Indices Long and Short and Charts

In indices trading, there are two types of trades, these are:

Long (buy) - long is if the trend is buy/bullish.
Short (sell) - short is if the trend is sell/bearish.

Buying/Long and Selling/short in Indices Trading

Both terms in Indices Trading, refer to things we do when open a trade.

Buying Long -indices trading term to use when buying and when opening a trade.

Selling short -indices trading term to use when selling and when opening a trade.

Long - Long is another term used to refer to buying in indices, If a trader opens long it means that he buys the trading instrument that is heading in an upward trend direction. When the trading price is moving in an upward indices trend the trend is referred to as bullish stock trend.

Short - Short is a term used to refer to selling of a trading instrument that is going in a downward trend direction. When the trading price is going downwards then it is known as to as a bearish stock trend.

Basically the term, "selling short" can be refer to selling in the trading markets. Selling short is used to transact a trading instrument that is predicted to depreciate in value compared to another, when this indices is sold then it is the same as not holding value in this trading instrument and holding the same value in another form against which this trading instrument is traded against - mostly US Dollars.

Buy/Long

If the trading price is going up we buy, this is referred to as going long - Therefore long is just another name for buy. When the market trend is going up it is referred to as bullish, this is when a buy trade is placed. A bullish indices trend is identified by drawing an upward indices trendline on a chart. The example explained and illustrated below shows a long/buy signal.

Buy/Long bullish Trend - How to Buy a instrument

Buy/Long

Sell/Short

If the price pair is going down we sell, this is referred to as going short. When the market trend is going down it is known as to as a bearish. The example explained and illustrated below shows a downward trend, this is when a short sell is placed. The short/sell is identified by drawing a downwards trendline on a chart. The example explained and illustrated below shows a short/sell signal.

Sell/Short Bearish Trend - How to Sell a Instrument

Sell/Short - Indices Buy Trade and Indices Sell Trade

Charts

A stock chart provides a visual representation of trading prices (drawn on the y-axis) against time (drawn on the x-axis) for indices. The movement of trading prices is plotted on these charts. The chart can be drawn as candlestick charts like the one below or as line charts or bar charts.

Chart Candlestick Charts - Chart - Draw Candlesticks Charts on Trading Platform

Chart - Candlesticks Charts

The three common types of charts used in indices are:

Candles Charts
Line Charts
Bar Charts

These 3 types are covered in the topic Chart Types.

Trading Software

This is the trading software which is provided by a broker to help indices traders place their trades. Once you download and installs this trading software on your computer you can then begin to trade in the Indices market. All indices trading trades are executed through this trading platform. If you want to learn a trading platform, MT4 Trading Software is a good indices software to begin with.

To set these orders, open MT4 Trading Software, open a "chart", right click in "chart", choose 'New Order", then select the order either sell or buy as pictured below. (Short Cut Keyboard Keys - Press F9)

Setting Buy Long and Sell Short Trades on MT4

Placing Buy Long Order and Sell Short Order in Meta Trader 4