In finance, a postion may be: Finance studies and addresses the ways in which individuals, businesses and organizations raise, allocate and use monetary resources over time, taking into account the risks entailed in their projects. ...

• A commitment to buy or sell a given amount of securities or commodities;
• The amount of securities or commodities held by a person, firm, or institution; or
• The ownership status of a person's or institution's investments.

Derivatives trading

In derivatives trading, the concept of a position is used heavily. There are two types of position: a long and a short. In finance, a derivative security is a contract that specifies the rights and obligations between the issuer of the security and the holder to receive or deliver future cash flows (or exchange of other securities or assets) based on some future event. ...

Traded options will be used in the following explanations. The same principle applies for futures and other securities. In finance, an option is a contract whereby the contract buyer has a right to exercise a feature of the contract (the option) on or before a future date (the exercise date). ... It has been suggested that Risk (Futures) be merged into this article or section. ... A security is a type of transferrable interest representing financial value. ...

Long position

• When a trader buys an option contract that he has not already sold, he is said to be opening a long position.
• When a trader sells an option contract that he already owns, he is said to be closing a long position.

Short position

• When a trader sells (or writes) an option contract that he does not already own, he is said to be opening a short position.
• When a trader buys an option contract that he has already sold (or written), he is said to be closing a short position.

The long and short of it is that: buyers are referred to as the long; and sellers are referred to as the short.