Riding the pump

Yes, shorting is a way to gain a lot of money but after a few successful shorts you can also lose it all in one go.
Doing longs is even worse because you can get a forced liquidation when a whale cashes out, even though the "real" price is still up.

You can't know which coins are going to be pumped. Best to buy when there is a good rumour of a coin but the news hasn't hit the big public yet. And then be patient.
The first few years I always thought that every time I buy something it moves down and when I sell something it moves up. Takes a while to realize you only lose if you sell/rebuy again after the market has gone in the wrong direction for you. Waiting is better. Of course that only works if you buy good established coins like Bitcoin & Monero (don't listen to pumpers with their "good helpful motivations" recommending you the crapcoin they invested in). If you are gambling on one of the pump & dump coins, and you sold too early, or the pump is already happening, better to let that one go and try to find the next pump before it happens.