Should I short stocks now?

I've lost a crapload of money watching the market go down. Everyone seems to be saying it's going to go dowm more, with the Dow Jones average probably going to 5000 or 4500. I'm thinking of shorting it to try to make up for my 50% losses so far. Better to make a nice payday now than to lose another 25%, I suppose. Can anyone who actually made the right calls recently advise?

So far I've lost 9% which is a sick victory.

Short if you know how and what, but my gut is that it is the next sucker's deal.

I'm shorting now. I'd bet against me if I was a betting man. ;-)

and buying dividends right now. Bargains are abundant. Shorting is like the "big play" in Vegas trying to break even for the weekend, it's never worked for me. But good luck to you.

you want to possibly lose your ass too?

Keep one thing in mind when contemplating selling short;

The potential for loss is theoretically unlimited because there is no upper limit to how high a stocks price can climb.

Gains are limited to the difference between the price of the security and zero. Using an ETF can mitigate this risk substantially.

Not a recommendation either way, but the ETF "DXD" is an "Ultra Short Dow 30" which seeks to attain 200% of the inverse daily performance of the DJIA.

http://www.proshares.com/funds/dxd.html

Proshares has several other short ETF's;

http://www.proshares.com/funds

Again, the above is NOT a recommendation for or against the strategy. Do your own due diligence.

You could get smoked shorting now, you might look at shorting when the market starts testing the 50 day ema again

:shrug: but what do I know - the panic could be tomorrow.

is with leveraged ETF's and writing covered calls. However, If I had enough cash to day trade I would short stocks directly. Shorting as a hedge is one thing, but shorting just to speculate on market direction carries a lot of risk and requires discipline.

We WILL get one. Probably soon.

We're no where near the bottom, but if you defer to other historic "crashes", there were a few periodic substantial "rallies" that occurred on the slide down. We are due for one.

I'm playing SRS and SKF (2x inverse ETF's) on the long term, and there is no real need to monitor daily/weekly to jump in/out, in/out (which many day traders do). Just ride the market down (up for you!) after getting in (averaging/building a position as the market rallies) when a substantial rally occurs.

Don't mess with options unless you know what you're doing or have a trusted broker (oxymoron?) who does. The leverage can be insane and you can lose your ass if/when a market "stick save" happens. The market can remain solvent (read: irrational) longer than you.

As someone above said, "kind of late". It is a little late, but there is more downside to come. At this point, the worry would be, "even if I make a profit, will I be able to cash out with my broker?" A severe dislocation is a probability and counting on SIPC to insure your money (up to $500,000) is not a sure thing. Don't gamble with what you can't afford to lose, which may be ANYTHING for you.

Best advice I can give:

Voraciously read http://www.tickerforum.org/cgi-ticker/akcs-www before making moves. If you're going to "get short", force yourself to become addicted to MarketTicker Forums. They have the "down low" more than anyone else on the net. Period.

Disclaimer: I'm not a "professional" and this isn't investment advice. Merely my opinion.

Due your own due diligence.

but it takes some intestinal fortitude. I got out of it yesterday expecting a rally today.

Basicly read and watch the comments from some of the more crookeder talking heads on CNBC and when they say buy.. short the crap out of it because that is what their buddies are doing. Then when the buying preassure eases up the price falls like a rock and you can cash out.. or just sit on the short until the company declares bankruptcy then you never have to buy it back. Sahweet.


I know the SEC was trying to protect them against Naked Shorters last summer. Naked Short Selling is when you Short stocks Brokerages don't own and don't borrow, which basicly increases the supply of a companies stock without thier knowledge and drives the price down according to the laws of supply and demand. Basicly its counterfitting stock and selling it which gets mixed with everyone else's shares until nobody can tell who owns a real share and who owns the counterfit shares. There are days when the vast majority 60-100% of trades in a companies stock fail to be delivered for weeks, months, years. How's that happen in this new computer age and instant transactions?? I guess the rest of the market could just go screw themselves because the SEC isn't doing a damn thing to protect them against Naked Shorters. The SEC first denies Naked Sorting exists, then claims it does but isn't a problem, then claims to make brokerages deliver the shares would be too burdensome, then declares that the Naked shorters are so much of a problem that they issue an immediate halt to ANY shorting in a select few financial stocks to protect them- and only them- from such abussive practices.


You go SEC. Maybe one day you crooked bastards will get what's coming to you. Looking at the markets maybe you already are. Karma can be a Bitch!