I am very very new to the stock game I just started at the first of march this year, what is short and cover?

 short is where you take the opposing position in which you buy high sell low. you place your order to short a stock at $50. if the stock plummets down to $25 and you want to take profit, the term used would be buy to cover; you buy back your position at a lower cost and you make a profit within the difference between them. 

pretty much when you first open a short position you do not technically "own" the stocks, you are borrowing them from your broker and selling them to optimistic buyers on the way down. once the price per share is below where you borrowed, you come back and cover your position at a lower cost making money.

short a 100 shares of stock XYZ at $50

price of XYZ per share drops to $25

you've made that difference in selling (50-25=25) thus yielding you a $25 per share return times your position (25x100=2500)

Ahh ok....looks risky but fun lol

Ok so ENER jumped up over $15 today bringing the stock to $49.91...I buy 500 shares short and put a stop on it at $45...does that work?

I'm just trying to learn is the reason I put it at a less than $5 loss per share

the more it goes down the more you make i think that will get you 2455.00 less the commision 2445.00

Ok so putting a stop on it not a limit will work in this case correct?

I traded a stock yesterday at 2:13 pm while the stock was up and I was making a profit.  However the system didnt excute the trade until 3:33pm.  In than time my stock dropped 10 cent below my purchase price and therefore loss more than I would have gained.   Even with a 20 minute delay (2:33pm) I still would have made a profit.  Is this something I (we) should be concered about or is this just happening to me?

How did this topic end up on my thread about shorts? lol

Even with the shorts and limits, sometimes the game doesn't trigger them. I don't use them. I just make the trades.

J828:

Even with the shorts and limits, sometimes the game doesn't trigger them. I don't use them. I just make the trades.

Yeah I didnt think about that, I know most times anything other than market doesnt always work

dont kmow

JamesLT:

Ok so putting a stop on it not a limit will work in this case correct?

both can be used in buys and shorts. the difference between the two that a lot of people do not know is this...

 when you place a limit order it will react differently in terms of buy or sale and will be different in how it executes the order.  same with stop orders.

• Buy limit orders - orders will execute only if the market reaches the specified price or lower.
• Sell limit orders - orders will execute only if the market reaches the specified price or higher

• Buy Stop Orders - The stop price is set above the current ASK price
• Sell Stop Orders - The stop price is set below the current BID price
• Depending on market conditions, once the order is triggered, there is no guarantee of the execution price and the price received may be several points away from the stop price.

Yeah I placed a short limit order in my $50 and it went thru nut in my perm portfolio I did a short stop and it didnt activate....thanks for the help awolnine =)

Couldnt figure out where to put it, thought I was starting a new one.

 Think of it like marriage, when your single you have money for a nice car, nice cloths and to go out and party. After marriage the wife puts you into a short position no money for nice cars, cloths or to party, then she divorces you and takes you to the cleaners.

She took a short position on you. 

yeah