I just got a margin account at IB and am using their TWS java client for trading. I wanted to buy 400 shares of Motorola at 20.60 but I guess I must've clicked an 'Ask price' cell without realizing it and ended up 'selling' 400 shares at 20.60, i.e. having a position of -400. When the price dropped to 20.55 a couple of minutes later I 'bought' back the 400. I think I might've made a quick $20 (minus commissions) on the trade but I don't really understand what I just did. Did I just do a 'put' or what? Thanks.
Stupid newbie question: sold what I didn't buy
- Thread starter Cruzan
- Start date
your kidding right? how did you pass the ib experience test?
My trading experience, while admittedly not at all sophisticated, goes back almost 20 years, back before there were Java clients , back before the World Wide Web was even invented. So it's been simply a lot of years of trading using phone calls to brokers. This is my first plunge into doing it online.
Unless you are trading options you did not "do" a put... You an have three positions in this game: (ET boys correct my french if needed... )
1. Long - You want the underlying security to go up in price because you bought it. If you sell at a higher price you profit. If you sell at a lower price you lose money.
2. Short - You want the underlying security to go down in price because you sold it. If you buy at a lower price you will profit. If you buy back at a higher price you lose money.
3. Cash - You are sitting on your hands and watching.... .
By your description, you were involved in #2..... not bad for your first trade.... the hard thing is keeping it up...
Good luck