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Long and short
In one line: Long = you profit if the price rises. Short = you profit if the price falls.
Long: one who has bought a futures contract to establish a market position. Short: the selling side of an open futures contract.
— CFTC Glossary
In simple words: Long means you bought and want the price to rise. Short means you sold and want it to fall.
Going long means buying: you want the price to go up. Going short means selling first and buying back later: you want the price to go down. What you sell is often borrowed, or it is a contract.
A short position's loss has no natural ceiling, because a price can keep rising. That is one reason Stop-loss and Position sizing matter.
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Last checked: 2026-11-04 · Educational, not financial advice.
Education only, not financial advice. No signals. Backtests are hypothetical: real trading can be worse. Past results don't predict future results.