Some Fun Wall Street Jargon

I get a kick out of jargon and slang. that's one of the things that makes finance fun - the colorful language. One of the things I particularly enjoyed when teaching about Mergers and Acquisitions were the names for anti-takeover strategies. Just to name a few, there's the poison pill, the scorched earth, white knights (and also white squires and grey knights), and my favorite, the "Pac-Man Defense".

Here's a short list and explanation for some of the jargon used in the investment and trading side of the Street, like "dead cat bounce", "air-pocket stock", and the "cockroach theory" of bad news.