Buy-in
Definition · Level 0 · Market basics
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A forced purchase that closes your short, typically when the lender recalls the shares and no replacement borrow can be found; executed at the market price, whatever it is.
Example
“Your borrow got recalled, you’re being bought in at the open.”
Where Tradecraft teaches it
Level 0 · Market basics, in the lesson “Short selling in practice”: What happens behind a short sale: finding shares to borrow, paying for them, and the risk of being forced out.
Related terms
- Days to coverShares sold short ÷ average daily volume: roughly how many days of normal trading it would take all shorts to buy back.
- Hard-to-borrowA stock with few shares available to borrow: short sellers pay high annualized fees (often several percent, in extremes over 100%), may be refused a…
- LocateThe broker’s confirmation, required by Regulation SHO (Reg SHO) before a short sale, that it has reasonable grounds to believe the shares can be…
- Short interestThe total number of shares currently sold short and not yet bought back, often quoted as a percentage of float.
- Short squeezeA feedback loop in a heavily shorted stock: a price rise forces short sellers to buy back (losses, margin calls, recalls), and that buying pushes…
- 52-week high / all-time highThe highest price over the past year of trading / the highest price ever recorded (split-adjusted).