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Poison pill, when a company issues more shares to prevent being bought out by another company, thereby increasing the number of outstanding shares to be bought by the hostile company making the bid to establish majority.
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Quant, a quantitative analyst with a PhD (and above) level of training in mathematics and statistical methods.
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Rocket scientist, a financial consultant at the zenith of mathematical and computer programming skill. They are able to invent derivatives of high complexity and construct sophisticated pricing models. They generally handle the most advanced computing techniques adopted by the financial markets since the early 1980s. Typically, they are physicists and engineers by training; rocket scientists do not necessarily build rockets for a living.
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White Knight, a friendly party in a takeover bid. Used to describe a party that buys the shares of one organization to help prevent against a hostile takeover of that organization by another party.
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Trading Slang and Expressions
- Babysitting: Wow, you sure have been babysitting that trade for awhile! – This means that you are holding a losing trade for a long time, hoping the price will increase enough so you can get out of the trade with an even balance.
- Buying Power: If that trader gets slammed again, his buying power will dwindle down to nothing! – The total of a trader’s equity and all available margin.
- Crunching: Hey, watch that stock, it’s crunching through the price level. – This happens when the support of a stock seems non-existent, and the price starts to fall rather quickly.
- Investor: When you dare to hold the position overnight. – Hey, the market closing in a few minutes, are you going to sell that stock, or become an investor?"
- Jigged Out: I can’t believe it! I got jigged out on a trade today! – When you’re in a trade, and the market briefly turns around, usually fairly quickly, and you get swindled into closing out the trade.
- Learning Curve: That trader hasn’t figured out the learning curve yet. – However long it takes you to figure out the rules of the game, and become a profitable trader.
- Melting: I melted my account today trading IBM – Taking large losses in a short amount of time. This loss is so large that the trader cannot continue to trade anymore.
- Nut: My trades today didn’t even cover my nut. – A nut is the total cost of commissions on your trades.
- Printing on the "O": Wow, that stock’s running, it’s printing on the "O"! – When the trade price is wither below the Inside Bid price or higher than the Inside Ask price. "Overriding" prices indicate tremendous urgency to either buy or sell that stock.
- Scalper: I wish I could be a great scalper, like him. – A scalper is a high volume trader who is looking for small winners. An example is someone who trades 1,000 shares, and is only looking for 1/4 point or less.
- Slippage: I hate the slippage in SOES orders. – Market orders that get filled at disadvantageous higher or lower prices.
- Squiggly Lines: That trader uses a lot of squiggly lines on his chart. – Technical indicators that traders use on their charts to assist in trading.
- Stick: I bought IBM and it ran up three sticks. – A full point (or dollar).
- Tanking: Get out of your trade, the market’s tanking! – Used to describe the market when it takes a sharp turn for the worst.
- Whacked: I got whacked on that trade. – A swift, sharp trade that goes against the trader.