I'm still paper trading in the process of learning how to do this. I've made a series of good trades and I'm building some confidence. I need some clarification that what I'm doing on paper would be feasible in reality.
Specifically, about half my paper transactions so far have been shorts. I routinely generate cash doing this, but it seems that shorting stocks this often is somewhat unusual - the vast majority of positions seem to be long. Moreover, in what I've read, it seems that panic ensues when markets decline. If short selling is an available option, I don't understand why professional traders lose so much money in bear markets. What am I missing?