How To Short On XTB

When you open a CFD at XTB, you pick a direction. Sell means short. Your profit or loss is the gap between your selling price and the price at which you close, multiplied by your size. It’s leveraged, so both gains and losses get bigger.

4 Steps To Shorting On xStation

1. Open up the xStation platform on your web browser or via the Android or iOS app. Then you can search for the instrument under ‘Markets’ and open the order ticket. You can see below we looked for a Gold CFD under the ‘Hot’ instruments list. Clicking it opens a chart and order menu for the asset.

2. If you scroll under the chart you can then enter your parameters, such as the size in the ‘Volume’ box, which shows the margin. As you can see below, for this trade, we entered an order volume of 0.1, which was around 1555.07 GBP in margin at that time. The full notional exposure was much larger, around £31,000, because CFDs use leverage.

3. Put a stop loss above your entry, since the risk on a short is to the upside. You have to scroll down to toggle ‘Stop Loss’ on – you’ll then be able to enter a price. We selected 4,230 as that was above the recent lower highs, so if price hits that level, the downtrend may be showing signs of weakening. You can also add a take profit below entry if you want one.

4. Confirm by pressing ‘Sell’ if you have one-click trading enabled. If you don’t, a ‘New Market Order’ screen will appear with the order volume, final investment amount, and stop loss. If you’re happy, press ‘Confirm Market Order’.

When the trade is opened, a green banner appears at the top of the platform or app to confirm the order went through. You can see what this looks like below.

What We Paid To Short

We captured these on a weekday around 14:30 GMT, during the London–New York overlap, when spreads are usually tightest:

Outside of regular trading hours, such as early mornings, late evenings, and weekends, spreads can widen significantly. This means your trading costs depend on when you trade, not just what you trade.

Three Things That Catch Short Sellers Out

1. Overnight financing (swap): On shorts you sometimes get paid financing instead of paying it. Usually the reference rate minus 2–3 points. It’s not guaranteed and depends on rates and the instrument. You can avoid this by closing trades intraday, but shorter trading strategies can bring heightened costs and risks.
2. Dividends: Hold a short share CFD over the ex-dividend date and you pay the dividend (a debit equal to the gross amount).
3. Leverage: Maximum caps depend on your branch. 1:30 max under FCA/CySEC, up to 1:500 for non-EU or pro clients. More leverage means faster losses if it goes wrong.

One thing worth saying: Shorting is more difficult than buying, because markets generally rise over time, so you are trading against the trend. Make sure you have a clear reason for shorting, always use a stop loss, and check the dividend calendar in xStation before holding a short position overnight.