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Glossary of Trading Terms and Phrases

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By Barry Ritholtz - October 30th, 2009, 9:59AM

Time for some Friday Fun:

via the Dopey Cowboy, we get a Glossary of Trading Terms and Phrases. A few of my favorites:

Better Lucky than Smart – The only thing we have going for us.

Clean up - If you believe that I have a bridge to show you.

Down a Touch – This thing just came off like a f**king prom dress.

Find out who’s moving the stock - Pick a name out of a hat.

Floor Looks: The only way to be 100% wrong 100% of the time.

Good Guy – Doesn’t ask me any difficult questions.

Great Guy – Doesn’t ask me any difficult questions and gives me business.

Happy – “Happy to get involved”, “Happy to get you started” – Although coming across like Mr. Sunshine, It’s Wall Street’s way of reminding you that your sales trader is just a whore at heart and willing to take one in the keester if it gets him an order.

I have a call into my analyst – If it’s important, go get the info somewhere else.

I won’t embarrass you: Unbuckle your pants.

Lay Up – You’re fucked and/or customer wants something.

Make it Right: Let’s ignore all those pesky rules, regulations and what actually traded for a minute.

Must Be the Program Desk – That’s how you explain to an inquiring account about a stock you’re #1 in but failed to shop even once.

On the side-lines – Synonymous with you’re done for the day and I’m moving on to the next broker.

Open Up Down -  If you hear somebody say “the stock is going to open up down fifty cents”, that’s code for they should be flipping burgers for a living and you need to hang up the phone immediately.

PM Limit - Sure it is.

Short Squeeze – explanation given for any stock up more than 4% when you’re too busy with another client to check it out.

Smart Money – 65% of that crowd has gone out of business over the past 18 months and half of what’s left is either getting squeezed or subpoenaed.  There is no smart money.

Takes me out of the name – there’s a few million more.  I’ll just pretend to catch another seller tomorrow… or later.Traded Away – Your client just douched you.

Understood - I’m not sure what you just said so I’m just gonna wing it and hope you don’t call.

VWAP – No conviction.

We’re big boys, we can take it – Son of a bitch! That stung like a mother f**ker.

The full run is here.

Hat tip Mike Panzner

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Category: Markets.

Comments

Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data, ability to repeat discredited memes, and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Also, be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor even implied. Any irrelevancies you can mention will also be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous.

7 Responses to “Glossary of Trading Terms and Phrases”

  1. arthur.i Says:
    October 30th, 2009 at 10:17 am

    Another that has been said to me over the years:

    “It never pays to be too smart or too stupid”

  2. bsneath Says:
    October 30th, 2009 at 10:55 am

    Loan Shark – Goldman Sach’s line of business when they are not trading.

    Hey somebody had to take up the slack now that John Gotti is gone.

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125689890371418331.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_business

  3. jeff in indy Says:
    October 30th, 2009 at 11:01 am

    PM Limit: my patience w/the other half at least 1 week a month. (sorry, couldn’t resist that one.)

  4. VennData Says:
    October 30th, 2009 at 11:01 am

    There’s an app for that – Our IT guys have all been canned, we couldn’t get to that before next year at the earliest.

  5. bsneath Says:
    October 30th, 2009 at 11:03 am

    “We are painfully conscious of being a force for good.” – Goldman Sach’s public relations jargon.

    Incidentally, linked below is an excellent article on what the true meaning of “force for good” is. Some excerpts:

    “What does a force for good in business look like these days? It is a good business model that embraces the “3 T’s” of trust, transparency, and temperance.

    Trust is the standard modus operandi of any good business model. In finance, this means honoring clients, shareholders, and the public by serving all involved with honor and integrity.

    Transparency is the basic operating strategy for replacing the “rip your face off” culture with creating real value for investors, shareholders, and citizens alike.

    Temperance is the self-regulating self-restraint currently missing from market profits and market maker payouts.”

    http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/becoming-force-good

  6. RW Says:
    October 30th, 2009 at 11:37 am

    Thanks for the link to that unbelievable NowPublic article bsneath: Anyone in finance who obeys the precepts outlined in the “Force for Good” will be terminated (regretfully) and anyone who believes it will buy a bridge to anywhere (and become an excellent client).

    There is a reason New Orleans is still full of slag and it’s the same reason financial reform is going nowhere; elites are indifferent to the fate of peasants as long as peasants grow enough to keep elites fat.

  7. bsneath Says:
    October 30th, 2009 at 12:59 pm

    RW – The peasants are losing weight fast and the elite sare getting fatter by the day. This is not going to turn out well, don’t you think?

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