You may be right but even if so, timing the market is ridiculously hard, specially when shorting. I don't recall who said it, but if you put the same unexperie

You may be right but even if so, timing the market is ridiculously hard, specially when shorting. I don't recall who said it, but if you put the same unexperienced investor in two paralell universes, one where they short and one where they long, the more likely outcome is that they will lose money on both. The opening position is just one part of the equation.