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Short selling? Shorting a stock? What are the types of strategies? Do I need a margin account? How does all this work? Interested in learning more? Then read on.
Introduction to short selling
Short selling may be used by experienced investors who seek to generate a profit when the price of a stock goes down. Typically, investors buy stocks they think will go up in price, allowing them to sell it at a higher price and keep the difference as profit. This is called going long. Shorting a stock, or short selling a stock, is the opposite. It’s what investors do when they think the price of a stock will go down.
With short selling, it’s about leverage. Investors sell stocks they’ve borrowed from a lender on the expectation the price will drop. The hope is to rebuy and replace the stocks they borrowed at a lower price. The difference between the price they sell the stock at, and the price they buy back the stock at, is the profit.
Keep in mind that you are paying interest to your brokerage, which will reduce the profit you earn on the short sell. However, with short selling comes additional rules, risks and expenses beyond standard self-directed investing.
What is a margin account?
Before attempting to short sell stocks, you’ll need a margin account.
You must apply and qualify for a margin account in the same way you would for a loan, since you need to prove that you can and will pay back the money you’re borrowing. Since you’re leveraging the brokerage’s money, they want to know that you have the ability to cover your loss, should your trade lose money.
Margin accounts let you borrow money against the securities you already own to buy additional securities. So, when you buy a stock in a margin account, you can choose to only pay a portion of the total stock price and borrow the rest from your brokerage. This is called “buying on margin”.
You can learn more about margin accounts, along with additional requirements and considerations for how they work,here.
How does short selling work?
Stock prices fluctuate all the time and short selling may be a way for investors to take advantage of negative fluctuations. If it is believed that a price of a certain stock is likely to drop, one may consider taking a short position on that stock, with the aim of taking profit from the drop.
So how does it work?
Short selling involves borrowing shares of a particular company from a lender (your brokerage) and selling them in the open market. Ideally, you then trade the shares you borrowed at a lower price.
The difference between what you originally sold the shares for, and the cost to replace them later, is your profit (minus any fees and margin account requirements, of course).
Here is a very simplified example: let’s say you borrow a stock from your brokerage company and sell it for $100. If the price of that stock drops to $80, you can buy it back at that price, return the stock to your brokerage company, and keep the $20 difference as profit.
After you short the stocks, your brokerage may require you to close the position at any time, as they may no longer be able to lend you the shares. This is known as a “forced buy-in”.
