SFIV - The Upward Jump

Just like the title says it. Jumping upward. Just jumping up from your same position and landing where you were originally.
Newcomers might think it is a silly move. Why jump in your place? Why not jump forward and attack your opponent!! Well, actually jumping upwards has plenty of benifits. What I have observed is that many players start the round by jumping upwards. One of the main advantages is that in most cases you would be able to cleanly hit an opponent jumping towards you. Second of all jumping upwards would save you from opponents anti-air moves. As when people notice you jumping, they react to an anti-air move but you caught them by jumping upwards instead and have them wide open for an attack in your landing.

Jumping upwards is also not only for far ranges. Even if you both are just next to each other, jumping upwards might be a very good idea. First of all you might escape a throw and land while they are still recovering "if your character has low jump such as Gen". Another thing is most players defend crouching, so a hit while jumping will catch them ungaurded unless they react fast and stand to gaurd.

Some poeple use fireballs to zone. They might trick you to jumping towards them to counter you with something, so don't do that, instead jump upwards. But be careful as well, Ryu can cancel his hadouken into his super while you are still in the air. Though if you can jump towards the opponent as soon as they use a fireball, you can punish them.

One thing to note, against people that grab in the air, specially Guile. Jumping as a whole might be a bad idea. Pick your cards right and play them thoughtfully.