how long can they hold the short position before they have to cover ?
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The broker will mark to market the short trade position every trading day when the market closes.
If the prices of the shorted stock goes down the broker will make a margin call of enough cash or collateral on deposit to make up the difference between selling price & actual market price
So the short seller can keep the position open indefinitely as long as he has enough cash or collateral to cover the margin
nice explanation...thanks...