/biz/ - Business & Finance

Brainlet here, Never traded, but eager to be educated.
I have several questions


1. What allowed Melvin and the other funds to short GME beyond the amount of stocks in circulation?
2. Selling what you don't have - how is this legal?
3. What tangible good does short selling do for the economy apart from keeping traders employed and investors happy?
4. Are there metrics that can tell if a stock is being shorted without resorting to insider information or news/hearsay?
5, Are there services or trading platforms whose primary product is to tell people "hey we noticed this stock is being shorted, maybe you wanna antagonize and go long"?
6. Can such a platform make lucrative money? Will it be considered unethical?