Buy low sell high

When you open a ‘buy’ position, you are essentially buying an asset from the market. And when you close your position, you ‘sell’ it back to the market. Buyers – also known as bulls – believe an asset’s value is likely to rise. Sellers – or bears – generally think its value is set to fall.

When you open a position with a broker or trading provider, you’ll be presented with two prices. If you want to trade at the buy price, which is slightly above the market price, you open a ‘long’ position. If you want to trade at the sell price – slightly below the market price – you open a ‘short’ position. The difference between the buy and sell price is known as the ‘spread’, which the provider takes to facilitate the position.