I'm not surprised at all at the Malware report - anecdotal feeling is one thing but an official report helps put a number down so that news stories can have some meat to them.

I feel for the person or people on the other side of that trade - and I still am inexperienced enough to fully understand the mechanics of how those shorts continue on for so long. I know that when it goes the other way, it can get "liquidated", where the Exchange can pretty much wipe out the person on the other side, but what if this Mark person was wondering if the backing for the counter side couldn't make good on the short? Would that have been possible?