The most successful day traders evaluate each trade on it merits and determine if the trade should be long or short without any predisposition.
That's like asking if you think the next person you will see will either be male or female, Or, more or less, if the coin will be heads or tails this time, You should be completely neutral, have no bias for direction, on a day time frame scale. If you are an investor in a mutual fund or something...then it's Ok to say you think it will go Up, It's kind of silly, from a day perspective, to have more inclination for one direction over another, This applies to everything in the market -- not just your question of stocks, If you are an observant and smart trader...you should have already answered your own question, Great traders are inquisitive and insightful and self-directed, I don't even know my day up side/down side bets...nor does it matter that much to me, You have to be Very open-minded and nimble and calm...to succeed in day trading, or the shorter the time frame, While being an investor...it's Ok to be rather stubborn/dumb/stiff with your convictions,
Sure sure.. on the surface. However, some people will no doubt have had more success trading one way or the other. Perhaps their methods are better for one direction, or perhaps there are inherent market basis one way or the other- such as shorting on uptick and the need to borrow the stock. Certainly, longterm investing has produced far more winners specializing on the long side- for obvious reasons. I am not implying day trading and long-term investing are analogous, but am illustrating a point. Thank you for your reply. Hopefully, winning traders will add what has has worked best for them along with possible reasons.