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hi Traders: quick question: "short" term for option and stock
 

GotBushels's picture
IB
(Orangutan, 371
 
Points)
 on 11/21/11 at 10:48pm

In the office or on the floor and describing a trade, do you ever use the word "sell"? or do you sub in "short" for everywhere "sell" should be?

For example:

You have 100 FDX stock. You want to sell them.

Do you say:

(1) "I'm going to short my 100 FDX."
or
(2) "I'm going to sell 100 FDX."

I get that the first one is technically incorrect, because you've already bought the stock, but I'd just like to find out what conventions are used.

Also, if you have 10 FDX calls and you want to sell them, what would you say?

Cheers!

Tags:
djfiii's picture

the distinction matters, so

 
Points)
 on 11/22/11 at 12:07am

the distinction matters, so no, you wouldn't use them interchangeably.

if you are shorting something, you're indicating a clear opinion that you think the stock is going down.

if you are selling something you already own, maybe you're just taking profit, and not necessarily expressing an opinion about future movement.

monty09's picture

I tend to say I am "closing

EN
 
Points)
 on 11/22/11 at 12:12am

I tend to say I am "closing out my position" meaning i got my vaule and taking my pound of flesh

WSO Conf - June 29, 2013

GotBushels's picture

thanks guys!

IB
(Orangutan, 371
 
Points)
 on 11/22/11 at 4:21am

thanks guys!

abcasdf's picture

haha, not sure if these guys

(Monkey, 40
 
Points)
 on 11/22/11 at 9:26am

haha, not sure if these guys trade but there is a huge distinction in the street and more importantly regulators on how you mark this. if you are long and you sell shares...you mark it as a sell long...

if you are flat or short already, any sells must be marked as a sell short. nowadays, properly marking these things is very important in this regulatory environment and if you don't use the lingo properly, you look like an amateur

also see UBS and their fine with marking short selling improperly. to be clear, you must locate a borrow when you short unless you are a registered market maker and then you have t+6 from trade date to get borrow, cover the position, or get bought in via regsho

Working9-5's picture

Even though Monty has

ST
(Gorilla, 613
 
Points)
 on 11/22/11 at 7:08pm

Even though Monty has answered, I'll chip in my two cents.

'Sell 100k BAC' (and if it's a slow day; 'Sell 100k BAC, clear my position around here'). <-- That would be a normal order.

'Short 30k FRO' <--- that means I need to inform Clearing/Settlement and mark this order with a SHORT.

CNBC sucks

"This financial crisis is worse than a divorce. I've lost all my money, but the wife is still here." - Client after getting blown up

trade4size's picture

100k BAC.... PIKERS

ST
(Neanderthal, 2,085
 
Points)
 on 11/23/11 at 7:10pm

100k BAC.... PIKERS

"Oh the ladies ever tell you that you look like a fucking optical illusion" - Frank Slaughtery 25th Hour.

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