There are several ways to go short.
Method 1. Just short the stock directly. For example, Yahoo's stock YHOO. You can first borrow stocks from a brokerage firm and sell them. When Yahoo falls, buy the stock back and return it to the brokerage. Earn the difference. This is the exact opposite of going long.
Method 2. There are many companies in the U.S. stock market with corresponding options (Options) for their stocks. Options have an expiry date of one month and two months. . . . One year due etc. There is also a price difference. For example, Yahoo has an option with an underlying price of 10 yuan, 15 yuan. . . . wait. Relative to the expiration time, the underlying price, there are long (CALL) and short (PUT). If you own the stock, you can sell the option to someone else (it's kind of like "issuing" the option yourself). This is called a "write" operation (WRITE). . . . . Okay, here’s a preliminary introduction to options. So if you go short, you have two options. 1. It is to directly buy short options (buy PUT). This investment is low. 2. After buying the stock, "write" the long option to others. Regardless of whether the stock rises or falls, as long as the underlying price is above the current price, a long option is written. There is almost nothing that is not profitable.
Method 3. In the U.S. stock market, the Dow Jones Index, S&P 500 Index, and S&P 100 Index. . . Every index has options. Options operations are the same as stock options. But individuals cannot do the "write" operation. To be bearish on the stock market, you can buy short options (PUT).
Method 4. There are now short-selling ETFs in the U.S. stock market. For example, short the Dow Jones Index (DXD), short the Nasdaq ETF (QID), and short the Financial Services Index ETF (SKF). . . . Wait, there are more and more tricks. If you don’t want to take too much short-selling risk, the benefits of investing in this type of ETF can be considerable. Because ETFs are operated by experts.
Method 5. Futures trading. Futures trading is separate from the stock market. The main one is the Chicago Board of Trade. Stock index futures have fewer options than options. Generally, few people do stock index futures.