Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The SEC made naked short selling illegal after the 2008 financial crisis. Market makers are not allowed to naked short. Actually, they are allowed to naked short. It’s essential for them to be able to do so to hedge their exposure and provide a bid/ask at all times. https://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/regsho.htm
Thanks, that’s the first I’ve heard of that. I’ll have a read, cheers.
Citadel (probably[0]) isn’t going to naked short GME to take a directional position, they just want to capture the bid/ask and hedge the directional risk, which sometimes requires naked shorting. I suppose they could (and might) use synthetic shorts (long atm put, short atm call) to hedge. I’m not sure if only a designated market maker is allowed to naked short, or if supplemental liquidity providers or other types of MMs I don’t know about are also allowed to naked short.
[0] I say this only because I’m not Ken Griffin and don’t know with absolute certainty, but generally a market maker aims to stay delta neutral.