Quote from AK100:
Too true.
Also long-short strategies are never neutral, nor are they ever hedged. Sure, a long-short trade has generally taken the directional risk out of the market but you've swapped that risk for the risk or 2 shares moving against each other, and that risk can be very large as many have found out over the years.
Long-short strategies can also offer false security in that because there's little risk taken on the outright market the player thinks his strategies are generally safe and low risk. Most of the time they are just that, until they're not....