All Things Being Equal Which Trade is Better...To Go Long Or To Go Short?

I’m curious about how the mind of my fellow traders work. I believe this question would be a good “barometer” to find out.
So what do you say ? All things being equal which trade is the better trade to take, to go long or to go short?

Am I missing something here, like a chart, maybe?

Are we trading long or short on life? I’ll lean towards long.

Maybe we’re trading something short for something long, but then again, they say size doesn’t matter.

it depends on instrument, there is no such thing like all things are equal.

The standard advice from stock market trading would be to always go long, not short. If you’re long and you’re right, there is no limit on how high price can go: whereas if you’re wrong, at least price cannot go lower than zero. If you’re short and you’re right and price falls, the profit is limited, since price cannot go below zero: whereas if you’re wrong, the loses are technically unlimited as there is no maximum to which rising price is limited.

So the risk:reward on company shares is skewed in favour of long.

Of course, this all pre-dates private retail forex trading…

Personally, being a trend trader, I don’t mind if the trend is going long or short.

There is a saying - ‘Price goes up by the stairs and down by the elevator’ :thinking:

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Well, in theory, yes. But in reality, you would normally have a margin call long before “unlimited” losses are incurred.

Depending on where your broker is regulated, margin calls are an optional reaction by the broker to adverse price movements. That’s not something to stake your fortune on wherever you are.

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When I ask these types of questions they are not for likes or to be seen. There actually is method to the madness.
I recall being called simple a few years ago by a fellow who was trying to disrespect me. Usually that would have caused a problem but on that occasion I couldnt do anything but laugh. The person who said that to me to this day can barely scratch his name and this he learned to do quite recently. He has known me for a long time but because I dont spread my business around like that he and others in the community dont really know much about my personal life so they fill in the gaps themselves. If I were to ask him and 99% of them something like what is forex trading that would be the first time they would be hearing about it.
To some degree I do believe I am simple but not in the way that “gentleman” meant. Essentially I try not to overcomplicate things needlessly.
After careful deliberation I have concluded that a big factor in people not doing as well as they might have with this business of forex is that they needlessly tend to overcomplicate what is patently simple. Take the question I posed here for example. (Another big issue is the inability of persons to answer a simple question directly but that issue is for another time.) People who I would describe as experienced traders offer some responses that makes me scratch my head in awe. They see the premise outlined but one person instead of responding to it says that “there is no such thing like all things are equal” and that it depends on the instrument. This is a person who has a journal on here where the losses consistently outnumber the wins. The purpose of that exercise to this day puzzles me. Others have introduced their own flavour to the question by bringing margin call, brokers and stock markets among other things into the equation. smh. Amazing.
It is a simple question and I would have expected people who are new to trading to be doing the above but there you have it.
The answer, however, is quite simple, much like myself.
If you carry a long trade overnight you earn interest whereas if a short trade goes into the next day you pay end up having to pay some money. So therefore, ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL, in my humble opinion a long trade is preferable to a short. I know people will push back and find something to oppose in there but readers please think about it for yourselves and draw your own conclusions. Dont overcomplicate what is essentially fairly simple.
Here endeth the reading, :rofl:

This has clearly affected you to the point where it’s spilled out into these threads.

Your question is vague so will generate a number of different replies depending on the trader. So your response is to belittle everyone because their opinion differs from yours?

SMH indeed.

It is my journal, and I am no shame to show it, my number of losses exceed wins, but I am in profit.

You think my statement and @tommor is wrong because it doesn’t fit your way of thinking, that’s ok, you can think what you want :slight_smile: You are 4 years in the forex market, showed us couple of days and think you have experience because of that.

There is one little problem - forex market, that has no feelings, regrets nothing and no one, in a fraction of a second can take everything or give everything, regardless of status. Sooner or later, he will hold every trader accountable for lack of knowledge, experience or pride.

I posted a reply that for whatever reason was taken down.
For the record I dont believe in sacred cows. I dont believe anyone here is beyond criticism. Of course I expected pushback… but what you must tell me is that I am talking foolishness. It is that simple.

I’m sure you’re correct about the interest. I actually didn’t think of that justification only because as I am spreadbetting forex in the UK, there is no interest paid or payable on open forex positions.

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Thank you for that response Tommor, it says a lot.

Personally I don’t care which way the market moves, as long as it moves. I use an EA that I had coded for me that trades both long and short depending on circumstances. Works a treat!

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short
1.more pips in shorter period
2.less stoploss hunt after breakthrough

I would say be flexible. Going short or long depends on the market opportunity available. When you have good market opportunity, you should go long.

I prefer going for long when the market is calm. On the other hand, trading for short is preferred when the market is chaos.

I am flexible in my trading. Sometimes I take long entries and sometimes short entries. It depends on the market condition.

To bring professionalism in your trading, you have to go for long entries. When market conmdition isn’t calm, go for short entries.

To go short (sell) because in all markets price falls 2.5x times faster than it rises . So when you open sell ,you can profit faster than when you open buy and price rises slowly