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This is REALLY common finance terminology and it is being used properly here. You are long a thing if you hold a position which benefits from its price going u
by anm89 5y ago
This is REALLY common finance terminology and it is being used properly here.
You are long a thing if you hold a position which benefits from its price going up. You are short a thing by holding a position which benefits if the price goes down.
So not only could I be short gold by not holding it (because I now have more equivalent gold quantity if gold price goes down) I could also be short the market by being long puts on SPY
- onethought 5y agoSorry my question wasn't about the term... but the meaning behind the term. In finance land, this terminology usually implies you believe it will go up based on ... factors. I don't see any attached factors to bitcoin, i.e. it's purely speculative. So my question was more "Why are you long on bitcoin?" As - it seems quite random. Apologises for not being clearer... The old "I knew what I meant" problem :\
- anm89 5y agoIt absolutely does not need to imply anything about the psychology behind the position. If I'm long BTC (or whatever) it simply means I'm holding a position that benefits from a positive price movement in that asset. The more pop culture meaning of 'long' meaning "i support" is post facto the other pre existing meaning. And it's not unreasonable to correlate them. If your money is where your mouth is, they are the same thing. It's totally possible though to be "long BTC" via a position while thinking bitcoin is a total scam, if let's say you believe you can exploit some short term irrationality.
- onethought 5y agoThank you for articulating an answer that makes sense to me. I see how my initial assertion was incorrect. You rock!