A short position is the trading position of a person who has sold securities or commodities that they do not own with the hope of buying at a later date at a lower price. A short sale is a contract for the sale of something, such as a commodity or futures contract, that the seller does not own. It is a method of profiting from the expected fall in price of the commodity but risky because if the commodity goes up, the owner of the short will have to purchase the underlying commodity at whatever price it reaches to cover the short sale.
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