Product Description
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
Sell Short: A Simpler, Safer Way to Profit When Stocks Go Down
22 Jul
3:06 pm on July 22nd, 2010
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’.
Rating: 2 / 5
5:08 pm on July 22nd, 2010
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.
Rating: 1 / 5
5:53 pm on July 22nd, 2010
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.
Rating: 4 / 5
7:52 pm on July 22nd, 2010
I like the book — I wrote it – and I just noticed a review that found a glaring editorial mistake in the book. The reviewer found the book contained in an incorrect definition of a put, calling into question my credibility — a good point. My defense is simple — it was not there in the final galley proofs, actually it was, along with an estimated 1000 mistakes (no kidding) and I made a correction that did not make it into the printed version of the book. John Wiley is the largest and most successful financial publisher in the world and I can only assume the issues with the book are the exception that prove the rule of Wiley’s excellence. In my defense, I have bee training options for 25 years,my newsletter service ChangeWave Shorts has been successful and has a loyal following and I can be found at [...] for those of you who want to see if I know what I am talking about before you buy. My thanks to the gentleman who discovered the mistake and if anyone has questions, contact me at mshulman@investoremedia.com.
Rating: 5 / 5
9:32 pm on July 22nd, 2010
The author correctly stated: “this is not a trading system”. For disclosure my comments are based on about a 45 minute study of a friend’s copy. This is a nice read especially for a beginner to get a further overall perspective of things, it is not a roadmap to quickly put money in your pocket which makes me question the validity of another reviewer here. As those in the know(many of whom have been there and tried that) will confirm selling short/playing the short side should not even be a part of the game plan in the management of a 6 or 7 figure 401k(playing with ETF(s) as you can’t short) or that 6 figure trading account at a Scottrade. The one specific I take issue with is the suggested use of ETF(s) for playing the short game/side. They are far too inefficient vehicles, just look at the charts of the likes of a FAS, FAZ, or SRS and then try to explain to me how they in anyway accomplished in their own right their intended purpose over the last 12 or 18 months.
Rating: 3 / 5