To add to that (not including options/puts), inverse ETFs are the only one of two ways to effectively short in an IRA, as shorting stocks & ETFs is prohibited in IRAs.

However, shorting futures contracts is allowed if your broker provides margin IRA accounts. As such, I typically short /NQ in my IRAs vs the ETFs for both the leverage they provide as well as the relative safety of round-the-clock stop-loss protection that ETFs & stocks can’t provide (plus the fact that the sell & buy-to-cover limit profit-taking orders on my futures contracts are often hit in the overnight or very early/very late pre- or post-market sessions).

Sounds like a plan. Anyone looking for new highs (in addition to their own pullback targets), could either scale in or full add-on/re-entry at any or all of the 4 price targets on my QQQ 60-minute chart, with T4, being a gift, assuming we get there (a 15% drop off the recent highs plus huge support at the top of the late ’24-early ’25 trading range plus the 200-day MAs.

Have to see how the weekly & monthly charts look if & when we get there, of course, to determine how likely & how far the Q’s might bounce from there. Lots of “ifs” between now & then, so at this point, waiting (and expecting) to see if this typical reaction off the tag of the top of my T1 zone is just a reflexive bounce that gets sold into, with the Q’s going on to take out the bottom of the T1 zone & heading down to the next target(s).

Depends on which account & how confident I am of a fairly unidirectional trend in the Q’s (as choppy ranges or trends cause decay in the leveraged ETFs.

Primary trading account: I always use /NQ, long or short. Family & personal accounts, including IRAs: /NQ, /MNQ (1/10th multiplier of /NQ), QQQ, QLD(+2x), QID(-2x), TQQQ (+3x), or SQQQ (-3x), depending on the size of the account/position, direction (long or short), etc.

Many options, each suitable for different accounts, position sizes, & market conditions.

QQQ broke out more than 15% in a short period of time from the trading range so there was plenty of upside captured in a short period of time. I think it was a big oversight to miss that move but I hope shorts get something worth the wait since it will give me good prices to reenter on the stuff I took profits on.