What is Going short?
Taking the BTC/USDT trading pair as an example, going short means borrowing more BTC to sell at a higher price and then buying it back at a lower price to earn the difference.
Assume you have a principal of 2,000 USDT and can use 10x leverage to sell 1 BTC short in the BTCUSDT futures market. If BTC’s price drops from 20,000 USDT to 15,000 USDT, your profit and loss (P&L) calculation would be as follows:
1 * (20,000 - 15,000) = 5,000 USDT
In spot trading, it is not possible to profit by going short.
| Position Size | Opening Price | Closing Price | P&L |
| 1 BTC | 20,000 USDT | 15,000 USDT | 5,000 USDT |
Note: For simplicity, the above example does not include calculations for premiums, margin P&L, transaction fees, or funding costs.
How to Go short?
If you anticipate the price of a cryptocurrency will drop, you can use leverage to go short and profit from the decline. Taking BTC/USDT perpetual futures as an example:
After logging into the XT official website, go to the Futures section.
You can search and select the trading pair.
Before opening a position, ensure there are funds in your futures account. You can either buy coins or transfer funds from your spot account. XT does not charge fees for internal transfers. For detailed instructions, refer to how to transfer and view your futures account funds.
Select Cross/Isolated Margin and set your Leverage.
Choose the order mode: Limit, Market, or Trigger Order — input the Price and Quantity, and click Sell to Open Short.
Once the order is executed, you can view the position details under Current Position.
Risk Warning:
Futures trading allows you to use less capital to potentially gain more profit. However, if the trade direction is incorrect, losses will also be magnified. XT advises beginners to avoid high-leverage, heavy-position trading to prevent significant losses or liquidation.