How many of you Short Stocks?

AlfredSokol said: "Has it been working out for you?"

chahinemm said: "i have never shorted a stock... i don't know but i don't like the idea of trading a stock on the way down for me im not used to it. i like it to go up.. i guess i have the business instinct which tells me that growing or positive business is better, and shorting u have to worry that it will not go up, make sure that u see that before the management does any restructuring so u don't loose money. in normal trading u don't have to worry except the fact that good business = buy and wait for as long as the fundamentals are right. that is at least for me,,, it might work with some set strategy. chahine"

AlfredSokol said: "I agree completely. I shorted a few times and I even made a few bucks (Qwest) but I tend to want to be much more positive and "root" for the company to do well."

misterjover said: "Now you are talking my lingo buddy. Shorting stocks is one of my favorite past-times!!!!! There are more good shorting opportunities than there are long-term buying opportunities. Take a look at the crap on the market daily that is up 30 to 50%, and after doing your DD, you will realize that more than half of those pigs are short-worthy. For example, check out TRFDF, and observe it's downward trend after it was pumped up over 50% a couple days ago. I even went to the YAHOO boards to tell people to SHORT it, but some of the bagholders were there to flame me and brush me off. All in all, shorting is an easy process as long as you have a good strategy to cover , and shorts will always be the most notorious people in the yahoo boards (and even in here I'll bet). :D"

HappyHarry said: "I short. Not shorting is like boxing with your right hand only. You're bound to get knocked out. :D"

WellsTrader said: "Ok, I am new to this.... What is shorting?"

HappyHarry said: "Shorting is when you sell a stock that you don't own. And buy the shares back later. You hope to sell it a high price and then buy it back at a lower one. This is the type of thing to do before the bad news comes out (think Enron). :cool:"

WellsTrader said: "How do you sell a stock if you don't own it?"

tonys said: "i short all of the time, the path of least resistance is down..."

HappyHarry said: "[QUOTE=WellsTrader]How do you sell a stock if you don't own it?[/QUOTE] The money is lent to you by the brokerage company on [B]margin.[/B] You borrow the shares from the broker. Sell to the market, and repay the market on the day you buy back the shares. Win-win. Unless you lose :)"

chahinemm said: "[QUOTE=HappyHarry]Win-win. Unless you lose :)[/QUOTE] hahahah i like that. chahine"

WellsTrader said: "[QUOTE=HappyHarry]The money is lent to you by the brokerage company on [B]margin.[/B] You borrow the shares from the broker. Sell to the market, and repay the market on the day you buy back the shares. [/QUOTE] How long do you want to wait typicaly before you buy back the shares. Is this a long term kind of thing, or like a 1-2 days thing or what?"

AlfredSokol said: "You can hold it for as long as the margin holds out. The main idea is to try to hold out to the last minute when the stock approaches 0. Rarely will anyone time it that well, but that's the idea. You can make nearly 100% on shorting a stock."

Yoshimi said: "i tried to short a stock last week and and lost two hundred bucks...but its all good, u just gotta be careful and not take [I][B]too[/I][/B] much of a risk..."

AlfredSokol said: "What do you mean [B]you tried[/B], Y?"

Yoshimi said: "i sold for a loss and tried to get in lower but didnt end up getting in lower, so i tried, but failed..."

chahinemm said: "u didn't fail u just learned something new for 200$ ... expensive but worthy :eek: chahine"

misterjover said: "It's ok to be down a few bucks. That's life. Learn from it and move forward. BTW, shorting a stock is not recommended for the poorly-informed. It is easier to make money from shorting stocks than it is from buying them and holding. However, the upside potential of shorting a stock caps at 100%, whereas your potential loss is infinite. Conversely, the upside potential of buying and holding a stock is infinite, and your potential loss is capped at 100%. Consider these risks when making investment decisions."

AlfredSokol said: "You can definitely get your ass handed to you if you're not careful when shorting. So set tight stops."