This situation is SIMPLE. You have your list of short stocks in your rake. If the market opens down, you enter your positions on the open (shorts). You cover the losers and add to the winners, monitoring the market all day long. If the pullbacks (rallies) in this potential down day are on anemic volume, you do not lighten your positions during the day. In fact, with the buying power you recoup by cutting your losses, you add to your shorts on these anemic rallies.
This is how you make money now.
If the market rallies on real volume, you may have to cover it all.
The other posibility is that the market will bounce up. So then if it opens up, you woudln't be in the shorts in the first place, except for the few stocks in your rake that are relative weak compared to the overall market. These are good low risk entries with small scale ins, but most of the time they are marginal trades.
However, if the market opens up and then sinks on high volume, then those initial trades can pay of handsomely as you add to the positions.
Of course, scale out of the winner maybe 1/2 position at a reasonable support for shorts. This keeps your sharp. The best traders do this in some form. It also gives you more bullets to fire when the short pulls back and you re-enter.
Am I shocked I have been short heavy since August? No. even on up days there were major profits in daytrading short positions.
Now shorting is more difficult because we have lots of traders shorting and covering, but it's still profitable.
I am pleasantly surprised at the number of 'traders' here that bemoan market declines. For those of you doing that, do you really feel you are in tune with the market if you are fighting the powerful moves, instead of joining them, influencing them, and profiting from them?
Use the intensity of the "bad" news to make yourselves happy. Take the money from the market that IS there, right now. In rallies and crashes there is potential for massive profit. Don't let the losses scare you if you can trade another day. Remember, TRADERS embrace powerful change, price volatility and are able to harness the energy of the market for their own good. Are you a trader?