Hi all complete noob here so I apologise in advance. I want to short the markets (ASX and maybe US markets as well). I don't think that we've anywhere seen bottom yet. I tried CFD trading today and best to sum it up as lessons learnt (and $ lost). What is the best way/instrument to short the market for periods of a few days (more than 1) to a week or 2 weeks?
What is the best way to short the markets medium term?
- Thread starter theeskimo
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No Ordinary Duck
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I use Futures (index Futures)
I’d suggest E minis if your starting out.
Google E minis there is heaps of info there.
these are a different breed particularly in these times
Often counter intuitive.I think you need a strong
Technical background particularly in charting
I trade 3 and 15 minute timeframes and am often in and out in an hr.
I trade the DAX
I’d suggest E minis if your starting out.
Google E minis there is heaps of info there.
these are a different breed particularly in these times
Often counter intuitive.I think you need a strong
Technical background particularly in charting
I trade 3 and 15 minute timeframes and am often in and out in an hr.
I trade the DAX
- Joined
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i don't think there is a singular "best way/instrument" - depends a lot on your objectives, trading style and what you're comfortable with.
i personally prefer options for their versatility, as they allow me to define my risk/reward (using vertical/diagonal/calendar spreads) and timeframe up front, and can profit even if the market goes nowhere or moves relatively little (by shorting gamma, which is mainly what i'm doing at the moment).
however options would be a horrible choice of instrument if you want to trade 3 or 15 minute timeframes and enter/exit within an hour, you will get killed by the bid/ask spreads, even on very liquid underlyings. for a week or two they should be fine, you can get some decent time decay in a few days.
if you want to go long gamma, there is so much volatility going on at the moment that you could profit that way as well, but you have to time your exits precisely. for example i had a call diagonal on CBA where the short near leg was the weekly that expired today. if you were long those weekly calls, you had to exit within that 1-2 hour window after the open this tues when the bank stocks rallied sharply before they fell even more heavily that same day. any other exit (or not exiting at all prior to expiry) would have lost money once factoring in that the options cost about 3.5% of the stock price for a week of decay.
important thing is making sure you use the right tool for the job.
i personally prefer options for their versatility, as they allow me to define my risk/reward (using vertical/diagonal/calendar spreads) and timeframe up front, and can profit even if the market goes nowhere or moves relatively little (by shorting gamma, which is mainly what i'm doing at the moment).
however options would be a horrible choice of instrument if you want to trade 3 or 15 minute timeframes and enter/exit within an hour, you will get killed by the bid/ask spreads, even on very liquid underlyings. for a week or two they should be fine, you can get some decent time decay in a few days.
if you want to go long gamma, there is so much volatility going on at the moment that you could profit that way as well, but you have to time your exits precisely. for example i had a call diagonal on CBA where the short near leg was the weekly that expired today. if you were long those weekly calls, you had to exit within that 1-2 hour window after the open this tues when the bank stocks rallied sharply before they fell even more heavily that same day. any other exit (or not exiting at all prior to expiry) would have lost money once factoring in that the options cost about 3.5% of the stock price for a week of decay.
important thing is making sure you use the right tool for the job.
