CHATROOM JARGON & ABBREVIATIONS

8am shuffle: Some brokers like eTrade open the auto-routing at 8:00am ET, which causes price imbalances.

8K: SEC form 8K is a disclosure form filed by a company to the SEC to notify of any events or information that may affect an investor (can be positive and negative).

9am RH pop: Robinhood pre-market trading opens at 9:00am ET, which sometimes leads to stock pops

A/H: After-hours trading (4pm - 8pm ET)

Algos: Hi-tech automated trading algorithms that are programmed to trade and manipulate stock price.

ATM: At The Market offering allows the issuer to sell newly issued shares at the current market prices.

Breakout (b/o): A stock price moving outside a defined support or resistance level with increased volume.

Call sweeps: A bullish options activity that shows high interest of a stock at a certain price and expiration

Choppy: When buyers and sellers are in balance, without a clear winner (price tends to move up and down quickly).

CP: Centerpoint Securities brokerage (owned by Clear Street)

DCA: Dollar-cost averaging is a strategy to buy a stock in multiple transactions as the price becomes more favorable, while the long-term conviction is still valid.

d/g: downgrade by a stock analyst

e/r: Earnings and revenue for a company for the given quarter (includes guidance too)

Effect: A type of public SEC filing (usually preceded by S3) that discloses what shares insiders can convert and sell in the open market.

Fade: A stock that is slowly trending down in price.

Fail / Crack: A stock failing to breakthrough and falling down

fft: Failed follow through (bearish action based on key price level)

Float: The "float" is a stock's supply (stocks with low floats usually have higher volatility)

FOMO: Fear of missing out (usually a forced rally without fundamentals)

Flush / Wash: The sudden downward price action, sometimes designed by the market makers to trigger stop-loss limits for longs.

Gapper: A stock expected to “gap up” the next day.

Halt: When a stock halts, trading is temporarily paused due to a circuit breaker rule. Circuit-triggered trading halts typically last for 5 minutes.

Heavy: A "heavy" stock struggles to gain upward momentum.

hod/lod: "High of day" and "low of day" - referring to the high and low prices for the day.

htb: Hard To Borrow - stocks that cannot be shorted easily, they usually have high interest rates

IBKR: Interactive Brokers brokerage

Locking: Closing out part (or all) of a position to "lock" or realize gains.

Market makers: the big trading funds that can control the price of a stock in either direction

MEF: An SEC S1 filing to indicate an upsized offering (registration of up to an additional 20% of securities)

moc: Market on Close (usually the buy/sell imbalance a few minutes before 4:00pm ET)

Offering / Secondary: An additional offering of shares that’s dilutive to existing shareholders, so stock price usually moves down to adjust for the price

PIPE: Private investment in public equity (PIPE) deal is a type of offering where a private investor, like a mutual fund or large institution, buys a chunk of shares at a below-market price.

Pre-mkt (PM): Pre-market trading (4:00am - 9:30am ET); PM hours will vary by broker

pt: price target (typically mentioned with upgrades/downgrades)

Pump: A stock promoted by someone in a chatroom, Twitter or a newsletter, leading to an artificial (and usually temporary) increase in price/volume

Put sweeps: A bearish options activity that shows high interest of a stock at a certain price and expiration

r/g: When a stock moves from red (negative on the day) to green (positive on the day). This shift in sentiment is often followed by a boost of momentum.

S1: SEC form S-1 is the initial registration form for new securities required by the SEC for public companies.

S3: SEC Form S-3 is utilized when a company wishes to raise capital, usually as a secondary offering after an initial public offering has already occurred (S3 is more comprehensive vs S1).

Scalp: Exit quickly on small position moves to realize profits.

Shove: A sudden upward price action, sometimes designed by the market makers to trigger stop-loss limits for shorts

Squeeze: A stock that is moving upward due to shorts covering their positions.

S/L: Stop loss limit (e.g. s/l of 40c means stop loss at $0.40 below buy price, for a long trade)

Slam: A big red candle (stock price drop)

ss: Short side trade

SSR (Uptick Rule): Short sale restriction is a SEC rule that's triggered when a stock falls over 10% from its previous close; it prevents traders from shorting at the bid price for that day (and the next day) to prevent it from dropping further, and allows shorting only on an uptick.

Swipe: A big green candle (stock price pop) with volume

TDA: TD Ameritrade brokerage

ToS: Think or Swim trading platform

vwap: Volume-weighted average price (VWAP) is a key benchmark used by many traders, it gives the average price a security has traded at throughout the day, based on both volume and price.