Are you wondering whether or not you can short OTC stocks?
No law says you cannot short over-the-counter stock. The main issue lies in the process of shorting itself. Although stock shorting is permitted on OTC-traded securities, it also comes with potential pitfalls.
These stocks mostly result in low trading volume and regulation that shows their illiquidity. It is also possible for an investor to face several problems trying to cover a bad short position.
It is definitely simpler to manipulate the money graph on the OTC markets because stocks have less liquidity. As a result, short sellers may take advantage of this and possibly initiate a short sale, which could result in the total destruction of the OTC stock. Because of this, short-selling OTC stocks is prohibited by some brokerages.
What is an Over the Counter [OTC] Stock?
Shares that are traded on the over-the-counter (OTC) market involve a broker-dealer network, as compared to a regulated market like the NASDAQ or NYSE, which are known as OTC stocks.
Most of the time, they are smaller businesses that may not meet all of the listing criteria of larger trading platforms. Even though some companies prefer to list primarily on over-the-counter (OTC) markets, many of them hope to eventually move up to the major exchanges, where raising large sums of money is much easier.
OTC Stock list
You can have all the information about the company’s financials on almost any finance app or website, but for accurate research, you should visit the company’s own website. On the Investor Relations page, you can usually find everything you need, such as financial filers, regulatory filings, and previous earnings report calls.
However to give you an outlook, we have provided below a list of a few eminent broker-dealer stocks:
What is Short Selling?
The practice of selling a stock that the merchant does not own is known as short selling. To be more specific, a short sale is the sale of a security that is promised to be delivered but is not owned by the seller.
A short selling position can be initiated by borrowing shares of a stock, or other capital that the investor believes will drop. The investor then sells the borrowed shares to buyers willing to pay the market price for those equities. . If the stocks’ price drops, they will purchase them at a reduced price. But, If the stock price rises, the vendor loses money because he has to buy it back at a higher price.
Let’s say an investor borrows $25,000 and purchases 1,000 shares at a price of $25 each. If the price of the shares drops to $20, the investor will end the position. To close the position, the investor must purchase 1,000 shares for $20 each, or $20,000. The investor keeps $5,000, or the difference between what he paid to close the position and what he got from the short sale.
How to Short A Stock?
You can short-sell a stock by following these steps:
Open A Margin Account
First of all, open a margin account as you will have to pay the debt on the loan because share lending from brokerages itself comes with a margin loan.
The Account Must Be Funded
According to Federal Reserve requirements, you will need cash or stock equity in that margin account as collateral to make the trade which has a shorting value of around 50%. You will be eligible then to place a short-sell order in your brokerage account if this condition is met.
Maintain Your Short Position
You should keep at least 25% of the account’s equity as collateral for the margin loan in order to maintain the short position.
Follow Your Account’s Policies
The short position can be held for as long as necessary. Keep in mind that you will have to meet the margin requirements at all times, along with payment of interest on the borrowed shares for as long as you hold them.
Buy Shares When They Drop
Close the short position by purchasing the borrowed shares at a lower price and returning them to the brokerage if the stock price falls. Keep a check on the net amount you pay if you want to make a profit.
Stocks that Can be Shorted
The stocks that provide speculators with a signal of quick profits are mostly shorted. Short interest, or the number of open short positions reported by brokerage firms on a particular date, is one of the market signals which is frequently expressed as a ratio or percentage. Let’s take a look at the most shorted stocks.
Tricida, Inc. (TCDA)
This industry is situated in South San Francisco, USA. As of November 2022, it was the most shorted stock, with 42.59 percent of its float being shorted by an American pharmaceutical company. It has a price of $0.25 with a short interest of 13,303 317 with an Average Volume of 10,561,69.
Bed bath and beyond Inc. (BBBY)
BBBY outperforms the market as a whole when compared to the annual performance of all stocks, with 96% of all stocks performing better. The stock has been trading between $2.96 and $4.78 over the past month, indicating that both the long-term and short-term trends are negative. The price is $3.79 with a short interest of 30,820,104 and the float shorted at 40.32%.
Vertex Energy Inc. (VTNR)
It is evident that VTNR has been one of the market’s most successful businesses when compared to the performance of all stocks over the past year. it has performed better than 96% as compared to other stocks. However, the significant shift around seven months ago may be responsible for the majority of this overall performance. Currently, the price is $8.01, short interest is 22,358,648 and float shorted at 37.51%.
PMV Pharmaceuticals Inc. (PMVP)
Although PMVP shows normal performance in the biotechnology industry, it has outperformed 44% of the other 631 organizations in a similar industry. Over the course of the past month, PMV Pharmaceuticals has been trading in a rather wide range, ranging from $9.19 to $13.02. The share price of this company is $10.38, and the interest is 11,538, 253 and the floating interest is 37.60%.
Upstart Holdings Inc. (UPST)
Over the past month, UPST has been trading in the $14.02 to $25.14 range. It creates a resistance zone while forming a band that runs from $18.52 to $18.61, and has emerged as a result of the intersection of a number of different trend lines across a number of time frames. The company’s share price is $20.2, interest rate is 24,723,978 and shorted float is 35.89%.
Margin Requirements
There are strict margin requirements for short selling because it basically involves selling stocks that are borrowed but not owned.
For that, the broker makes a margin account for a client, basically taking a loan from the client to purchase stocks. In most cases, the customer will be limited in the amount they can purchase by the broker.
Types of Margin Requirement
Initial Margin
The initial margin is the proportion of the security’s purchase price that must be paid with cash or collateral. The Federal Reserve Board’s Regulation T currently mandates a 50% initial margin. However, this regulation only covers the essentials; the initial margin requirement may be higher at some equity brokerage firms.
Maintenance Margin
It is the minimum amount of money that an investor must maintain in the margin account after making a purchase. According to the requirements of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), it is finalized to be at 25% of the total value of the stocks in a margin account.
Legality of Short Selling
Short Selling is a venture strategy that hypothesizes on the decrease in a stock or different stock cost.
The idea that short selling is against the law is one of the oldest rumors. Although it is frequently perceived as a harmless lie intended to discourage risky trading, it frequently confuses curious investors.
Let’s clarify one thing: short selling is a very risky business but it is completely legal. Short sellers are not cynics who try to prevent people from achieving economic success and financial satisfaction, but rather they help the trading function effectively by supplying liquidity and acting as a constraint on investors’ excessive optimism.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) took on Rule 10a-1 in 1937, also called the uptick rule, which expressed market members could legitimately undercut portions of stock provided that it happened on a cost higher than the past deal.
Methods to Identify Short-Sale Targets
Short-sellers are constantly targeted in markets, frequently caught in violent squeezes (market pressure) that disrupts even the most cautious stop-losses of traders. The percentage calculated by the rate of advancement, also known as the learning curve, alarms the traders and short sellers to beware of the possible losses. So, investing in a falling security is not enough to ensure long-term profitability.
Fundamental Analysis
Fundamental analysis (FA) uses related economic and financial factors to determine a stock’s intrinsic value. An investment’s intrinsic value is determined by the current market and economic conditions, as well as the financial situation of the issuing company.
From macroeconomic factors like the condition of the economy and industry position to microeconomic factors like the efficiency of the company’s governance, fundamental analysts investigate anything that has the potential to influence the amount of security.
In most cases, analysts study in the following order:
- The state of the economy as a whole.
- The particular industry’s strength.
- The financial upgrading of the stock-issuing company.
As a result, they are guaranteed to arrive at the stock’s true market value. The fact that the term “fundamentals” can refer to any aspect of a company’s financial health makes it difficult to define it. They can include anything from a company’s market share to the features of its management, in addition to numbers like revenue and gains.
There are further two categories of fundamental analysis:
Quantitative
They are a company’s measurable facets given in the hard numbers. Financial statements are thus the primary source of quantitative data. Measurements of assets, rewards, interests, profits and other factors are accurately done.
Qualitative
The qualitative fundamentals are harder to see as compared to quantitative. They could incorporate the nature of an organization’s key chiefs, brand-name acknowledgment, licenses, and restrictive innovations.
Technical Analysis
Technical analysis focuses on the study of price and volume, in contrast to fundamental analysis, which attempts to evaluate a stock’s value derived from the business outcomes like sales, deals and income.
This type of analysis involves the use of techniques by which monitoring of the demand and supply of stocks are studied and whether they are making any impact on price, proportion and volatility of the security. Any security with past and present trading data can be subjected to technical analysis. This includes equities, economic prospects, goods and services, set securities, currencies, and other financial assets.
Indeed, technical analysis is used much more frequently in merchandise and stock markets, where brokers are concerned with short-term price action. Rather than concentrating on a security’s basic features, technical analysis seeks to understand the investor sentiment underlying price trends by examining patterns and market dynamics.
Indication of Technical Analysis
Multiple researchers have developed various ways and signals to indicate and promote the trading based on technical analysis. Some indicators are largely concerned with locating the current demand trends, including support and opposition thresholds, whereas others are aimed at assessing the potency of a trend and the possibility that it will continue.
Generally, the following broad categories of indicators are examined by technical analysts:
- Market movement
- Trend analysis
- Momentum and quantity indicators
- Modulators
- Shifting average values
- Support and upthrust
Thematic
Thematic analysis involves investors or traders wagering against businesses whose marketing strategies or technical innovations are considered obsolete. Although it seems far-fetched in the sense that it would take much longer to conclude the outcome or the fortune of a security but can pay off very well if you predict it accurately.
How to Short Penny Stocks?
One of the most appealing trading techniques for many vendors is shorting penny stocks. This is due to the fact that the majority of penny stocks turn out to be primarily valued securities that once delisted, never relisted again. As a result, the idea of selling short penny stocks and making a quick, substantial profit is indeed alluring.
However, it should go without saying that the fundamentals of risk and reward dictate that wherever there is the potential for substantial profits, there is typically also the potential for substantial losses.
In order to short sell penny stock, follow the steps carefully that are mentioned below:
- Choose a stock that you think will fall in price so that you can buy it back at a lower price and make a profit.
- Taking a loan from a broker who is willing to give you shares when they have shares available to short is known as shorting. Until the shares are returned, your broker charges interest on the loan.
- After borrowing the shares, sell the stocks immediately in the industry or any market.
- Wait until the stock price declines. One the price gets down, it’s time for you yo get in real action again
- Buy back the stock. The difference between the price of the stock when it was borrowed and the price when it was purchased later gives rise to the profit.
- Return back the stocks to the person you borrowed them from initially. And when you find the opportunity, repeat the procedure again.
Identifying Stocks that are Being Shorted
Finding out how many investors are shorting which types of stocks might be of interest to many traders. Some investors even include tracking short interest in their strategies by looking for stocks that are heavily shorted in the hope that, in the event that the shorts are wrong, the stock will soar during a short squeeze.
On the third Monday of each month, data on stocks’ short interest are made available by exchange. NASDAQ is a helpful source and the data can be easily obtained online. Almost every stock, including those that trade on other exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange, has the level of short interest available for research. We’ll guide you in a few simple steps:
- Navigate to NASDAQ using your browser.
- Under the heading “Get Stock Quotes,” fill in the empty space with the symbol of the stock., Click the blue Info Quotes button under the blank.
- From the drop-down menu in the middle of the screen, select Short Interest.
Risks of Shorting
There are numerous types of risk when shorting a stock. Before you think about selling short stock, here are a few things to know about.
Potentially Limitless Losses
In contrast to purchasing shares of a stock, the price of the shorted stock may continue to rise. Theoretically, this indicates that the amount you would have to pay to replace the borrowed shares is unlimited.
For instance, if you take a short value on 100 shares of ABC stock at $80, the stock inflates to $100 instead of decreasing. To repay your borrowed shares, you will have to spend $10,000 with a loss of $2,000.
Sudden Change in Fees
The price of borrowing a stock fluctuates frequently in relation to supply, order and demand of the security. You could, for instance, log out of a short position at a rate of 30% one night and find that the next day it has increased to 95%.
Ultimately, it might no longer make sense for you to keep an open position. Worse yet, you are left with only huge spikes of cost when both the value of the shorted stock and the associated interest rate rise at the same time.
Dividend Payments
The shares that have been borrowed by short sellers don’t have the right to dividend payments. Additionally, on the pay date, the short seller’s account will be debited with the amount of any dividends paid, and the owner of the stock will receive it.
The recipients of dividend payments are determined by a set of dates:
- The day on which a company announces a dividend.
- The ex-dividend date, or simply the ex-date, is the first trading day on which stock buyers no longer qualify for a dividend that was previously declared. For instance, shareholders who purchased stock prior to March 10 are ineligible for a dividend with an ex-date of Monday, March 10.
- The record date is the deadline that the company sets to figure out which shareholders are eligible for a dividend. The record date is usually the coming business day after the ex-date because as the settlement of the purchase made by the share takes a maximum of two days.
- The dividend is credited to investors’ accounts on the payment date, also termed as the payable date, by the business
Margin Calls
You will be asked by your brokerage to deposit additional cash or securities to make up for the shortfall instantly, if the security in your margin account falls below the least valuation requirement, which is typically 30% to 35% of the value of the borrowed shares, regulated by your own personal bond and the company.
Although a margin call may appear to only affect giant traders, it can also affect small investors who buy equities on margin or with borrowed funds. The process is as follows:
- Add more money to your account equivalent to maintenance margin level
- Add more securities to your account
- Sell equities, possibly at a lower price, to redeem the shortage.
Having no margin account at all is the simplest way to avoid margin calls. Buying bonds on margin is not necessary to earn satisfactory returns progressively unless you are an expert trader
Short Squeezes
In the financial markets, a phenomenon known as a “short squeeze” occurs when a sudden increase in the cost of an asset forces investors to close their bearings that they formerly sold short. The short sellers are then enforced to move out of the market by the strong buying pressure.
You take a short position on a stock that you think is overvalued. Borrowing money and selling shares at the current increased price in the hope that the price will fall and you can buy new shares at a much lower cost.
However, the stock price begins to rise as a result of an event. That event could be a positive earnings report, favorable industry news, or simply a large number of other investors purchasing the stock. You realize that the stock cannot be purchased back at a low price. It is ascending rather than sinking, and its value exceeds your purchase price.
At this stage, you are left with two possible options: either you purchase shares for replacement expensively or comes at a loss by paying your broker back, or you must buy shares more than you require in the anticipation that selling them for profit will cover your losses. The stock continues to rise as a result of all this increased buying. This tightens the grip on even more short sellers
Basic Strategies on Shorting Penny Stocks
If done correctly and accurately, short selling has the complete potential to be profitable. However, if something goes wrong, it is extremely risky, you might end up owing money to your broker. However there are a few strategies that you can adopt for a sound experience of short penny stocks:
Overextended Gap Down
Keeping an eye on runners who run for multiple days is a common short-selling tactic. Watch for the price to have doubled or more since the beginning of its run and three or more green days in a row.The ideal time to short is when the stock opens lower, either before the market opens or immediately after, with less volume than on preceding days. You are looking forward to a morning dip.
Some of the time these stocks get blurred throughout the remainder of the day, yet the morning dip can be the most unsurprising. Longs who are weak will sell their positions, hopefully with some stops removed as well.
Key Support Crack
Some stocks consolidate over a firm support level after a lengthy runup. Wait until the stock has less volume than in previous days. Shortly thereafter, the support breaks. Take care because shorting before the support crack could send you flying.
Bounce Short
The strategy entails holding a short position until the stock drops far enough to reach a support level. Then bounces shortly to make up for the bounce, putting an end to the short position at this low point.
The bounce is used by the trader or investor as a sign that the price will fall slightly, but not significantly, to compensate for the bounce. The risk of employing this strategy is that after reaching the lower support level, upward movement may not be an expected bounce but rather a complete reversal.
Stock Pumps
This strategy basically involves buying the stock in secret and promoting it through social media and newsletters to hype up a buying frenzy. Promoters then sell the stock when the price is high, driving the price down. These manipulators frequently employ a tactic known as a pump and dump.
When you short while the price is high, you can take advantage of inexperienced traders who are buying into the puff and maximize the profits. When the hype and puff drops down, it will be simple for you to locate shares to short sell because there will be a lot of buying activity.
Negative News
Negative news can depress stock prices. Additionally, news can take some time to move penny stocks in particular. You may be able to short the weakness if you recognize a negative stimulant and the cost action has not yet completely priced it in.
An example of negative news could be the kind of deceptive advertising that makes the claim that it will reveal a special secret that the financial expert used to acquire a luxurious car and a lakefront mansion. For a low one-time fee, the expert promises to teach you how to trade penny stocks.
How to Short Sell Safely?
Before you start short selling, you should carefully decide if it is the right trading or investing strategy. Because there is no limit to how high a share price can go, losses can also be endless. It is essential to acknowledge that the potential for loss increases with the number of shares that rise. Your lent shares will have to be returned, but you might have to purchase them back at a higher cost, which could result in losses.
Although it is impressive to approach a peak heightened stock, you should also be mindful of the processes that come in the way of reaching that height. Follow these safety measure for a more better experience:
Avoid First Green Days
Don’t shorten the initial green days. It’s best to wait for the first red day before cutting after several green days.
There are a few things to keep an eye on when attempting to trade the first green day pattern. You want to see a catalyst for good news. It’s possible that you need a lot of stock volume. Additionally, you want that interest to continue. The stock will be able to make its next move at this level of support.
Avoid Parabolic Moves
To short big mimetic moves, there is a lot at stake. Most importantly, when new highs are being made by the stock or stopping in between the process. It’s possible that you don’t have any protection levels to guide you as you set your risk level, so you can set it however you want.
Avoid Low Float Stocks
A float of less than 10 million shares indicates a low float. After a media release, these stocks may experience a persistent downtrend and a significant squeeze. The actions are quick and sudden. So it is better to avoid the risk.
Avoid Choppy Stocks
These shares are widely distributed. They squeeze harder when you least expect it, showing classic signs of weakness. One such example is OTCQB: CytoDyn Inc.
When the stock goes red, shorts think the stock is weak. They anticipate its eventual demise. However, it can quickly turn around and squeeze shorts out. Short sellers frequently invest in the same stock. In an effort to demonstrate that they are correct, they will take losses on volatile stocks. So, avoid being that kind of trader.
Check Out How Short Selling Works:
The fact that mutual funds, particularly grand ones, affect stock prices is not surprising. The outcomes will demonstrate to investors how even a fund that appears to be performing well may not be returning with its fees. Following are a few circumstances that prove the additional hidden cost of selling a stock short:
Hard to Borrow
Short-term borrowings may not always be readily available. Therefore, investors cannot trade the stock. They would miss a great opportunity if they waited. On other occasions, the broker includes a hard-to-borrow fee to the shares in order to make those short borrows available. Shorts will cost you more that way.
Forced Buy-In
Forced buy in is when your securities are required to be protected by the broker, i. It can happen suddenly or after a margin call. Such as when you borrow more on margin than your account allows. In order to keep your account within your allowed margin size, the broker must buy a few of your positions.
Short-Sale Rule
After a stock has descended down to 10% from its former closing price, the short-sale rule (SSR) kicks in. Short sellers can only short the uptick with the short sale rule. The purpose of this SEC rule is to stop equity panics. However, these four short-sale rules must be followed by both experienced and amateur investors.
Permission is required
You will need permission to access margin trading prior to short selling. A margin account can be set up with the assistance of a brokerage.
The Margin Account’s Funding
You will need to add 50% of your potential stock proceeds to your margin account in order to meet the 150 percent funding requirement for margin accounts. You will need to add $500 to your account if you have 100 shares that are selling for $10 each.
Pay Interest
Borrowing stocks comes with costs, and the broker or brokerage from which the stocks are acquired will charge you interest.
When Stocks Are Going Down, You Cannot Buy
You can only place an order for a short sale when the security is secure and growing. Short sales are not permitted when the price of a stock drops.
$2.50 Rule
This rule applies to shorting stocks priced below $2.50 and is enforced by some brokers. Even if the stock is sold at a much lower price, you will still need $2.50 in capital for each share.
Borrow Fees and Dividends
The interest rate that short sellers must pay is known as borrow fees. They fluctuate by stock and are influenced by the stock’s demand and borrowing difficulty. Short-sellers are also required to pay dividends on dividend dates, so they must keep an eye out for them.
Best Stocks to Short Under $5
Stocks below $5 have a natural attraction. Penny stocks are another name for these securities. Some people will argue that penny stocks should not trade above $1. However, lately, investors have accepted the definition of penny stocks as any stock that consistently trades below $5. Here are a few of the best stocks under $5.
CES Energy solutions $2.00 per share
CES Energy Solutions Corp. has its headquarters in Calgary, Canada, and was founded in 1986. In June 2017, the company changed its name to CES Energy Solutions Corp. from Canadian Energy Services & Technology Corporation. This company produces, designs, and implements advanced chemicals and fluids for use in the future. The Average Trading Volume is 36,744 shares with a market cap of $747.44M.
Vasta Platform $3.814 per Share
Vasta Platform Ltd is a Brazilian educational company that provides complete digital and educational solutions. The volume and average of this stock is 9.1k and 16.5k respectively with a market cap of $315.1M.
Electrameccanica Vehicles Corp. $4.32 per Share
The EV manufacturer based in Vancouver designs bespoke automobiles. In 2020, the company generated $568,521 in revenue, giving it a market cap of $478.72 million.
LiveXLive Media, Inc. $3.99 per Share
LiveXLive Media, Inc., based in California, digitizes live events so that viewers can stream with much convenience. With over 1000 scheduled events, the company provides a worldwide network for live web, streaming and sought-after audio, video, and podcast content in pop culture, comedy, and music. It has a market cap of around $0.24 Billion.
Abeona Therapeutics Inc. $1.62 per Share
Abeona Therapeutics Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company with headquarters in New York. It was established in 1974 with the goal of developing gene and cell therapies for hazardous strange genetic disorders, such as Sanfilippo syndrome (types A and B). The company generates $10 million in revenue and has a market cap of $150.5 million.
FAQs
Can I Short on Spot?
Yes you can short on spot but you can only use assets that you own. It is an over the counter transfer-based trading as spot trading involves buying or selling assets and economical instruments like bonds, cryptocurrencies, forex trade, and securities directly. The asset is delivered immediately from the spot market. But keep in mind there is no margin or trading leverage available when investing on spot markets.
What Broker Allows you to Short Penny Stocks?
Your requirements, objectives, and interests will determine the ideal broker for you to use while short-selling. Since there isn’t a single factor that should be taken into account when choosing a brokerage, it is important to prioritize the factors that are most important to you. These include market information, competitive markets, trading conditions, royalties, customer support, analytic tools, and platform accessibility.
Most likely, one of the following brokers is your best option:
- Cobra Trading
- Trade Zero
- Fidelity investments
- TD Ameritrade
- Centerpoint securities
- First Trade
How Many OTC Stocks Are There?
There are a total of 12,000 over the counter stocks. The stock exchanges that list these securities are referred to as OTC markets. Over-the-counter stocks are listed on three distinct stock exchanges, despite the fact that they are frequently referred to as a single large financial market:
OTCQX
Out of the three, this is the most selective and best stock exchange. It has the highest reporting standards and strictest oversight. It typically includes companies in the United States that intend to eventually list on the NYSE or the Nasdaq as well as foreign organizations that list on major international exchanges. On this exchange, 4% of all OTC stocks listed are traded.
OTCQB
The OTCQB is frequently referred to as the “venture market” due to its large concentration of growing businesses. Companies listed on OTCQB are required to submit financial reports and undergo some oversight.
Pink Sheets
Companies exchanged on the Pink Sheets, additionally now and again called the OTC Pink Sheets, have no revealing necessities and don’t need to enlist with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Pink Sheets contain the majority of stocks that come under the category of penny stocks.
How do Short Sellers Hurt a Company?
Technically, when you sell a stock short, you are contributing your own cash, selling other people’s shares, and taking responsibility for changes in the share price. You lose money if the stock rises. You earn money if the stock falls.
The problem here is that if a fund manager or trader with a lot of money comes in and shorts a lot of stock, it could be disastrous. The stock will begin to decline and this downfall of stock price directly hurts the company.
- As the company’s value decreases, the company also dramatically loses bank credits.
- Shareholders become enraged and lose money.
- Investor-held stock options suffer damage and may be worthless. Holders of options begin to lose money too.
- As the share price falls, cash flow goes down, and this could lead to the company going out of business.
Therefore, a short seller is the company’s foe and directly contributes to its demise.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, short selling an OTC stock is wagering against a security by trading borrowed shares, reclaiming them, and then reciprocating them later. It is a comparatively complex and risky trading strategy that necessitates a margin account and thorough stock market knowledge. We have come to know that an investment strategy that does not involve borrowing money could result in much greater losses than one that does.
One of the many tools a professional trader has at their disposal is short selling. Discipline is required more than with other strategies due to the higher costs and risks. So, it is often preferable to try shorting once you are eligible enough in terms of trading experience and have gained enough confidence.
