Going Long Definition. Going Long is a term used to describe the type of trading position taken by a Buyer with the purchase of a stock, commodity, or currency for investment or speculation. The Seller in the transaction is regarded as having gone "short". With foreign currencies, a pair of currencies is always involved in the trade such that one party is always going long while the other party goes short. In forex trading, a trader usually goes "long" in a currency because he has an expectation that the exchange rate will move in his favor by increasing and that he will profit from that price behavior. It the most intuitive and optimistic way a trade can be profitable. Although it is not necessarily always the case in forex trading, going long may also imply that the Buyer of the financial instrument intends to hold the asset or option for a long period of time, thus waiting for appreciation to deliver a profitable opportunity to cancel his position.