Someone who is bearish the general stock market "might" be thinking it is a good time to initiate a short position in the markets. One way to do that would be via a VIX derivative like UVXY. UVXY happens to be setting up as a very nice trade opp imo. So I'm with you on the "short teh market" idear...especially on a very short term bet (10 days or less) UVXY is telling us of a future run to about 38.50 and it's now trading at 32.75 ish. Mistake #1 by options traders is entering an options trade too early. There is a time premium involved with options trading. Since this would be a very short term bet, if you enter your trade too early...you get decimated by decaying time premiums.
An example options play with "actual" live! pricing. Since our UVXY target is actually 38.50, but we are attempting to make a trade that will have to be settled in a very short period of time (10 days) the idear is to be conservative and shoot for an upside strike to play with that is not too far out of reach. I will track the Sept 8 expiry $35 calls, now at $3.05 asked. That means UVXY would need to trade to $38 by 9/8 just for you to break even ($35 strike plus cost of the option $3 + $38) On top of that, UVXY is now setting a serries of lows that say >>> "the lower I go, teh lower I'm gonna go"...and that's the WORST time to initiate your short. Well, chasing a rebound is actually worse. ALWAYS wait for a retest of "accelerated selling" lows. Let's see if I can pick off "the" low for UVXY via the 9/8 expiry UVXY $35 (maybe even $34) calls. Fell free to attempt this at home...ainn gonna cost you a cent. Some of my followers can't even afford a 1 cent upvote...including me! :O