going short

[Magna]

Originally posted by darkhorse
i think the ideal place to be is where one finds zero difference between the two

Probably so, but I want to differentiate between the way it is and this ideal state you reference aka the way it should be. No matter how comfortable a trader is on both the long and short side, I've always found that when you get to really know the person you find underneath the spoken zenlike "neutrality" an unspoken bias for long or short. Rightly or wrongly, if they tell the bloody truth, there's an underlying bias in practically all traders. Shorts are often embarrassed by it, longs are usually righteous about it.

Anyway, regardless of my bias, I'm also rooting for the bull market to return (rah! rah! rah!) since that brings back all the investors, position traders, swingtraders, etc. who only play the long side.

 

[3dog]

I prefer shorting because the price falls much faster than it rises. (or maybe actually due to some kind of internal strange short bias??).

Price reacts to the downside faster probably due to how people will scale into a position, but then 'sell all!!" to exit quickly.

 

[darkhorse]

Originally posted by vhehn
"true dat

im not so sure about this.i know some great shorters.these guys are the guys covering +3 +8 +15 points after a few days of down action.these guys all seem to have a negitive bent to their thinking. and will tell you they almost never long.
on the other hand the shorters i know who are comfortable with going either way seem to be scalpers.
will be interested in how this poll comes out to see if my observations are correct.

Any inherent long term bias is wrong in my opinion. Who cares where the market is going in a year or six months if it's going up today and tomorrow? Permabears miss out on bull moves, and money in the pocket is money in the pocket, regardless of whether the market is acting smart or stupid.

i go both ways with zero bias- i'm very short term but not a scalper. I dump 80% of my positions within 24 hours and hold the other 20%- the cream of the crop- for anywhere from days to weeks. All about taking what the market wants to give but not overstaying my welcome.

 

[Thug_Life]

Originally posted by Magna
"not only am I very comfortable going short, I have a bias for it and strangely prefer it".[/B]

yessss!!!!!!!!!!!

(I thought I was the only one)

 

[darkhorse]

Originally posted by Thug_Life


yessss!!!!!!!!!!!

(I thought I was the only one)

If you are focused on tech I don't blame you, in fact I'm right in there with ya. Bears are pretty much shootin' the lights out in that arena.

Aside from short tech wrecks, seems like all my long action has been in the old warhorse stocks and dull as dishwater names. Boring is beautiful these days.

 

[darkhorse]

Originally posted by Magna
Rightly or wrongly, if they tell the bloody truth, there's an underlying bias in practically all traders. Shorts are often embarrassed by it, longs are usually righteous about it.

Anyway, regardless of my bias, I'm also rooting for the bull market to return (rah! rah! rah!) since that brings back all the investors, position traders, swingtraders, etc. who only play the long side.

Interesting perspective, I think I agree in general but disagree on a higher level.

If someone put a gun to my head and made me pick, I would rather be a bear if only because you rarely hear of a market melting "up"- there are few black mondays in reverse, especially now that greenspan has lost his mojo.

But the logic of being a contrarian runs deeper than the old cliche that the public is always wrong. When an opinion has fully run its course, it has used up all its force (hey, I'm a poet and I didn't know it). This is why the news organizations often signal the end of the move- by the time the move hits the mainstream, there are often no more bullets left in the gun.

I think true master traders don't give a flying flip about direction- they are as happy buying when there is blood in the streets as they are selling when tulips are $5,000 a bulb. It's all about finding the discrepancy and exploiting it, to paraphrase Livermore, with no more squeamishness or personal issues than a machine press.

 

[matthew]

I don't think your voting results give a true picture of the world. I would guess that 80% of respondents in a poll would be in the category of not having ever gone short and being afraid to do so.

I know that by the time people get around to trading futures, most people still take a long time to lose the long bias, so the numbers must be even higher with the general public of equities trader.

There's a joke in the business that the 1st broker who is able to get a retail trader to hold a short position in gold longer than 2 days wins the cumulative prize. (I think the prize is in the millions by now.) ; )

 

[o_2_b_sean]

I think any trader who is not equally comfortable with holding long and short positions will not survive over the long haul. I always get a laugh looking on the Yahoo boards and seeing the "longs" fighting the "shorts".

my opinion, at any rate...

 

[darkhorse]

Originally posted by matthew
I don't think your voting results give a true picture of the world. I would guess that 80% of respondents in a poll would be in the category of not having ever gone short and being afraid to do so.

I'd have to agree, I was hoping for a little more honesty than was submitted. 90%+ traders around here equally comfortable w/ backhand and forehand? No way. But the skewness of the result says something loud and clear anway- that even in an "elite" forum there is a lot of self delusion walking around.

 

[Don Bright]

I missed the category that says "MORE comfortable Short than long" -

Stocks fall much more quickly than they rise, and I fully agree with the LOD (Long Only Disease).



Don