Market Idioms

• "Don’t fight the Fed." Translation: The Federal Reserve influences markets more than headlines. Fighting Fed policy is like swimming upstream.
• "Don’t fight the tape." Translation: Respect the market trend. Betting against momentum can be costly.
• "Bull market." Translation: A sustained period where markets rise—typically defined as a 20% increase from the most recent market bottom (trough to peak).
• "Bear market." Translation: A market decline of 20% or more from recent highs (peak to trough). It’s a long drop—but not forever.
• "Correction." Translation: A market drop of 10% or more from a recent high. It’s normal and often healthy—but can feel unsettling.
• "Picking up pennies in front of a steamroller." Translation: Chasing small gains with big risk. Not a strategy we recommend.
• "Risk on, risk off." Translation: When markets shift rapidly between seeking risk (buying stocks, high-yield bonds, etc.) and avoiding it (moving into cash, Treasuries, or gold). It reflects changing confidence, not always fundamentals. We position for both.
• "Soft landing." Translation: The economy slows just enough to curb inflation without triggering a recession. Rare. Beautiful. Tough to nail.
• "Hard landing." Translation: The economy slows too much, leading to recession. Often painful but sometimes necessary.
• "No landing." Translation: The economy stays hot despite rate hikes. Growth continues, inflation lingers. No slowdown in sight.
• "FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)." Translation: When investors chase trends or rallies out of anxiety they’re being left behind. A common mistake. We stay grounded.
• "TINA (There Is No Alternative)." Translation: A mindset when low interest rates make stocks seem like the only viable investment. We diversify anyway.
• "Catching a falling knife." Translation: Buying a stock or asset that is rapidly dropping. Could be a deal... or a disaster.
• "Dead cat bounce." Translation: A short-term rally in a falling market that fools investors into thinking the worst is over. It’s not.
• "Bagholder." Translation: An investor left holding a losing investment when everyone else got out. Not you. Not on our watch.
• "Overweight/Underweight." Translation: How much we own of an asset vs. its benchmark. Overweight = more. Underweight = less. No guesswork. Just strategy.
• "10-bagger." Translation: An investment that returns 10x your original money. Rare, but not impossible. Patience generally equals quality, not a lottery ticket.

Want us to add more? Tell us what phrases you hear and we’ll translate them—no jargon, no fluff. 

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