Could a retail investor made a profit on "False report all but wipes out UAL shares"?

[alanbrenton]

I don't daytrade and so I am not sure if a keen retail online trader/investor could have profited handsomely on UAL shares today. Was the price run back up that rapid?

http://www.reportonbusiness.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080908.wunited0908/BNStory/Business/home

[pitz]

Well, the long-term trend for most legacy airlines is to $0.

So an astute retail investor could have shorted UAL, and then set a limit order to repurchase UAL shares very inexpensively.

I did this with a number of income trusts with relatively weak balance sheets a few years ago. Minister Flaherty came out with his announcement of a new tax regime on trusts, and wham, the shares fell 30% in one day, and my shorts were closed even before I got out of bed that morning.

Obviously, I had no insider information about Minister Flaherty's announcement, and most of the trusts ended up recovering, but I was able to exploit a temporary collapse in price due to panic selling.