For those unfamiliar with the term, “trader talk” simply describes the conversation among financial investors about the securities they hold and how that market may react to an event or set of events. It is essentially a form of insider talk, as those who speak it are often financial professionals who work at investment banks or other financial institutions, hedge funds, or large investment firms. The term “trader talk” is sometimes used to describe an industry (e.g., futures & options trading, foreign exchange). However, for the purposes of this article, we will stick to the singular term, “trader talk.”
For those not familiar with this form of trading, the conversation detailed above is quite literally incomprehensible and even somewhat intimidating. But for the purposes of this article, it s simply a jargon-free language commonly used by financial traders-specifically, private investor and day traders. In simple terms, this means that instead of using the more standard “busy” investment terminology such as “baskets”, “hedges”, “puts”, etc., day traders and other investors talk about the particular securities they own in detail, often describing each security in great detail. This detailed information is what is referred to as “trading speak.”
Traders often speak of “trend indicators,” “fibonacci levels,” “keying,” “irving levels,” “trend following” or “trend flags.” They use words like “waves,” “periods,” “waves within periods,” “swings” and so on. All of these terms are derived from the terminology used in the trading world and are intended to described the particular behaviors of the securities being discussed. As a trader who is not familiar with all of this jargon, it can be quite intimidating. However, as any new trader must begin to learn and adapt to the complex and dynamic world of trading, becoming adept at speaking the trader talk is but the first step.