Crypto glossary
Long position
A long position is a trade that profits when an asset's price rises, either by buying it outright or by opening a long contract on a derivatives exchange.
Going long means taking exposure that gains value if the price goes up. The simplest form is buying an asset on the spot market and holding it. On derivatives platforms, a long position in futures or perpetual contracts tracks the price without owning the coins and can be opened with leverage.
Crypto market coverage often reports the balance between longs and shorts. Exchanges publish long/short ratios, and sharp drops trigger waves of long liquidations when leveraged buyers run out of margin, which can push prices lower in a cascade. When longs dominate, funding rates on perpetual futures turn positive and longs pay shorts to keep the contract close to spot.
A spot long can lose at most the amount invested, but a leveraged long can be wiped out by a modest fall. Holding a leveraged long also costs funding over time when the market is crowded on the same side.
Example
A trader opens a 3x long on BTC at 60,000 dollars with 1,000 dollars of margin; a 10% rise adds about 300 dollars, while a 10% fall removes the same amount.
Related terms
Latest articles on Long position
- Famous Whale Has Opened Massive Long Positions Worth $310M
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