What Is Shorting

[optionsTrader]

“Selling short”, “short selling”, or “shorting” is a way to profit from the decrease in price of a particular security. Most of the time, when investors trade stock the usually buy long, hoping the price will rise. Selling short is borrowing and selling a given security at a given price with expectation of buying it back at a lower price, with the difference as profit.

[itsbearabull]

shorting is when you're betting a stock price to go down. you make money when the stock drops in price, as opposed to going long, when you're betting the price will go up

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[Dodjit]

Most likely your short sale will be subject to a time limit, perhaps 30 or 60 days, at the end of which you will have to buy the shares back to repay the loan of the shares you sold short. Buying stock you have previously sold short is called “covering” or “short covering”.

[marketguy]

In indian markets, shorting can be done in 2 ways.
1) Cash- Shorting in cash can only be done on a intraday basis as the stocks bought and sold are settled on a daily basis.
2) F&O segment - Participants can sell stock futures to short a stock or buy a Put Option to short a stock. Generally, these are used as hedging mechanisms, but lot of people buy naked shorts with an intention of making quick profits.

-MarketGuy
marketreflection[.]blogspot[.]com

[allie]

When you expect a stock to drop, short it and you will earn based on the decline. You're lending your shares to someone else with the belief that you will be able to get them back at a lower price. The difference in price is your profit.