We can't short stocks where I live. We can only short stock futures. Therefore, I was wondering, if I were to analyze past price action, would I use the stock's historical data or the historical data specifically of stock futures? I contacted brokers, but they don't know where I can get historical data for "stock futures".
You could have bothered to search in Google. Futures are separate from stocks. Daily historical data can be obtained from yahoo. Finer level data is sold for money.
I don't know if you have access to options markets and if the stocks you are looking to short have sufficient options liquidity - If so, syntectics (long put / short call with the same strike/expiration) may be a better alternative (depending on costs / liquidty / time in trade) than stock futures.
I don't have access to options markets as there are no options where I live. Besides that, brokers even don't know where to get historical data for stock futures. I have tried every place, I don't know where to get it from...I trade in PSX (Pakistan Stock Exchange).
Not every stock has futures contracts. Are you certain that the stocks you are interested in have futures available?