Darkhorse, I don't know if it's all dishonesty. I would imagine a high percentage of long only traders would have bypassed the folder because of the name, and that it would have drawn in the short traders for the same reason. The percentage seems high, but due how the poll was presented, it's probably close to how the folder's population actually trades instead of the general public's trading.
was looking for that point too.... from aug-nov 2001, i only traded the long side (hod-breakouts), i didnt like the short side too much, because stocks were behaving totally different on the shortside (at least i thought it...) but in the past months i must admit i feel much more comfortable on the shortside. i´d even say that i´m really afraid of a bull-market, because i think i dunno how to go long (90% short-trades).... kev
KARABUNGA, that was hilarious..HAHAHHAHAHA! CAN'T GO LONG...HAHAHAH! that's a good one..hahahha ps hahahaha try viagra hahahha
(which killed the fasterpussycat btw ), theoretically if you shorted a stock all the way to the very bottom which I believe is .0001 on OTCBB what if the company ceased to exist? Would you now own the short sell funds and the original holder just be out? Or must you cover at .0001? Not relavent of course but just wondered.
I don't know where darkhorse comes up with the impression that most traders have long bias...I sit in a few chat rooms and the majority of futures traders I know, myself included, have a major short bias... As for futures traders who have a long bias, I also find that hard to believe...Personally, I think that most stock traders come into the futures markets mainly because they have a short side bias, but the mechanics of shorting equities seems to troublesome and they see the ease with which they can just sell futures and cover lower... This long side bias stuff would probably have alot to do with the first few profitable trades a trader had, assuming that he/she did not get blown out turning trades into "buy and hold"...But even Dennis says that the majority of traders he had come across displayed a bias towards one side of the market based almost exclusively on their first few big winners... While I would agree that ideally the proper state of mind is to think buy/sell with equal detachment, there are different mechanics to each side of the trade...Unless you have a short covering market, the long side typically requires a different sort of patience...The short side is the "instant gratification" side of the market...
I used to be a commodity broker, worked w/ everyone from cattle hedgers to russian hedge funds, every time frame from 30 seconds to six months- active in 30 different contracts spread over six major market groups and seen just about every style/strategy conceivable. I never said that most futures traders have long bias, only that most STOCK traders have a long bias, and I think that's still most definitely the case. I also think any bias either way is illogical for a short term trader as one needlessly misses out on half the opportunities that way. Most of us have our pet theories on the intermediate to longer term direction of markets, but that shouldn't affect trading strategies focused on the next few minutes or few days. It's illogical.