What does it mean to "Short"?

[Heyo:P]

I've heard the term used a lot, and this may be a well known term, but what exactly does it mean to "Short" when trading?

[Duzter]

I've heard the term used a lot, and this may be a well known term, but what exactly does it mean to "Short" when trading?

In my opinion short in the trading perspective seems to be the short term investment. It's the process of buying and holding for a short time period and selling it to get the profit in accordance to the price variation that happens often with the bitcoin.

[magneto]

I've heard the term used a lot, and this may be a well known term, but what exactly does it mean to "Short" when trading?

Shorting a stock or a coin simply means that you are able to make money in a falling market.

What happens when you short a coin or a stock is essentially you BORROW stocks/coins from your broker or other users that you are connected to using the broker or exchanger, in anticipation of the markets falling.

You have to pay interest on the amount borrowed(of course).

And you are able to make a profit if the markets falls, as you only need to pay back a certain amount of stocks, and you can keep the rest or sell them to make a profit. But if the market rises then it becomes harder and harder to pay the guy back, and your losses can be infinite.

[Scor Pio]

I've heard the term used a lot, and this may be a well known term, but what exactly does it mean to "Short" when trading?

as i know
short in trading mean sell
long in trading mean buy

when the market is in overbought value you can do some short position
but when the market in oversold value you can do some long position

mayve it can help
thanks

[jorneyflair]

I've heard the term used a lot, and this may be a well known term, but what exactly does it mean to "Short" when trading?

In my opinion short in the trading perspective seems to be the short term investment. It's the process of buying and holding for a short time period and selling it to get the profit in accordance to the price variation that happens often with the bitcoin.

With all due respect, but I sure you are wrong about it.

"Short" is being used in many places to describe going into market, but on falls instead of raises.
You dont buy anything for your money, but you borrow it from the broker you trust.

If you can see somewhere that asset price will be decreasing, then you simply go short.

And as you should already know, term "long" means buying on exact price to get money if the asset price is rising so you just get the money from the difference between buying price and selling.
The same thing is when you borrow- broker gives it to you at the rate you agreed, and the profit/loss is the same difference.

[Sled]

I've heard the term used a lot, and this may be a well known term, but what exactly does it mean to "Short" when trading?

The meaning of short in trading is to trade the coin very often because of its fast price movement like it changes more often than the other coin in the market. It is a good coin if you can short it because you can be comfortable in trading with that since it is active and the price is very volatile. For conclusion, short term means you trade often with that coin because of price volatility.

[bitcoinisbest]

In stocks, short or shorting means that you know a stock priced at $ 100 at present is going to fall in coming time. So in this anticipation you sell first at 100$ and when price falls say at 95$ then you buy it. In normal circumstance its first you buy and then you sell.

[btcdevil]

I've heard the term used a lot, and this may be a well known term, but what exactly does it mean to "Short" when trading?

Short means you sell the stock or coins which you are not holding or not have in account but even then you are selling it and it mostly happens in equity stocks but in crypto currency their are only some sites which gives you shorting position but that too it is now closed. As above mentioned that when you short a coin or stock and if goes down as per your calculation then it is profit for you but if the coin or stock rises more then you will be in difficult position. So it is not recommeneded to go for shorting it is better that you first buy it and when it goes up then you can sell it.

[Sr.Urbanist]

You buy at 1191.002 and sell at 1194.336, or even less, within a very short period of time.  Some have done three buys/sells on a bull run in two minutes. It's better if the margins are higher and the time waiting is less.

[Supercrypt]

Let me try to explain in simple words :

You can buy at lower prices and you can sell at higher prices to make profits. I believe you are already doing this. In trading terminology, people do call this type of trading as "going for long"

Similarly in some specific trading environments (for example Forex trading), you can sell first (at higher prices) and you can buy a later at lower prices to make profits.
This is being called as "going for short" or "shorting".

[TRF]

Short: Sell now and buy again at lower price. 

[icecube45]

I've heard the term used a lot, and this may be a well known term, but what exactly does it mean to "Short" when trading?

Short in trade, the point when traders do a "sell" in the hope to buy again when prices are lower. I'm sure a lot of people that have been explain in different ways, but the point remains the same "sell and hope to buy again when prices are lower". I make simple so that you easy to understand, I hope you can understand.

[aardvark15]

I've heard the term used a lot, and this may be a well known term, but what exactly does it mean to "Short" when trading?

Short selling is selling first and then buying. Basically you're borrowing the coin and selling first. Then you buy to complete the order but you don't own anything after the buy. It sounds confusing (and it is) but you just sell and then buy instead of buy and then sell.

[el kaka22]

I guess there are enough explanations about shorting and how we are doing it. I just want to know what are the exchanges supporting going for shorting in bitcoin trading /altcoin trading.

As per my understanding, shorting will be possible when trader vs trading house kind of trading platforms. But for the crypto currency exchanges, we are all having trader vs trader kind of trading platforms. I read somewhere bitfinex support shorting, but not sure as I never checked with them.

Forex trading is the right platform and easily available to everyone to check and learn about shorting. Because almost all the Forex brokers are providing free demo platform to get practice with all types of trading and trading tools.

[Serpens66]

As per my understanding, shorting will be possible when trader vs trading house kind of trading platforms. But for the crypto currency exchanges, we are all having trader vs trader kind of trading platforms. I read somewhere bitfinex support shorting, but not sure as I never checked with them.

trader vs trading house is bullshit. Yes the forex world is full of this, but you never should trust such a trading house (for obvious reasons, eg. price manipulation) This is for stupid mainstream people.

Shorting is selling bitcoins you borrowed from someone (and speculate on lower prices to be able to buy them back with some profit).
With this short definition, all your questions should be answered.
You can go short by just borrowing btc from your friend and sell them anywhere.
Or you can go short at bitfinex by borrowing btc from other traders (via bitfinex lending section) and sell them at bitfinex.
Or you can go short at kraken.com by borrowing btc from kraken and sell them at kraken.
And so on.

[Sled]

Short: Sell now and buy again at lower price. 

I don't think that is the real meaning of the term short because i think that is like another kind of strategy in shorting coin like bitcoin or altcoin. If you sell low and buy lower then you can buy more quantity of coins that is more efficient when doing a short trading because the coin is very volatile so it can bounce back in just a few minutes and you will earn more money.

[Nathan047]

Perhaps you should check out this wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_(finance)

Shorting is basically borrowing something and selling it, then when the market drops buy it back at a lower price and return it but keep the money you made. It’s really risky and I wouldn’t recommend doing it.

[Heyo:P]

My question has been answered, thanks everyone.

Locking thread.