What do they mean by amp;#39;shortamp;#39; and amp;#39;longamp;#39; positions in forex? -

In Forex you are actually taking a position in a pair of currencies for example EUR/USD. This is a currency pair combination made up of the value of the Euro vs the value of the US Dollar. The currency pairs are bought in what is called a quot;lotquot;. A lot is $100,000 of the associated currency pair. The are ways to but partial lots or what are called mini lots which are less than $100,000. Now this may look like a huge amount of money but one of the intriguing features in the Forex market is the ability to leverage your investment dollars. With a leverage of 200-1 you would be controlling $100,000 of foreign currency with an investment of $500. If you are feeling that the EUR/USD currency pair will go up in price you would place an order to go quot;longquot; (or buy) the pair. If you felt that the price of the EUR/USD was going to go down you would quot;shortquot; (or sell) the currency pair and you would gain value as the price continued to drop. quot;long positionquot; - you buy the stock and hope it goes up. If it does you sell it for more than it cost you. quot;short positionquot; - you enter a contract in which you agree to sell a stock on a certain date at a certain price, and you hope it goes down. If it does you buy it for less than you ve already agreed to sell it for.