Generally speaking top 200 stocks are the easiest to get into and out of when you are in a losing position because of their liquidity, unless you are long , because the company can stop trading for good, thats a 100% loss for longs and that can happen on any stock
Also they gap up far less than a penny dreadful can, so they are even more safer to trade on the short side
Therefore my personal opinion is, i believe the safest trades for capital preservation are top 200 shorts