Not if you already own an equity position approximately equal to the short position. Again, I don`t profess to be the expert on these strategies, but it is very similar to a wheat or corn farmer who holds a large quantity of grain in his bin or local elevator shorting that commodity or buying futures to ensure he gets the price he wants. Wish I could explain the process better but I do know it has been working fairly well for farmers for a lot of years. Many of them have made more money using their grain as a hedge and buying and selling futures than they would ever have made simply raising and selling wheat (which is stilling selling below cost of production BTW). I have exhausted my limited knowledge on this subject...:>)

Kirk