Devoted to understanding the basics and fundamentals of investing

After my post on short selling I could just hear the comments, "Well dufus, my money is in an IRA and they won't let me sell short.  I suppose I have to leave all that money on the table."

Not so me hearties.  Gather round the treasure chest and I'll share the secret. We live in a free market, capitalist society.  Where there is a demand, there will be a supply.  For those who want to short indexes of various kinds, but can only take long positions because they are in an IRA or other similar fund, the mutual fund industry has created a product know as "Inverse Funds". 

Inverse funds pay you the inverse return of an index.  Say your technical trading indicators told you the S&P 500 index was over bought and about to make a correction.  You could buy the "US Short Fund" (PSPSX) from Potomac Funds or the "Bear ProFund" (BRPIX) from ProFunds, or the "Ursa Fund" (RYURX).  Each of these funds will pay you the inverse return of the S&P 500.  So if the fund goes down 10%, these funds would pay you a gain of 10%. 
Inverse funds are like shorting the index without having to post margin.  They have different fee schedules and minimum investment requirements, so be sure to read the prospectus.  I am not recommending these funds, I am educating you as to their existence.  You need to make your own investment decisions after carefully considering all the risks.

There are many indexes available for inverse funds.  Some of them follow:

1. S&P 500
2. Russell 2000
3. Nasdaq 100
4. The latest long Treasury Bond (called the "Current" Long)

Some inverse funds give you built in leverage and will go 125% to 200% of the inverse of an index.