I think BTC is about to implode, which means XRP is going down also. Don't ask me why, that's just what people do. I'm out for now. I'll be back in XRP at bitcoin $5000 or so. I wish there was a way to short BTCUSD.
Good luck to people still holding. I think you're gonna need it.
You and about half of the people out there are estimating this (the other half is estimating the other way). And no, no one is sitting on the fence, if they are, then they have half positions down and half positions up.
There are two ways to short BTC/USD... Buy USDT Tether with Bitcoin, or buy any alt with bitcoin. You're actually, in a sense, selling Bitcoin to get alts, in a sense. So there's the way to do it, and every day people are trying to do it. Good luck to everyone, you need it whatever your skill, whatever the market.
No, buying alts or selling bitcoin for fiat is not the same as shorting bitcoin at all. Altcoins in particular are a terrible idea, as they almost always go down vs the dollar when bitcoin goes down. Just look at the ripple chart when bitcoin went under $13k. Ripple went down to $0.70. I don't why people believe otherwise. Just look at the charts. Holding cash gets you no money as bitcoin goes down. You just sit there with the same amount of cash at the end. Shorting involves margin and risk, and you get a reward when the underlying asset depreciates.