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!
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.
I tend to say I am "closing out my position" meaning i got my vaule and taking my pound of flesh
thanks guys!
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
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').
100k BAC.... PIKERS
short is opening a position: "I'm going to short 100 calls" selling is a closing a position: "I'm covering my calls"
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