People always talk about shorting like it’s an efficient and reliable way to make money being right when everyone else is wrong. But it isn’t.

When you go long, you can still make money by being “sort of right” or “obliquely right” or “somewhat wrong but lucky”or by just collecting dividends if the market stays irrational long enough. If you short something you have to be exactly right (both about what will happen and precisely when) or your money will end up in the hands of the people you’re betting against. It’s not a symmetrical thing you can just switch back and forth on.

Correct and the reason is that borrowing stock for shorting isn't free. You gotta pay interest on that. Or if you go the option route, your options lose value because of time.