Book excerpt: Come over to the short side. 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 a dvanced trading techniques such as selling calls, hedging, bear call spreads, selling puts on short ETFs, and more