new high-grade production comes on stream ... sounds a bit risky (sic).

For those interested, have a look at shortman.com.au to check out the total short position in stocks, mainly held by 'sophisticated investors'.
SYR is the most shorted stock with 20.32% of its issued capital held short, IGO 16.3%, WSA 14.87%, SAR 7.09%, PRU 6.17%, DCN 4.86%, WGX 4.4%, GOR 3.55% .... and SLR 0.26% on the 21 Sept 2017.
Some have been comparing PRU and SLR, but, besides SLR being far less risky than PRU, it would appear that the shorters think that the SLR lemon has given up most of its available juice and pips, and hence may be considered a tad 'oversold' while stocks like SAR despite its robust story and rosie future, is a tad 'overbought' ( ? )
Below is the table that shows SLR movements for September during which the SP has fallen from 45c to a low 39.5c and now oscillating between 42 & 41c - note that some high "shorts as % of volume" days occurred last week and Monday 25th.
Now 'naked shorts' are supposed to be illegal, but the ASX turns a blind eye to it. Proper shorts are supposed to borrow stock they short, and that means borrowing from large holders like institutions ..... bastards !
Let's hope that the next quarterly is robust and has a positive SP impact but it would seem, there won't be a dramatic 'short cover rally' as there's not much stock to cover ?

The current market depth shows good support at 39-40c, and heavy selling pressure 42-44c, so the selling impulse has not been exhausted, and will remain until SLR upgrades its image. Personally, I'm going to sit at 37c and hope some 'stops' cascade gives me another bite of the riping cherry.
If SLR continues to be so underpriced by the market, then a cashed-up major may see a lot of merit in acquiring a regional processing center with lots' of potential.

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4	Column 5	Column 6
1	Date	Gross shorts 1	Issued capital	% Capital shorted 2	Trade volume 3	Shorts as % of volume
2	Tue 26th Sep, 2017	76,840	503,771,434	0.01%	1,211,196	6.34%
3	Mon 25th Sep, 2017	285,816	503,771,434	0.05%	2,226,490	12.84%
4	Fri 22nd Sep, 2017	367,611	503,771,434	0.07%	2,231,402	16.47%
5	Thu 21st Sep, 2017	341,509	503,771,434	0.06%	2,575,894	13.26%
6	Wed 20th Sep, 2017	273,649	503,771,434	0.05%	1,082,635	25.28%
7	Tue 19th Sep, 2017	99,424	503,771,434	0.02%	1,869,705	5.32%
8	Mon 18th Sep, 2017	176,893	503,771,434	0.03%	1,084,592	16.31%
9	Fri 15th Sep, 2017	549,509	503,771,434	0.10%	6,024,807	9.12%
10	Thu 14th Sep, 2017	354,083	503,771,434	0.07%	2,040,178	17.36%
11	Wed 13th Sep, 2017	76,265	503,771,434	0.01%	1,537,922	4.96%
12	Tue 12th Sep, 2017	216,263	503,771,434	0.04%	1,625,892	13.30%
13	Mon 11th Sep, 2017	54,761	503,771,434	0.01%	931,841	5.88%
14	Fri 8th Sep, 2017	179,234	503,771,434	0.03%	1,906,181	9.40%
15	Thu 7th Sep, 2017	170	503,771,434	0.00%	620,068	0.03%
16	Wed 6th Sep, 2017	116,477	503,771,434	0.02%	2,455,408	4.74%
17	Tue 5th Sep, 2017	33,615	503,771,434	0.00%	1,438,878	2.34%
18	Mon 4th Sep, 2017	87,441	503,771,434	0.01%	2,156,365	4.06%
19	Fri 1st Sep, 2017	160,478	503,707,646	0.03%	1,755,080	9.14%