Financial Terms Glossary
The most important financial terms - with simple and concise explanations.
Short selling
Selling something you don’t actually own? On the stock market, that’s possible. Such transactions originated in commodity futures trading, in order to hedge against future price fluctuations of agricultural products. This instrument is often also used for speculation. In this case, the investor sells a security that they expect to decrease in value, without actually owning it. If they are able to buy it later at a lower price, the short seller makes a profit.