at the end of the chain there's actual liquid money changing hands
Naked short selling doesn't require one to have any money to invest nor any shares. You can still make a lot of money and destroy a company's shares if well connected enough. The price falling on the shares is only produced by the apparent glut of shares offered for sale, they don't need to sell initially to produce a price fall, the offer is enough. Once the naked sale has iterated through a couple of loops and many other offers appear as the stock falls then the price plummets, not because of sales but because of lack of sales.
You make money because no one buys. Traders can make money any way the market moves and if sufficiently skilled and backed can make the market move - it _is_ just numbers going up and down.
Naked short selling doesn't require one to have any money to invest nor any shares. You can still make a lot of money and destroy a company's shares if well connected enough. The price falling on the shares is only produced by the apparent glut of shares offered for sale, they don't need to sell initially to produce a price fall, the offer is enough. Once the naked sale has iterated through a couple of loops and many other offers appear as the stock falls then the price plummets, not because of sales but because of lack of sales.
You make money because no one buys. Traders can make money any way the market moves and if sufficiently skilled and backed can make the market move - it _is_ just numbers going up and down.