Here is some of the jargon spoken on the trading floor; I have only included the expressions that are generally used by traders and salespeople. It is not meant to cover the list of official terms, which you can get anywhere else. Read it to avoid the embarrassing situation where you have to ask someone what “long” and “short” means.

Long:

When a trader says “I’m long 300 contracts” he means he owns 300 contracts. Bankers also say they “go long” this or that. When the market goes up while I am ‘long’ I make a profit.

Short:

“I’m short 100 contracts” means I have sold 100 contracts and I need to buy them back sometime in the future. The main reason for “going short” with these contracts is because I believe their value will drop in the future, and I hope to repurchase them at a lower price and make a profit.

Bankers also say “go short” and “shorting” something. When the market goes down while I am sort, I turn in a profit.

Flat:

When I am “flat”, it means I have no position (I don’t own any assets, I don’t owe any either). It doesn’t matter to me what the market does, if I am flat I have no exposure and no interest in the market.

One buck: One million dollar

Ten bucks: Ten million dollars

Hundred bucks: One hundred million dollars. When you work in investment banking, the pace is fast, the frequency and the size of the transactions forces people to become more efficient about the way they speak: “ten bucks” is faster to say then “ten million dollars”. By the way, ‘ten bucks’ is a small size if you work in fixed-income trading or sales.

BSD: A star. It is usually a compliment. BSD stands for Big Swinging Dick; basically you have balls. Applicable to both men and women, it’s equivalent in Las Vegas would be the “whale” (big punter). With the lower propensity to having large-proprietary trading operations, BSDs are a race in extinction at banks. I suspect they have all fled to hedgies.

Arbitrage: A trading strategy that is meant to generate profit in a risk-free (or almost risk-free) fashion.

Hedgie: a Hedge fund.

Bull: Someone who expects the market to go up

Bear: Someone who expects the market to go down

Basis points: One percent of one percent. Basically 0.01%. The profits on trades are usually calculated in terms of basis points especially for liquid asset classes like FX or bonds. This term is more specific to the interest rate and bond market.

One bip: one basis point

Pips: Basis points, specific to the FX market jargon

Big figure: The number that represents 100 basis points, specific to the FX market jargon. In the following price, EURUSD 1.2825, 1.28 is the big figure.

Handle: The big figure

Chinese wall: It’s the process, by which traders and sales are segregated from corporate finance staff, and they are prevented from sharing confidential information; the wall does not exist physically; it is an imaginary barrier.

Cable: USDGBP, the exchange rate between Sterling Pound and one US dollar

Aussie: USDAUD, the exchange rate between US dollar and Australian dollar

Kiwi: USDNZD, the exchange rate between US dollar and New Zealand dollar

Dollar-Yen: the exchange rate between US dollars and Japanese Yen, also called “The Yen”

Book: also called “trading book” is the collection of positions held by a trader.

Euro: the exchange rate between Euro and US dollar

Meltdown: crisis time, when all the markets are going down at the same time, think October 1929, October 2008, etc…

To unwind: to close out a particular position, specific to swap markets

To drop: to lose. For example, one trader telling another: “hey dude, I just dropped one buck unwinding this position”; he means he has lost one million dollar closing out that position.

Bonus: one the most important and expected yearly event for any banker. The discretionary amount that will be paid to you as a proud member of the investment banking community. The range: from zero to 50 million dollars

As a salesperson, you are squeezed between your client and your trader. Which one takes priority over the one is your decision alone; the answer is not always straightforward, and the best salespeople are often the ones that use their creative skills to come up with positive outcomes.

The most important skill for a salesperson is to be able to distill and synthesize client issues and translate them into a format that can be digested by the trading desk.