What is Short Selling In Delivery Trading & How It Works? | Espresso

What is Short Selling In Delivery Trading?

During intraday trading, traders can either buy and sell shares or buy and sell them later. In such a scenario, the individual purchasing the stocks has to take delivery of the shares in their demat account. The entire concept of delivery is to purchase today and sell it off at a later date. However, if the traders purchase shares and sell them on the same day, there is no requirement for the delivery of shares in such a plot. This is because the transactions are settled on the same day, also known as intraday.

Published on 02 March 2023

This article will discuss Can We Short Sell in Delivery and how short selling in delivery is done.

What is a Short Sell in Delivery Trading?

A person investing in the share market for the long-term or short-term purchases shares and sells them at a later time. This person buying shares has to handle the delivery of shares to their own Demat account. The equity segment in India functions on a T+2 basis, meaning if you buy shares on Tuesday, you will receive delivery on Thursday. Similarly, if you sell the shares on Tuesday, you will be liable to deliver them to the exchange by Thursday.

Short Selling in Delivery can be easily understood using a simple example.

Suppose you purchased 2000 shares of a company on Tuesday, and you want to hold these shares for the long term. In such cases, you will receive the shares in your Demat account on Thursday, which is T+2 day.

What is Short Delivery?

Short delivery is distinct from the delivery method used when purchasing stock. When traders take an intraday short position by selling shares, they are obliged to cover their position by buying the shares on the same day. However, if the trader fails to do so for any reason, their trading position reflects the selling of shares without a delivery in hand. Such delivery is thus known as "short delivery”.

In case the trader already has the Delivery of shares, they are liable to give Delivery of shares within 2 days of selling the shares. On the other hand, this isn't possible in cases of short delivery, as the traders do not have shares in their Demat account to cover a short sell. In such cases, traders default on short delivery, leading to an auction of shares.

How to Short Sell in Trading Delivery Trading?

Short selling, which is about selling a stock and buying it back before the trading day ends, has a 5-6 hour window. It is expanded when traders expect stock prices to decrease or go down during the entire day. There are various steps to short selling, such as:

  • While placing a sell order, the option Margin Intraday square up must be selected, which tells the system if the order is a short sell order.
  • Intraday trading orders include payments of margin. A CO or BO, cover order or Backorder, respectively, can reduce these margins. In a cover order, you can add a stop loss; in Backorder, you can add a profit target and stop loss order.
  • Short selling orders or intraday are to be mandatorily closed on the same day. Brokers close out all pending orders automatically.

Hence, this answers the question, "Can We Short Sell in Delivery, and how does Short Selling in Delivery work?”.

Benefits and Risks in Short Selling in Delivery Trading

The benefits of Short Selling in Delivery trading include:

  • It allows traders to profit from a negative view of the stock, even if they don't own it.
  • Moving on, if there are shares in the Demat account, they can be used to short-sell. In the worst possible case, traders might have to give Delivery.
  • Last but not least, short selling gives traders the leeway to apply a negative view on Futures and Options stocks.

The risks involved in short-selling delivery trading include:

  • The stock market is volatile, and the stop losses may get higher and add to your losses.
  • Closing out on intraday positions is essential. As forgetting to close out can lead to system failure, the stocks go into the auction, which can result in huge losses. Hence, traders must be wary of that.

Conclusion

Short selling in delivery trading is a procedural problem. Examining delivery trading strategies can be instructive. For taking delivery trading, traders can use a trader strategy or an investment strategy that is long-term in nature.

Alternatively, traders can pursue growth or a value strategy for delivery. Therefore, a short sell is a trade that takes place when the prices of the security are likely to decline from their current prices, and traders can buy them back later on.

Chandresh Khona
Team Espresso

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