The significant distinction of going long vs short (from a risk perspective) is the maximum you can loose.
Going long, your stock can only go backwards to $0 and you loose (up to) 100% of your capital. Going short, your loses are unlimited. Sell short at $5 and suddenly the stock rockets to $25 you need to pay 500% of the difference!
True, its unlikely to happen but it is a risk to consider. Some CFD providers provide a guaranteed exit trade, others explicitly don't guarantee they can execute an instruction in a volatile market. A scary thought.
