Please drop here hints on what you do to make money trading options; your trading rules. You don't have to give details!
If your broker does not let you sell an optionable stock short you can create a synthetic short with options: Buy a nearby put and sell a call short at the same strike.
I always have some credit spreads on in stocks and indices to pay for some of my long option premiums.
I would not think of averaging a losing stock trade up or down but sometimes I daytrade scaling liquid options up and down because the risk is truly limited.