Sell
Trading BasicsTo open a short position by selling a currency pair at the bid price. You sell when you expect the base currency to weaken against the quote currency.
What Does Sell Mean in Forex?
Selling in forex means opening a Short position on a Currency Pair. When you click "Sell" on your platform, you sell the Base Currency and buy the Quote Currency at the current Bid Price. Sell positions profit when the pair's price falls.
Sell Order Execution
Sell orders open at the bid price and close at the ask price. Similar to buy orders, the Spread means the price needs to move in your favor (downward) by the spread amount before you break even. For a 1.5-pip spread on GBP/USD, the price must drop 1.5 pips from your entry to start profiting.
Selling to Open vs. Selling to Close
In forex, "selling" can mean two different things. Selling to open creates a new short position. Selling to close exits an existing long position. On most platforms, clicking "Sell" when you have no position opens a short. If you already have a long position of the same size, clicking "Sell" closes it. Some platforms have a separate "Close" button to avoid confusion.
Related Terms
Buy
To open a long position by purchasing a currency pair at the ask price. You buy when you expect the base currency to strengthen against the quote currency.
Short
A trade position where you sell a currency pair expecting it to fall. Going short on EUR/USD means selling euros and buying US dollars.
Market Order
An order to buy or sell immediately at the best available price. Market orders guarantee execution but not a specific price.
Bid Price
The price at which the market (or broker) is willing to buy a currency pair from you. You sell at the bid price.