Sell Short: A Simpler, Safer Way to Profit When Stocks Go Down [Hardcover]

Michael Shulman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2009

Praise for Sell Short

"I know of no other book designed for the needs of the individual investor or trader looking to make money on a broken company or market segment. He turned shorting stocks from something many see as 'the dark side' of investing into a great way to make money in any market."
—Toby Smith, panelist, Fox News Channel's Bulls and Bears and founder and editor, ChangeWave Investing

"Sell Short is a great book for anyone who wants to be able to trade all markets. Michael uses sound option strategies to show how to play from the short side with limited risk and that's what investing and making money is all about: controlling risk! Sell Short isn't just a guide to trading—it is a complete method for identifying opportunities and managing a portfolio. I'll bet we all wish we'd read Sell Short last year, but trust me, these strategies work in any market!"
—Jon "Doctor J" Najarian, Cofounder, OptionMonster.com

"Michael's approach to shorting stocks proves that solid research in uncertain, volatile markets does pay off. In a world of congenital optimists and crowded with long-only advisory services, Sell Short is a terrific primer for all investors seeking to make money on both sides of the market."
—Bryan Perry, editor, Tactical Trader and author, The 25% Cash Machine

"The events of the recent past have shown that this book is overdue. Michael Shulman shows traders how to focus on individual stocks and sectors that are underperforming and then profit from them. An invaluable tool to complement any investor's trading strategies."
—Gerald Scheinman, Alcyone Capital Management, LLC

"Michael has been spot on about the financial and economic crises for more than two years, way ahead of most in the financial industry. He tells it like it is, avoids the fluff, and has an uncanny ability to zero in on the critical aspects of the issues. He writes easily, with clarity and humor—and a reader always knows where Michael stands on an issue or how to execute a trade."
—William Hyman, Investor

"Both institutional fund managers and retail investors will find Sell Short profoundly informative for identifying multiple ways to approach protecting downside risk in a portfolio as well as simply making money on the short-side. As a long-oriented fund, the downdraft of 2008 made it abundantly clear that everyone needs to have a deep base of 'short' knowledge in order to generate strong returns. Shulman's book should prove invaluable to novices and experts alike."
—Jon Plexico, Stonepine Capital LP

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Ever since Dutch trader Isaac Le Maire invented short selling in 1609 (and evoked the first ban on it), short selling has been seen as the dark side of stock trading—slightly suspect and too intricate for individual investors. Today, short selling is an integral part of all markets and new tools can make it as simple as buying stocks.

As Michael Shulman explains in this book, a short seller is a profit-seeking contrarian who sees opportunities others do not as a stock or market segment moves down. In Sell Short, Shulman turns the mystery of short selling inside out, revealing how using the same fundamental approach underlying the purchase of a stock can lead to tremendous opportunities on the short side.

Shulman does not believe traditional short selling is a good trading approach for individuals and this simple, but comprehensive overview of short selling focuses on buying puts or, in some situations, exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Throughout these pages, Shulman reveals the day-to-day details needed to generate short side profits. He describes how short selling works and how individual investors can best identify compelling opportunities before Wall Street finds them. Shulman also helps you to determine what part of your portfolio will fund short selling, what percentage of your capital should go to the short side, and how big each position should be.

Filled with in-depth insights and straightforward advice, Sell Short walks you through the mechanics of opening, managing, and closing a position, including rolling or pressing a position to increase profits. (Shulman does cover traditional shorting, though, in case you'd like to take that route.)

Step by step, this book prepares you to:

• Prospect for gold in fading stocks

• See opportunities that Wall Street misses

• Create, manage, and exit a position

• Short stocks, markets, and indices as well as specific sub-segments of the market, real estate (through REITs), commodities, and even countries

• Create the "rocket-fueled trade"—the higher-risk purchase of calls on double inverse ETFs

• Explore advanced trading techniques such as selling calls, hedging, bear call spreads, selling puts on short ETFs, and more

There is no better guide for individual investors to the short side of the market than Michael Shulman. He is the man who shorted Bear Stearns seven days before its historic meltdown and predicted in September 2008 that WaMu and Wachovia would follow Lehman down the tubes. His newsletter, ChangeWave Shorts, has been a leading source for individual short sellers.

In this volatile market, opportunities abound if you have the will and the know-how to reach for them. Are you ready to come over to the short side?

About the Author

Michael Shulman is the Editor of ChangeWave Shorts, a weekly newsletter from InvestorPlace Media that educates and informs readers on short selling stocks, providing specific recommendations on opening, managing, and closing short positions. In 2007 and 2008 his recommendations produced average returns greater than 50 percent. At ChangeWave, he was the founding manager of their research services for institutional investors, hedge fund investing, and ChangeWave Insight and also created and wrote ChangeWave Biotech Investor. Mr. Shulman was the founder and CEO of AtYourBusiness.com; an executive board member of NextGen Capital, a venture fund based in Fairfax, Virginia; and spent many years in the technology industry in Silicon Valley. His work has been published in a variety of trade, general business, and online venues, including SeekingAlpha.com, the Los Angeles Times, the Motley Fool, and Worth online. He has been a guest on Fox Business, CNBC, and the Options Trading Network and is a regular speaker at various money shows and traders expos around the country.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 225 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047041233X
• ISBN-13: 978-0470412336
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #878,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Shulman Sells the Reader Short, September 21, 2009

By 

Ramal Murali (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sell Short: A Simpler, Safer Way to Profit When Stocks Go Down (Hardcover)

Sell Short recommends a strategy using Puts to profit from Falling Stocks.
In Chapter 3, Mr. Shulman asks "What Exactly Is a Put?" and then goes on in the paragraph that follows with an utterly wrong definition and/or description which would leave an investor/trader totally mis-informed of the definition of a Put. This one paragraph (which deals with the most critical concept for Sell Short - buying a Put option) shows the carelessness in writing and publishing the book 'Sell Short'. Given this carelessness, how can any reader have confidence in other aspects covered in the book by Mr. Shulman?

By the way, John Wiley and Sons has published other books (example: Trade Options Online by George A. Fontanills) which cover their subject well and with care. I have also read several other books on options and each one of them is written with care for accuracy and clarity of concepts explained. I was disappointed with the glaring error in Mr. Shulman's 'Sell Short'.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Book is NOT about shorting stocks, January 23, 2010

By 

D. Sanpei "Non fiction enthusiast" (Utah) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sell Short: A Simpler, Safer Way to Profit When Stocks Go Down (Hardcover)

This book is NOT about shorting stocks. The author specifically says multiple times in the book that he does not recommend ever shorting stocks. He does describe how you can play the short side of the market through option puts, but does not advocate or describe how best to short a stock other than to say, "...don't do it."

I was sorely disappointed because I already know about options extensively. I trade puts long and short all the time. The problem with puts are that the spreads sometimes are too large, liquidity is too low, or they aren't even offered on many stocks that I want to trade on the short side.

If you want to trade from the short side of the market using puts and are very new to the world of options then perhaps this book will be of use. If you want to learn about shorting - save your money.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Real Author, Real Trader, May 25, 2009

By 

Thomas A. Kennedy (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sell Short: A Simpler, Safer Way to Profit When Stocks Go Down (Hardcover)

I just happened to purchase Sell Short in San Francisco prior to attending the 2009 Money Show in Las Vegas. Generally well written, I finished the book over the weekend before meeting the author. On the plus side, the author emphasizes collecting your own anecdotal evidence before making a trade. This leads to an emphasis on fundamental over technical analysis. Over the past 30 years, I have made significant success using this approach. On the negative side, the stories that the author uses as examples, while good ones, tend to be repeated throughout the book. I would definitely purchase any new books published by this author. My recommendation would be that he be a little sharper in the use of techical analysis as a second step in his process. Additional recommendation: Go to hear this author speak at one of the money shows. Unlike so many salesmen at those things, he knows his business and articulates it well.