The total of a trader's open contracts - the combined total of antrader's open option contracts (calls and/or puts) and long or short stock.
Delta Position: A measure of option or underlying securities delta.
Hedged Position: A position established with the specific intent of protecting an existing position. For example, an owner of common stock may buy a put option to hedge against a possible stock price decline.
Long: The term used to describe the buying of a security, contract, commodity, or option.
Synthetic Position: A strategy involving two or more instruments that has the same risk-reward profile as a strategy involving only one instrument.
Short Stock Position: A strategy that profits from a stock price decline. It is initiated by borrowing stock from a broker-dealer and selling it in the open market. This strategy is closed (covered) at a later date by buying back the stock and returning it to the lending broker-dealer.
Short Position: A position wherein a person's interest in a particular series of options is as a net writer (i.e., the number of contracts sold exceeds the number of contracts bought).
Short option position: The position of an option writer which represents an obligation on the part of the option's writer to meet the terms of the option if it is exercised by its owner. The writer can terminate this obligation by buying back (cover or close) the position with a closing purchase transaction.
Position trading: An investing strategy in which open positions are held for an extended period of time.
Position Limit: The maximum number of put or call contracts on the same side of the market that can be held in any one account or group of related accounts. Short puts and long calls are on the same side of the market. Short calls and long puts are on the same side of the market. Some exchanges express the limit in terms of option contracts on the same side of the market and others express it in terms of total long or short or short delta.
Position Delta: The sum of all positive and negative deltas in a hedged position.
Naked Position: A securities position not hedged from market risk.
Long Stock position: A position in which an investor has purchased and owns stock.
Long Position: A position wherein an investor's interest in a particular series of options is as a net holder (i.e., the number of contracts bought exceeds the number of contracts sold).
Long Option Position: The position of an option purchaser (owner) which represents the right to either buy stock (in the case of a call) or to sell stock (in the case of a put) at a specified price (the strike price) at or before some date in the future (the expiration date). It results from an opening purchase transaction e.g., long call or long put.