What Is Short Selling?

Short selling is defined as selling stocks thatare not completely owned by a person. It involves a broker of a brokerage firm, with whom you will need to create an account who will lend the stock from his brokerage firm, or from a different brokerage firm or from a different customer of the broker.

The idea behind short selling is to sell your stocks and later buy it back at a cheaper price and hence making profit.

Short selling is considered risky and a huge gamble in the Stock Exchange scenario.Short selling can be done in two different ways – Hedging and Speculation.

Hedging – is the process if insuring your investment against a negative event, such as drop in the price of a particular share or drop in the stock market altogether. Hedging is relatively less risky than speculation. Hedging involves strategically investing without the risk of a negative price drop in the market.

Speculation – involves watching the market and is a high risk scenario where large profits can be made by making a high risk investment. Speculation can be difficult as one has to observe the market very closely and make calculated assessments in order for this type of short selling to be profitable.

Either way, short selling stocks with proper observance, right timing and knowledge of the market situation, can be profitable but comes with a high risk tag as there can also be situations where, while short selling being at the right place at the wrong time can cause significant loss of funds.