Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open.

If I sell a stock that I don't have, am I required to buy it before a certain amount of time?
If you sell a stock you don't own, it's called a short sale. You borrowed the shares from an owner of the stock and eventually would buy to close. On most normal shares, you can hold a short position indefinitely, but there are some shares that have a combination of either a small float or too high a short position that shares to short are not available.  This can create a "short squeeze" where shorts are burned by being forced to buy the stock back.  Last - when you did this, you should have instructed the broker that you were "selling to open" or "selling short." In the old days, when people held stock certificates, you were required to send the certificate in when you sold. Today, the broker should know that wasn't your intention.