What are short sellers and speculators when speaking of stock market..?

Question

What are short sellers and speculators when speaking of stock market..?

Answer 1

Short Selling

"In finance, short selling or "shorting" securities means a seller does not own a security, in the hope of repurchasing them later at a lower price. This is done in an attempt to profit from an expected decline in price of a security, such as a stock or a bond, in contrast to the ordinary investment practice, where an investor "goes long," purchasing a security in the hope the price will rise.

The term "short selling" or "being short" is often also used as a blanket term for all those strategies which allow an investor to gain from the decline in price of a security. Those strategies include buying options known as puts. A put option consists of the right to sell an asset at a given price; thus the owner of the option benefits when the market price of the asset falls. Similarly, a short position in a futures contract, or to be short a futures contract, means the holder of the position has an obligation to sell the underlying asset at a later date, to close out the position."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_(fina...

Speculation

"Financial speculation, involves the buying, holding, selling, and short-selling of stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies, collectibles, real estate, derivatives, or any valuable financial instrument to profit from fluctuations in its price as opposed to buying it for use or for income via methods such as dividends or interest. Speculation or agiotage represents one of four market roles in Western financial markets, distinct from hedging, long- or short-term investing, and arbitrage."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculation