Shorting

[Limitless]

Hi Traders... Plz correct me if im wrong: Shorting is when you buy at a high price, expecting to sell at a lower price? How do you make money like this? Is it possible to execute on Std Bank OST? Regards

[THRESHOLD]

No! You sell at a high price - expecting to buy at a low price. So - you borrow the shares to sell and; then buy them back in order to settle your debt. The difference is your profit (dividends and time must be accounted for as well.) You can do this by simply selling a CFD or SSF without owning the underlying. STD will do the rest.

[BC02]

Buying at a high and selling at a low is what investors do :P

Shorting is selling at a high and buying at a low
You sell SASOL @ R 390 and buy back @ R 340 = R 50 per share gain.

You can only short certain instruments, you cannot short a share, but you can buy another instrument that does that effectively.
You can only short using CFD's, SSF's (I think?), Futures
You can buy Put warrants that also does the same thing

[BlueDolphin]

Shorting is when you sell first and buy back later. SO you sell what you do not have. Futures and some stock on OST yes. With put Warrants (shorting) the same as going long or call warrants except the price goes up if the underlying drops.

[THRESHOLD]

A put (warrant) represents the right to take the short position. It is not the actual short position itself. It is shockingly expensive (mostly depending on specific mrket conditions) and opaque. Rather go short the share and manage your margins carefully.