Sulja Bros. Building Supplies, Ltd (SLJB)

[anderbest18]

when you go short, you sell the stock you own. When you go long you buy the stock you dont own (yet). Going short and long are simply two transactions. When you have short position, that is something different, this is actually naked shorting. In this case you sold a stock that you didnt own(otherwise indeed, like you mentioned you would just have cash and no position in the stock) A lot of people tend to confuse these two.