How do you place an order online for stocks expected to go down?

Answer 1

If you want to bet that the stock price is going to go down, you're looking to "short a stock". Basically, you borrow shares from your broker that you sell now in the hopes that when you go to buy them back to return them to your broker, the share price will have dropped. In order to do this, you need a margin account with your broker, and that usually requires a $2000 cash minimum account value with most brokers. Remember, though, that if the stock price goes up instead of down, you can lose money very very quickly that way if you aren't paying attention.