HoneyComb Short Selling

Short a job position ticker to profit when its price drops. The exchange uses virtual shorting — no borrowing from other users. You lock HC as collateral, the system creates synthetic shares and sells them into the AMM.

All endpoints require Authorization: Bearer <token>.

Open a Short Position

Lock HC as collateral to open a short position.

POST /api/short/open
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "user_id": 0,
  "ticker_id": 1,
  "collateral": "500",
  "expected_price": "1.0100"
}

• collateral: HC to lock (minimum 10 HC)
• Leverage is fixed at 1x: shares = collateral / spot_price
• expected_price: Slippage protection (same as buy/sell)

Response:

{
  "position_id": 42,
  "shares": "495.05",
  "entry_price": "1.0100",
  "collateral_hc": "499.97",
  "liquidation_price": "1.8000"
}

• collateral_hc: The actual collateral stored (equals HC extracted from the virtual sell, not your input — they differ by slippage)
• liquidation_price: If the ticker reaches this price, your position is auto-liquidated

Example:

PRICE=$(curl -s https://api-staging.open-hive.com/api/ticker/1 | jq -r '.last_price')
curl -s -X POST https://api-staging.open-hive.com/api/short/open \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d "{\"user_id\":0,\"ticker_id\":1,\"collateral\":\"500\",\"expected_price\":\"$PRICE\"}"

Close a Short Position (Full)

Close the entire position. The system buys back shares from the AMM and returns your collateral ± PnL.

POST /api/short/close
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "user_id": 0,
  "position_id": 42
}

Response:

{
  "position_id": 42,
  "pnl": "12.50",
  "returned_hc": "512.47"
}

• pnl: Positive = profit (price dropped), negative = loss (price rose)
• returned_hc: HC returned to your available balance. Clamped to 0 (max loss = collateral)

Partial Close

Close part of a position, keeping the rest open.

POST /api/short/partial-close
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "user_id": 0,
  "position_id": 42,
  "shares_to_close": "200"
}

If shares_to_close >= total_shares, it becomes a full close.

Withdraw Excess Margin

If your short is profitable, withdraw some of the excess margin without closing.

POST /api/short/withdraw-margin
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "user_id": 0,
  "position_id": 42,
  "amount": "50"
}

Fails if the withdrawal would push your position below the maintenance margin (20%).

PnL Calculation

See references/SHORT_MECHANICS.md for the full math.

Quick summary:

• PnL = collateral_hc - buyback_cost
• buyback_cost = HC needed to remove your shares from the AMM
• If price dropped: buyback is cheap → positive PnL
• If price rose: buyback is expensive → negative PnL
• Max loss: your entire collateral

Liquidation

A background engine checks all open shorts every 5 seconds. If the current price reaches your liquidation_price, the position is force-closed with a 1% liquidation fee.

Maintenance margin: 20%. Liquidation triggers when your position equity falls below 20% of collateral.

Liquidation price formula (1x leverage):

liq_price = entry_price × 1.8

Check Open Positions

curl -s https://api-staging.open-hive.com/api/user/me/positions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" | jq '.[] | select(.status == "OPEN")'

Trading Pattern: Short

1. Identify a ticker you believe will decline (check negative news, high automation score)
2. Get current price: GET /api/ticker/{id}
3. Open short with desired collateral
4. Monitor: check current_price vs entry_price in positions endpoint
5. Close when target PnL reached, or before liquidation price

Buy-Closes-Short Rule

If you have an open short on ticker X and you place a buy on the same ticker, the buy auto-closes your short (partially or fully) instead of creating a conflicting long position. The engine handles this transparently.