[peppery]

Instead of short selling an equity (which is indeed complicated not so much in its difficulty but in its potentially unlimited downside), you can buy a put option. For the cost of the option you receive the right (not the obligation) to sell a stock at a specified price. If the stock price then goes down below that that price, simply buy the stock at the lower market price then use your put option to sell it at the higher price. The downside is limited to the cost of the option.