I would love to short coal and agree that it makes good financial sense to do so. The only problem is that I don’t know how best to do it. I have a basic knowledge of how to trade stocks and bonds, and how to short them, but when it comes to shorting whole industries? I don’t know how to do that. Or, I should say, I can figure out some way to do it, but probably not the best way.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
As an individual investor, I think shorting any stock is a very, very, very bad idea, because your losses are potentially infinite.
well, that’s why you don’t short a stock. You short coal. Either you short coal as a commodity or you short it as some combo of stocks or some appropriate portfolio of funds. To use an example, you can short a barrel of oil without worrying about a loss beyond your ability to pay. But you don’t have to do it in that kind of strait forward contractual way.
You buy an option. That limits your loss to the price of the option. “put” or “call”, I don’t remember. The names are silly.
These are coal ETFs you can short:
http://etfdb.com/type/sector/energy/coal/
But now that I think about it, with your knowledge of politics, you should just play with some money at Predict It. I’m doing very well there. And it’s legal for ‘mercans.
the 101 rule of DC, your shit salary may not keep you afloat with the prices in this town but the gossip sure as shit will!
YTD down 26%, that’s what I’m talking about!
Should have bet against it in January.
I have a “global warming” portfolio at Motif Investing, but I can’t (or haven’t figured out how to) put “Bear” EFTs in it.
Too late! Try Australia. Us Obots believe–well, one of us does anyway–that TPP will commit them to giving it up.
You persuade large institutions to divest from coal, and if they have any coal-burning installations themselves to move quickly to take them offline.
One-investor-at-a-time strategies tend not to have enough clout and tie up a lot of activists’ money for nothing.
I think the EPA figured out a great way to short an entire industry. Now has the bill to undo it crossed President Obama’s desk yet? There’s one for a veto and some heavy pressure on coal country Democrats not to try to resuscitate it. Increasing the number of safety inspections in coals mines could do it as well as prohibiting mountain-top removal.
For individuals by far the best way to short coal is to disconnect from the electric grid.
Eh, many places fire up their own private burning backup grid for datacenters. See apple, google, faceboo, etc.
Any “green activity” is used to cover greater non green activity. Just as any social activism for liberalism is used to cover economic neoliberalism. You want to know who’s doing the most damage? Look for the most socially liberal and green companies, you’ve found your assholes.
Follow the greenwash, eh. But then there are also the companies that just flip off the rest of the world on everything, claiming that their sole job is to make a profit.
“Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.”
–John Maynard Keynes
Instead of shorting, consider buying PUT options -as
shorting has a possible INFINITE downside risk, whereas PUT options you will only lose the fixed amount you buy.
KOL is an etf that may work, and it has options. So, you could buy PUT options on KOL –
Of course, the majority of options purchased end up not making money.
I assume that you are thinking of a long term transition where coal becomes not worth pulling out of the ground – I hope you are right, WIND, SOLAR just keep getting cheaper, Options are not really good for long term stuff – as the exponential time value decay dealy –
The KOL etf: https:/finance.yahoo.com/q;_ylt=Ap85yhKlSdcQ3GySkGEeWFfUzbIF?uhb=uhb2&fr=uh3_finance_vert
_gs&type=2button&s=KOL
And their options:
https:
/finance.yahoo.com/q/op?s=KOL+Options