Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open.

Long(100%)-Short(-100%) investment explanation
When portfolio positions are reported in percentages, those percentages are relative to the portfolio's base equity.  When you start out, that is equal to the cash you have in a portfolio.  Later it's the net equity of the portfolio (i.e., how much money you could withdraw if you were to exit all your positions). If you put $5,000 into your account and are long and short 50%, then you are long $2,500 and short $2,500.  If it's 100% and -100%, then long and short $5,000. "Leverage" is often computed gross (as if all positions were long).  So if you have 100% and -100%, then your broker may say you are "levered 2 to 1."  That is, your gross exposure is twice as large as your underlying base equity.