In the financial market, whether it is traditional stock trading or crypto trading, short selling is a clear-defined and ubiquitous behavior. Basically, short selling and going long are counterparts in market operations. Opposite to long selling, short selling generally refers to the process of borrowing first and then selling, and then buying to repay later.
In short selling, there are usually market makers serving as an intermediate lending platform, similar to credit transactions. Using this trading mode, investors can often profit when prices continue to fall.
Let’s take stocks as an example. Investors borrow stocks from a brokerage firm when the stock price is high, and then sell them. When the stock price keeps falling, investors can buy stocks in the market and repay the brokerage, during which investors will earn the spread.