Long Position
Account & Order Concepts
A long position is a trade that profits when the price rises, opened by buying the base currency or asset in expectation of appreciation.
What is a long position?
Going long means buying an asset — a currency pair, stock, commodity, or index — because you expect its price to rise. If the price does move up, the position gains value; if it falls instead, the position loses value. “Long” is simply the trading term for this basic buy-and-hold-for-a-rise direction, whether the trade lasts seconds or months.
In forex, going long on a currency pair means buying the base currency and simultaneously selling the quote currency. For example, going long EUR/USD means buying euros and selling US dollars, expecting the euro to strengthen against the dollar.
A worked example
Suppose you open a long position on 1 standard lot of EUR/USD at 1.0850. Each pip is worth roughly $10 on a standard lot (see pip value). If the price rises to 1.0900 — a 50-pip gain — your floating profit is roughly $500. If instead the price falls to 1.0800, you’d be sitting on a floating loss of about $500 until you close the trade or it hits a stop-loss.
Long vs. short position
A long position is the mirror image of a short position, which profits when price falls instead. Every open trade in forex and CFD markets is either long or short — there’s no “neutral” direction once a position is opened. Traders often hold long positions on one instrument and short positions on another at the same time, including as a form of hedging.
Why it matters
Understanding “long” is foundational vocabulary in trading: brokers, charting tools, and news commentary constantly reference whether the market is “long” or “short” a given instrument, and your own trade tickets will show a position as either long or short from the moment you place a market order or pending order. Confusing the two directions is one of the most basic — and costly — beginner mistakes, so it’s worth internalizing early: long = you profit if price goes up.
Trading involves risk, and leveraged positions can result in losses exceeding your initial deposit on some account types. This article is educational and not financial advice.