I’m going to cover intraday short-selling strategies that work for me. It can work for you if you put the time and patience in to learn about short selling. Another plus is that you can trade in a bearish market. Which one could argue is coming upon us now? Did you know that you can make money when stock prices fall? For proof, look no further than short selling.
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Intraday Short Selling Strategies Introduction
Intraday short-selling strategies allow you to make money on bearish moves. You typically want to open and close these trades on the same day. You borrow shares to ride the momentum down when you short a stock. That means you never actually own the stock. Sounds a little weird, right?
Did you know some brokers don’t allow shorting? Brokers like TD Ameritrade don’t. Whereas brokers like Interactive Brokers do. As a result, if you’re going too short or want to learn, make sure your broker will allow it.
Then, it would be best if you practiced shorting at resistance and covering at support. That way, you can see what the best intraday short-selling strategies are for you. The more you practice, the better you’ll be.
Why Volume Is Important
No matter how you slice it, Volume is the number of shares traded during a given time frame. It could mean the number of shares traded hourly, daily, or weekly, depending on your trading style. To that end, every stock experiencing a surge in Volume will have associated volume spikes and Volume crashes.
As a trader, it’s essential to look for stocks with high Volume because those are the stocks in play. When you are trading low-volume stocks – think less than 20,000 shares of Volume; they might as well have no volume. Not to be negative, but you won’t be able to trade them because they display no discernable patterns or volatility.
Consider it: Volume is a good indicator of a trader’s emotions. For proof, look no further than the wild ride we saw with GameStop. Therefore, that’s why we follow the Volume.
What Is Short Selling?
Short selling might seem intimidating for newbies on the block, but it doesn’t have to be. In an attempt to untangle the so-called maze called short selling, let me start at the basics. Fundamentally, shorting is simply selling and repurchasing shares at a lower price.
More importantly, you profit when the stock goes down, yes, down. One vital piece you must grasp to profit in short selling is understanding stock float, which refers to short interest. So keep that in mind as you look for intraday short-selling strategies that work for you.
Stock Float
Stock Float is the number of shares currently available for the general public to trade and invest in. Some stocks have a low float, while others have a high float. To calculate float, you take the total outstanding shares and subtract the closely held and restricted ones.
There are a few reasons to be interested in trading low-float stocks. More often than not, low-float stocks are more volatile than large-float stocks. Since fewer shares are available to trade, it makes them harder to buy and sell. What are the characteristics of low-float stocks?
- Stocks with a float of 10-20 million shares;
- Lower relative volume (RVOL);
- You may not get the price you want because finding a buyer or seller can take longer.
COURSE |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| DESCRIPTION | Learn how to read penny stock charts, premarket preparation, target buy and sell zones, scan for stocks to trade, and get ready for live day trading action | Learn how to buy and sell options, assignment options, implement vertical spreads, and the most popular strategies, and prepare for live options trading | How to read futures charts, margin requirements, learn the COT report, indicators, and the most popular trading strategies, and prepare for live futures trading |
| INCLUDED | Daily watch lists • Trade rooms • Trading scanners • Discord • Live streaming Day Trading > | Daily watch lists • Trade rooms • Options scanners • Discord • Live streaming Options > | Futures target levels • Trade rooms • Real time teaching • Discord • Live streaming Futures > |
Is Intraday Short Selling Risky?
Any trading you do is going to be risky. And yes, that includes short selling. However, intraday short-selling strategies are designed to give you the best outcome for success. It’s up to you to work to make that happen. You’ll be a great trader if you’re willing to learn, study, and practice. Dedication is all it takes.
Short Interest
Short interest is simply the percentage of the stock’s float currently in a short position. Likewise, a stock with a high short-interest ratio has increased shares sold short and a low number available to trade.
Depending on how you view it, a high short interest can be a warning or an opportunity.
Remember, stocks, just like roller coasters, must come back down. And when you think of it that way, the only short-selling strategy you need to know is how to trade the reversal.
So, look for patterns when determining intraday short-selling strategies you want to trade. Candlestick patterns are a great indicator of movement.
Trading the Reversal
So, how does one know when the stock price will come crashing back down? After all, we know that it makes intuitive sense, and it will. In the most basic sense, we use a few indicators to help us identify when the ride will reverse.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to picking indicators. But some may scream a reversal is coming louder than others – think 20/9 MA cross, 50 SMA crossover to the downside with waning volume. Now might be the time to short!
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Pay Attention to the Morning Breakout
Let me start with a classic momentum trading strategy we commonly see at market opening. For reasons I won’t discuss here, most breakouts happen at the market open. Naturally, after a certain amount of time, the stock becomes overextended.
Remember our roller coaster above; the car can’t keep going up forever. Eventually, there’s a pullback when traders who bought in low will want to sell to make a profit.
But lurking in the background are the short-sellers who sell at the high because they anticipate the reversal.
This is the point where the reversal trading strategy comes into play. The trading that’s done after a huge surge or breakout allows you to short the stock as it reverses its trend to pullback.
Final Thoughts: Intraday Short Selling Strategies
You hope the price will increase when you “go long” or buy a stock. The most you can lose is the upfront cost to enter the trade. But your profits are unlimited if the price keeps going up and up and up. In other words, there’s no ceiling you can hit.
On the contrary, when you short-sell a stock, you hope it falls to zero and hits the floor. But what if the tides turn and the prices rise? Without a ceiling, there’s no limit to the amount you can lose. Luckily, this can be avoided with tight stop-losses and proper risk management. We show you how here in our risk management video.
There is no shortage of trading strategies out there. Whatever strategy you choose, you need to find the one that works for you and stick with it. Short selling is a great way to make significant profits, but it’s not for the inexperienced or faint of heart. That’s because a lot can go wrong when it comes to a short sale, so learn your favorite intraday short selling strategies.
The most important thing you can do is ensure you’ve done your homework. This type of trading is a very complicated game, and you don’t want to find yourself on the wrong side of a trade. Let us help you in your trading journey. We have thousands of free courses and videos to get you started. Be prepared for every trading day in the market by joining our team!
