Delta Hedging long vs short

[jb514]

Isn't it more difficult to maintain a short delta neutral portfolio than a long portfolio?

Say you have a long straddle. It seems like it can be dynamically hedged by posting passive limit orders on the underlying meaning you can hedge as fast as the underlying trades. While a short straddle requires you to buy high and sell low, meaning you must manage your hedging frequency.

It appears to me like it would be much easier to be long vol than short vol. Can some more experienced options traders help me understand this?

 

[cdcaveman]

Quote from jb514:

Isn't it more difficult to maintain a short delta neutral portfolio than a long portfolio?

Say you have a long straddle. It seems like it can be dynamically hedged by posting passive limit orders on the underlying meaning you can hedge as fast as the underlying trades. While a short straddle requires you to buy high and sell low, meaning you must manage your hedging frequency.

It appears to me like it would be much easier to be long vol than short vol. Can some more experienced options traders help me understand this?

this is just my understanding.. typically premium is just that.. a premium.. in that case.. being long will mean that you need to time your hedges to scalp more gamma then the premium theta burn.. So generally speaking its bad to speak generally.. there are so many securities with so many different nuances.. putting on buy and sell stops can cause you to get whipsawed.. you get filled and the price goes back to where it was.. theres no exact ideology you can follow that would work across all markets .. and things are always changing..

it always seems nicer to sell premium and collect thetas.. like collecting a paycheck every week for your risk.. till the day it doesn't work anymore and you have lost all the money you have made plus.. but that doesn't always happen sometimes you can get away with selling overprice premium for so long that it makes sense of the draw down you experience when you get hit real hard on increasing vol..