How to make money if the Market falls?

[RJR]

I am very conservative and have never "speculated" before. But sooner or later a correction will have to happen to the market. What recommendations does anyone have on how to capitalize on this? I know a little about futures, options, etc.

[boneil]

You can short stocks, or market ETFs like the SPY or QQQ
you can buy long inverse ETFs like SH or PSQ, which will move inversely of the market you are tracking
you can also buy or short leveraged ETFs like the SQQQ or SDS, which will move 2x or 3x. Of course there are different margin requirements and fees for different ETFs.

Options are risky. You risk the premium payed and pricing of options are affected by many different factors, like time and volatility. buying Puts are straight forward. You need to understand what it is you are buying and what it means. Like strike price, premium, contract date........ Puts can lose value quickly with just volatility dropping, and the underlying stock price doesn't even have to move.

Trading market falls in this market should be left to nimble traders. I follow many good traders on social media, who have been doing this for many years, and this market is hurting everyone who tries to trade on the downside. Betting on the downside has only been profitable by holding shorts or puts for hours at the most, for the market. Individual stocks have been a little easier, but they those trades are crowded.

If you have a specific trade question/idea, post it and get some opinions or input on it.

[CatFan]

If you've got the nerve, suck it up and watch it fall and jump into the market when you think it's done bleeding. Short-term it's a very risky strategy. Long-term it's actually pretty safe. In 2008 I rode the market down. Actually did like 7% gain on my 30% conservative part of my investments as everybody else wanted into those. In early 2009, I closed my eyes and dumped that 30% ( which sadly was more than 50% at the time) into the market and quit opening my statements. That chunk of money created by far the biggest part of my retirement savings.