I've really been struggling with that issue as well...I'd LOVE to short stocks in our IRA which is where most of my trading occurs...what I have been doing is put calendars on stocks I think will be going down. Selling bear call spreads would be another way of essentially shorting stock. Even a combo sell the bear call spread to finance the put if you feel the stock will go down...come to think of it thats probably the best way to short stock in an IRA The other which as been mentioned is beta weight your portfolio then buy spx puts (near term) as an over-all hedge. I had bought spx puts (FOTM) on thurs am and it certainly has cushioned the last two days where a couple of my stocks have turned down. But in an IRA you'll never be able to play fast and loose with GOOG
A collar is just a bull vertical (less commissions). You have not gone long the downside unless I misunderstand your meaning.
You are correct, you are not long the downside in the pure sense of the meaning of a short. However, the main question is how to short in an IRA. To my knowledge shorting stock in an IRA is not possible. A collar is a short of sorts (admitted stretching the idea of shorting). More accurately it's really hedging/protecting. If you are long the underlying and you collar it, you will really only protect yourself from the downside rather than taking advantage of that downside. So, your attitude towards the underlying is bearish, but pure capitalization upon the downside is limited due to the fact that the underlying is experiencing losses as well. More protective than short. Really just another idea of how to take advantage/lessen the downside of current long positons