The Wall Street Journal reported  that short-selling proved quite popular among stock investors in the second half of January at the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market.

“In the exchanges’ latest twice-a-month statistics, for the period ended Jan. 29, the number of short-selling positions at the NYSE not yet closed out, known as short interest, increased 1.13%. The positions stood at 13,494,975,619 shares from a revised 13,343,634,678 shares in the period ended Jan. 15. On Nasdaq, short interest rose 2.30% to 6,701,137,021 shares from 6,550,166,566 shares, over the same period” (January Was a Great Month for the Bears, Feb 10, 2010)

All three major market averages–the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average–are down so far in 2010. Think the market is headed lower still? You might not know that you can short stock index futures such as the S&P 500, Nasdaq and DJIA and trade your view of the broad market, without having to resort to stock picking individual shares, and with no special rules or additional requirements (unlike in your stock account).  You can trade your bullish or bearish view, with equal ease in the futures markets. That’s true of commodities, too!