MarketFest, >> puts and put spreads <<
According to 'the rules', you only short during an established downtrend, where you either maintain a short position or short the rallies.
Conversely, in an uptrend you either stay long or buy the dips, but never short until that trend has clearly reversed to become a downtrend.
So by the conservative rules you never try to pick a top or pick a bottom. Anyway, we all routinely forget/ignore these most basic rules :o)
Will Rogers had the right approach -
“Buy stocks that go up; if they don’t go up, don’t buy them”
:o)