I put it in there so someone will pick on it (and know if I have adversaries ), and I am glad that it was you who did.
does duration of the trade included in your calculations (question)? Are you looking for total return on the money (annualized)? than you have to multiply your return on the year and divide on the duration of the trade.
I am going to let the thread do some work on its own, and step aside for the moment. Might step in if needed. Bye now.
Short 100 shares @ $50 and the stock falls to $25. Acct equity is $7500. Stock is @ $25 short additional 200 shares. Total 300 shares short. Stock goes to zero = 10k on 5k investment = 200 percent. Or Short another 900 shares @ 10. Total shares short is 1200. Stock goes to zero. Ending equity is 24k. Almost 5x.
maybe this what riskfree is driving at. you can short more of the same stock as it keeps going down and your account keeps growing. it does involve more than one trade.
If you're willing to count options as short positions, clearly you can make way over 100%. Look at the lucky bastards who bought OTM BSC puts for xxxx% return.
Why you did not short more than 300 when the stock was at 25? If stock falls from $50 to $1, how much could you make then?
Like I said before. You do not know yourself what you are asking. Some brokers will not allow you to use gain until next day. How can you calculate your problem if you do not know by how much stock will drop each day? How liquid the stock? What if you are the only seller? Now you need to close your short and you are the only buyer? and no one wants to sell?
No one gave so far a complete and methodical answer that beats all. How about if I were to tell you that you can get as a % return at least (StockPrice-1)*100 when stock goes from StockPrice to 1 over a period of time with not too large down gaps(normal/typical progression)? For instance if stock price is 100, and goes to 1 you should be able to make 9900%. Could you give the details for this?