Bear Raid

An illegal maneuver, in which the perpetrators short large amounts of a stock and spread nasty rumors about the company in order to drive the price down(and profit by covering at a lower price). However, those who initiate a bear raid may face a short squeeze.

While bear raids undoubtedly occured in the early 1900s, it was often an excuse to explain a fall in the stock price that was unexplanable otherwise. Jesse Livermore believes market manipulation was not as widespread as most people thought and that most “bear raids” were unfounded accusations or just plain scapegoating.