# Long and Short Positions The idea of taking a **long** or **short** position on an asset is a generalization of buying or selling an asset. The most straightforward way to take a long position is to buy it, and the easiest way to short an asset is to sell it-if you already own it. However, an investor can “short” an asset without owning it, though it is not always straightforward to do so. > Taking a **short** position means you will profit if the asset **declines**. Taking a **long** position means you will profit if the asset **goes up**.   ### Intuition Traditional investing wisdom states that one should “buy low and sell high”, known as a **long position**. A **short position** is sometimes thought to be fundamentally *different*, however that is not the case. The only change is that the *order* of events is reversed. In a short position you: 1. Sell high (via borrowing the asset) 2. Buy low (and then return it to its original owner) --- Date: 20220711 Links to: [Quantitative Finance MOC](Quantitative%20Finance%20MOC.md) Tags: #review References: * []()