Long & Short
Profiting from rises (long) or falls (short) — and markets where each is possible.
What it means
A long position buys first and profits when price rises. A short sells first — borrowed shares in equities, or a derivative position in futures — and profits when price falls. Shorting completes the toolkit: half of all price movement is downward.
Practicalities differ by market: US equity shorting needs a locate and pays borrow fees, while crypto futures make shorting symmetric with going long. Strategy-wise, shorts are not mirrored longs — panic falls behave differently from greedy rises.
In TraderWe, short entries are supported on crypto perpetual futures. On stocks and spot crypto the engine ignores the short direction (no short selling) — a Short() call there simply acts as a long entry signal.
Why traders care
- Short setups monetize the fastest moves markets make — falls.
- Long/short pairs can hedge market direction out of a portfolio.
In a TraderWe strategy
if ChangePct < -4 and Strength < 80:
Short()Related terms
Educational content, not investment advice. Engine details describe how TraderWe computes this value; other platforms may define it differently.