Shorting: Buying stock is known as having a “long” position on the stock. This works fine when the market is performing well. In bad times investors turn to a type of trade called “shorting” In this type of trade, the investor borrows stock (from a pool that his brokerage keeps available for such a purpose) and sells it. At a later time in the future the holder of the short position must purchase the same number of shares off the market (adjusted for any splits) to replace the shares he sold. This is called “Closing” the short [1,2].