Should you buy TBT, you own the fund long, just you would "normally" with any stock or etf. >>IT<< is what is short. If bond prices fall (eg; rates rise) then the value of TBT would rise. It's an inverse fund. You buy it expecting the market price of TBT to rise, which it WILL if rates rise. However it manages to do that, you don't need to care about. (It's done with futures, but you need not care about that. These are VERY liquid and widely traded etfs.
