Market Slang

Sharky

Staff
Messages
5,941
Likes
607
Read with interest in the Evening Standard today that many of the so called fat fingered trades, such as the New York trader last night who entered a $4 billion sell order instead of the intended $4 million, causing a 100-plunge on the dow, stem from market slang meaning different things to different people.

So with a little help from the Standard, here's T2W's quick guide to market slang, might even save you a few yards!?!...

A Valerie: a single-lot contract, in reference to 1970s Blue Peter presenter Valerie Singleton

A Prince Charles: 12 contracts, because "one does".

An Archer: an instruction to buy or sell 2000 in reference to the amount Jeffrey Archer allegedly paid prosititute Monica Coghlan.

A Yard: 1 billion

A Bag: 1000, stemming from the Cockney rhyming slang "a bag of sand is a grand."

A Monkey: 500 (in reference to the animals once pictured on Indian banknotes)

A Pony: 25 (again, in reference to the animals once pictured on Indian banknotes

Let me know if there's any more that I've missed out!

Sharky.
 
lets bring this thread back to life, but rather than just slang for numbers lets think of some other slang terms used in the city. I have a few I heard on a trading floor
Tanks- When the market suddenly goes down, "The FTSE tanks on this news"
Smoked- To loose a lot. "We are going to get smoked if they approve those loans"
Ship in/out- Buy or sell.

Any others?...
 
Co*k an henner £10 tenner.
Deep sea Diver £5 fiver.

Spread Betters Nightmare, they have hunted my stops again and closed my trade at the high/low when the market did not even get there:oops::devilish:
 
All looks out of date to me,lets upgrade the cockney t2win slang

Gordon Brown.......Down The markets gone Gordon
Ed.................... Balls Thats totall ED
George bush.........Push I feel an upward george coming on
Condelisa Rice......Price This is a good condelisa
Meryl Streep.........cheap This looks a bit meryl
Digeridoo............Clue I havent got a digery what will happen today

etc etc
 
dead cat bounce = last little up-turn before the price finishes its collapse.
 
What is he consensus on "The Beast"? I've heard two versions.


Slang generally: I love modern rhyming slang. Pity a lot of it is unprintable :)
I'd have thought that the credit crunch must have produced some...
 
Slang that I've heard but might get the meaning wrong:

take a bath - lose big time
put to bed - close out a trade
fill your boots - load up a big position
 
  • Like
Reactions: BSD
There's the expression 'bed & breakfast' but I don't remember what it is.

And also 'wash its face' in relation to a position I think.

I obviously don't hang around with City types enough.
 
Bed and Breakfasting is what you are forced to do when a major account is blown big-time and you end up on the streets...

no, but seriously folks, here is one definition:
How to use CFDs for Bed & Breakfast Capital gains tax tricks

It seems that our Gordy put a stop to it, but wiley types on the web suggest ways of doing similar using other means. Bit above my head really (or just not very interesting).


Currency pairs: are there any other apart from Cable?

In lieu of any real ones, I have just invented

"Chunnel" for GBP/Euro and
"Manchetous" for Euro/GBP (Channel=la manche + pun on "mange tous").

OK, it's not very good, but work with me here folks...:D
 
Top