# Opening purchases/ Closing sales

**URL:** <https://talk.achievable.me/t/opening-purchases-closing-sales/7810>\
**Category:** FINRA Series 7\
**Created:** [March 16, 2025, 1:10pm UTC](https://talk.achievable.me/t/opening-purchases-closing-sales/7810 "2025-03-16T13:10:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Myra\_Auer](https://talk.achievable.me/letter_avatar/myra_auer/32/6_449c533f586939b6e5f246632a46421f.png) [@Myra\_Auer](https://talk.achievable.me/u/Myra_Auer)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 1:10pm UTC](https://talk.achievable.me/t/opening-purchases-closing-sales/7810/1 "2025-03-16T13:10:52Z")

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I am having difficulty understanding closing and opening transactions. I understand it when I read, and then when taking the practice exams, I get them all wrong.

Any tips please?

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**Author:** ![Justin](https://talk.achievable.me/user_avatar/talk.achievable.me/justin/32/41_2.png) [@Justin](https://talk.achievable.me/u/Justin)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 2:39am UTC](https://talk.achievable.me/t/opening-purchases-closing-sales/7810/2 "2025-03-17T02:39:37Z")

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Hi, it’s best to think of this in two parts:

- **Opening** vs **closing**
- **Purchase** vs **sale**

Opening vs closing

- If the investor currently is starting a new position, then they make an **opening** transaction
- If the investor currently is ending an existing position, then they make a **closing** transaction

Purchase vs sale

- If the investor wants to buy the option, they make a **purchase** to go long
- If the investor wants to sell the option, they make a **sale** to go short