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Long and short at the same time

Hello,

I do not see a difference between selling a long and going short.
What I for instance want is:
1: Going long with 1 share at the price of 5
2: A day later going short with 2 shares at a price of 4

I have got the feeling that quantopian first sells the share of 1 (the long position) and than going short with just 1 share.
But I want going short with 2 shares and long with 1 share at the same time.
Is that possible?

2 responses

"But I want going short with 2 shares and long with 1 share at the same time." This is probably not possible in Quantopian, and IT IS DEFINITELY NOT possible in retail brokerage accounts. You probably need two accounts with different brokers to do this...this type of "strategy" makes no sense whatsoever though: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sellagainstthebox.asp?layout=infini&v=5E&orig=1&adtest=5E

Oddly enough for certain systems and accounting purposes it does make sense. I'll try and dig out some old research of mine to explain.