1.   A buyer of a futures contract is betting that interest rates on such notes will decline, while a seller is betting they will rise.

2.   A short seller bets that a stock will go down.

3.   Short sellers bet a stock will fall.

4.   Short sellers were betting that high tech stocks were overdone.

5.   The seller is betting the shares will drop and can be bought at a lower price -- keeping the difference as profit.

6.   These short sellers were betting that prices would fall.