This thread is for acronyms and poorly-defined terms that are used on this site (EDIT: also for links to tutorials, found at the end of this post). We've all seen a lot of acronyms used in the forums, as well as on other sites (blogs, news outlets, the Fed, etc), and it's not always easy to figure out what's being referred-to. So - if you know of an acronym that's not already in this thread, please contribute it. Also, if you know of any terms that you've seen used but that are not well-known, please feel free to add a definition here. Hopefully, as this thread fills out, we'll all spend less time Googling odd sets of letters and instead be able to better understand what's going on!

Acronyms
ABCDS = Asset-Backed Credit Default Swaps
ABCP = Asset-Backed Commercial Paper (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/asse....)
ABS = Asset-Backed Security (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/asse....)
ABX = Asset-Backed credit derivative indeX (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset-backe....)
ACAT = Automated Customer Account Transfer (https://www.brokersxpress.com/welcome/fa....)
AFC = Available Funds Cap
AGI = Adjusted Gross Income(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjusted_Gr....)
AMT = Alternative Minimum Tax (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative....)
ARM = Adjustable Rate Mortgage (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/arm.....)
BIX = S&P Banking IndeX ($BIX.X, http://stocks.us.reuters.com/stocks/over....)
BK = Bankrupt/Bankruptcy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy))
BKX = KBW Bank IndeX ($BKX, http://stocks.us.reuters.com/stocks/over....)
BPS = Basis Points (often pronounced "bips") (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/basi....)
BOE = Bank of England (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/boe.....)
BTW = By The Way
CBO = Collateralized Bond Obligation (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cbo.....)
CDO2 = CDO Squared (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaterali....)
CDO = Collateralized Debt Obligation (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cdo.....)
CDS = Credit Default Swaps (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cred....)
CIGA = Comrade(s) In Golden Arms (used by goldbugs, started by Jim Sinclair)
CLN = Credit Linked Note (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cred....)
CLTV = Combined Loan To Value (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/comb....)
CMBS = Commercial Mortgage-Backed Security (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cmbs....)
CMBX = Commercial Mortgage-Backed indeX (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cmbx....)
CMCDS = Constant Maturity Credit Default Swap
CME = Chicago Mercantile Exchange (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cme.....)
CMO = Collateralized Mortgage Obligation (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cmo.....)
CMS = Constant Maturity Swap (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constant_ma....)
CP = Commercial Paper (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/comm....)
DD = Due Diligence (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dued....)
DMA = Day/Daily Moving Average (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sma.....)
DTI = Debt To Income ratio (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt-to-inc....)
ECB = European Central Bank (http://www.ecb.int/home/html/index.en.ht....)
EFF = Effective Fed Funds Rate (sometimes EFFR)
ELA = Emergency Liquidity Assistance
EMA = Exponential Moving Average (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/ema.....)
EOM = End Of Message (put this in your SUBJECT line, so we know we don't have to read the message!)
ES = S&P E-mini futures (more properly designated as /ES)
ETF = Exchange-Traded Fund (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/etf.....)
ETH = Extended Trading Hours (in conjunction with an index or futures contract; it means that the issue trades beyond the regular 09:30-16:00 ET session)
FDIC = Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fdic....)
FFIEC = Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (http://www.ffiec.gov/about.htm)
FFR = Fed Funds Rate
FFT = Fed Funds Target
FHLB = Federal Home Loan Bank (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fhlb....)
FIB = Fibonacci Numbers (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fibo....)
FINRA = Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (http://www.finra.org/)
FM = Front Month (in reference to options or futures). Also, Fast Money (CNBC program, http://www.cnbc.com/id/15838499)
FOMC = Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fomc....)
FRN = Federal Reserve Note (i.e. CASH)
FWIW = For What It's Worth
FY = Fiscal Year (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fisc....)
GAAP = Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAAP)
GDP = Gross Domestic Product (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gdp.....)
GSE = Government-Sponsored Enterprise (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gse.....)
HBs = Home Builders
HEL = Home Equity Loan (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/home....)
HELOC = Home Equity Line Of Credit (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/home....)
HOD = High Of the Day (see also LOD)
IB = Investment Bank (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/inve....)
IDR = Issuer Default Rating (http://www.fitchratings.com/corporate/fi....)
IMO/IMHO = In My Opinion/In My Humble Opinion (there are many variations on this, such as IMNSHO (In My Not So Humble Opinion) - if it starts with "IM" and ends with "O", it's probably some form of "IMO" - and since some folks get creative, you might have to ask the author what it actually means!)
ISDA = International Swaps and Derivatives Association (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/isda....)
ITM = In The Money (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/inth....)
IV = Implied Volatility (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/iv.a....)
J6P = Joe (or Jane) Six Pack (sometimes used as JSP) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Q._Pub....)
LBO = Leveraged BuyOut (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/leve....)
LIBOR = London InterBank Offered Rate (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/libo....)
LOC = Line Of Credit
LOD = Low Of the Day (see also HOD)
LTV = Loan To Value (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/loan....)
MACD = Moving Average Convergence/Divergence (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/macd....)
MAGI = Modified Adjusted Gross Income (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modified_Ad....)
MBS = Mortgage Backed Securities (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/mbs.....)
MEW = Mortgage Equity Withdrawal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortgage_eq....)
M-LEC = Master-Liquidity Enhancement Conduit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mlec)
MMF = Money Market Fund (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/mone....)
MOC = Market On Close (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/mark....)
MRQ = Most Recent Quarter (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/mrq.....)
MSM = MainStream Media
NASD = National Association of Securities Dealers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_As....)
NASDAQ = National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASDAQ)
NAV = Net Asset Value (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/nav.....)
NCUA = National Credit Union Administration (http://www.ncua.gov/)
NSFW = Not Suitable For Work (and probably not for your kids, either!)
NYSE = New York Stock Exchange (http://www.nyse.com/)
OBV = On Balance Volume (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/onba....)
OMG = Oh My God!
OP = Original Poster (the person who started the current thread)
OPM = Other People's Money
OTM = Out of The Money (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/outo....)
PAUG = Pay-As-You-Go (sometimes typed as "PAYG")
PD = Primary Dealer (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/prim....)
POMO = Permanent Open Market Operation (http://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/pomo/d....)
POS = Piece Of Sh*t (http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/a....)
PPT = Plunge Protection Team (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_Gro....)
PTB = Powers That Be (sometimes seen as TPTB, "The Powers That Be")
QSPE = Qualified (or Qualifying) Special Purpose Entity ([http://www.securitization.net/knowledge/....)]
REMIC = Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/remi....)
REO = Real Estate Owned (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Estate....)
RMBS = Residential Mortgage-Backed Security (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rmbs....)
ROFL = Rolling On the Floor Laughing (there are many of these; if it starts with "ROFL," it's "Rolling On the Floor Laughing..." - and you can probably guess the rest.)
ROFLMAO = Rolling On the Floor Laughing My Ass Off
RSI = Relative Strength Index (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rsi.....)
RTH = Regular Trading Hours (in conjunction with an index or futures contract; it means that the issue trades only during the regular 09:30-16:00 ET session)
SEC = Securities and Exchange Commission (http://www.sec.gov/)
SHTF = Sh*t Hits The Fan (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.ph....)
SIPC = Securities Investor Protection Corporation (http://www.sipc.org/who/sipcmission.cfm)
SIV = Structured Investment Vehicle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structured_....)
SMA = Simple Moving Average (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sma.....)
SOQ = Special Opening Quotation (http://media.tradersmedia.com/cm/pdfs/cm....) (PDF)
SWF = Sovereign Wealth Fund(s) (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sove....)
TAF = Term Auction Facility (http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypo....)
TANSTAAFL = There Ain't No Such Thing As a Free Lunch
TED spread = Treasury-EuroDollar spread (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/teds....)
TEOTWAWKI = The End Of The World As We Know It
TIO = Term Investment Option
TOMO = Temporary Open Market Operation (http://www.ny.frb.org/markets/omo/dmm/te....)
TOS = Think Or Swim (http://www.thinkorswim.com/), Terms of Service
TSLF = Treasury Security Lending Facility (http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents....)
TU (or Tango Uniform) =***** Up (or Toes Up) - euphemism for dead, bankrupt, or out of business
VIE = Variable Interest Entity
VIX = The CBOE Volatility Index (http://www.cboe.com/micro/vix/vixwhite.p....) (PDF)
VWAP = Volume Weighted Average Price (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/vwap....)
WS = Wall Street
WTF = What The F*ck?!
YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary
YOY = Year On Year (or Year Over Year) (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/y/year....)
YSP = Yield Spread Premium (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/y/yiel....)


(Didn't find it in that list? There are many more financial acronyms available here: http://www.investopedia.com/categories/a.... and here http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Publicat....) (PDF)
(If you're looking for an acronym that might not be related to finance, try looking here: http://silmaril.ie/cgi-bin/uncgi/acronym....)

Glossary
(There are far too many terms to list them all here. If the term you're looking for is not here, I suggest looking it up at Investopedia (http://www.investopedia.com/dictionary/d....).

Bottom http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bott....
Call http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/call....
Candlesticks/candles http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cand....
Fib/Fibonacci http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fibo....
Fibonacci retracement http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fibo....
Long http://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/long....
Momo http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/momo....
OpEx - Options Expiration http://www.investors.com/optioncenter/re.... (or http://www.optionsclearing.com/publicati....)
Pin (noun) - the thin line extending from the body of a candlestick (sometimes also called the "wick")
Retracement http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/retr....
Roach (verb) - to fail, collapse, or snuff out.
Put http://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/put.....
Reversal http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/reve....
Scalp(ing) http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/scal....
Short http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/shor....
Short Bus Rider http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.ph....
Stick Save - A hockey term that refers to a desperation (or lucky) move that results in the unlikely feat of deflecting an oncoming puck with the hockey stick, as illustrated here:

It is used on TickerForum to describe the just-in-time jawboning, leaks, "news" items, and other market-influencing events that appear to be perpetuated by the PTB to prop up the market.
Top http://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/atop....
Whipsaw http://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/whip....

(feel free to add some, or ask questions...)

(Thanks to LCruiser, 4155, and Jdaun for the kick-start)

Tutorials/Discussions
Money Management: http://www.tickerforum.org/cgi-ticker/ak....
Support and Resistance Levels: http://www.tickerforum.org/cgi-ticker/ak....
Moving Averages and MACD: http://www.tickerforum.org/cgi-ticker/ak....
Fibonacci Numbers and Retrace Levels: http://www.tickerforum.org/cgi-ticker/ak....
Short Selling: http://www.thestreet.com/s/how-short-sel....
Understanding the ABX: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/news....
An Explanation of Deflation: http://www.elliottwave.com/deflation/
A Crash Course in Elliott Wave Theory: http://www.scribd.com/word/full/192647?a....

(Let me know if there are more tutorials that should be added to this list...)

Oh THANK YOU Foxy!!!

Grazie! Been banging my head against the wall trying to figure out what organization or institution 'J6P' is that I keep seeing in the comments. Facepalm->Self, lol...

Looks good Foxy,
Might brake out the J6p and POS and start a different thread for example, WTF, OMG, RALMFAO,EOM..... or possibly just place the non financial terms below the financial Acronyms. Just a suggestion.

FUBAR....

You guys will love this "dumbassedness". I had to look up POTUS...

Come on now, that is funny as hell, 10 years of college and engineering school and didn't know what POTUS was..., maybe that's why it took 10 years...

definitely need a "non-finance" set of definitions... My wife doesn't understand BFF-FUBAR&ROFLMAOPIMP.. ****in greek man....

Just remember, before YOU knew what they meant, you didn't know what they meant either....

I was hoping to keep this list focused on acronyms that are actually used with some frequency on these forums. BFF, POTUS, et al don't really appear here - and the list of non-financial "internet acronyms" is huge. I added a link to the Internet Acronym Server (http://silmaril.ie/cgi-bin/uncgi/acronym....) for oddities; I doubt it would hurt to add WTF, OMG, EOM, and ROFLMAO (and its cousins), since those are used here fairly often. And I think that since the list isn't that long, it would be better to keep a single, alphabetized list than have two separate lists to search - if you're looking up an acronym and you don't know what it means, how would you know which list to look in first?

Yes that does make sense.

Heres one that stumped me....but i figured it out after 10 minutes of wracking my pea sized brain...I'd seen it before....I have a good memory....its just not very long ......:)

TEOTWAWKI......

Any takers ?...Come on...you young bucks got this **** memorized years ago....Anyone....Buehler...Buehler.....anyone .....?

its the end of the world as we know it, and i feel fine.

Awesome list.

Here's an important one that's missing:

BK = Bankruptcy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy)

--------ITEOTWAWKIAIFFBIFUBARAIROFLMAOPIMPWMBFF-----

Quote:

It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine because it's ****ed up beyond all recognition and I'm rolling on the floor laughing my ass off peeing in my pants with my best friend forever.

I'm sure the "master of the universe" will oblige us and split the **** from the main thread after we "**** out" a few more stupid irrelevant acronyms and get our non-finance related ones all ironed out...

The funny thing is those irrelevant acronyms are actually relevant to our damn conversations now in cyber space...

add TU -***** Up

I had to ask about that one.

IMHO

How about EFF and FFT also? I see those bandied about in posts, EFF-FFT spread and the like, but don't yet know what they are...

When someone says something "roached", what's that mean exactly? My guess looking at how it's used is that it's spiking down hard, plummeting, etc. Is this right?

yes roached = cooked,toast

Beautiful job foxy

People keep asking what is "photoguy bad".

Care to add?

Photoguy bad refers to one of the original forum participants on this board. His screen name is Photoguy (he's a photographer). A brilliant guy most would agree, but a goes a off the deep end hard when off the meds sched. Like many creative genius types he maybe very well be bi polar. Anyway, his viewpoint of the state of the planet was gloomy. Also,he had a habit of posting in caps on breaking news. He would spew out these scary cyber rants that pretty much summed up that we were all imminently ****d. He was prone to attacking some of the participants who were looking for the next great short play. He thought they were all heartless greedy pigs.
KD threw him into the bilge after one uber vicious rant that was posted in BN. PG had issues with KD's use of "ass rape" verbage and accused him of being a fag.
The term Photoguy Bad came about after one of the members responded to some breaking news that things looked real bad as in "Photoguy bad". The term caught on and is used when the breaking news looks especially bleak.
I liked him and his presence kept this forum quite lively which even without him it still is. In many ways this was not the best forum for his particular point of view. I would always suggest that he would be better off in [http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net] but he never took me up on it.

Foxy! Thanks so much for that post. I gotta say, there are times I see you guys punch these things out and I sit there and wonder what the hell it meant. Now I have my handy dandy reference. Awesome. Thanks.

ACAT Automated Customer Account Transfer https://www.brokersxpress.com/welcome/faq/acat.aspx?sessionid=

CRS-Can't remember ****
DKS-don't know ****
WGAS-who gives a ****
WGAF-who gives a ****
WTFK-who the **** knows
WTFC-who the **** cares
STFU-shut the **** up
FFF-****in **** ****
GYHOYA-get your head outta your ass (this is my new favorite)
GYHOMA-get your head outta my ass
FS-**** stick

this is what happens on a beautiful sat. afternoon in paradise when your buddies are out of town or playin on their ****ing computers instead of diving and fishing...

BIOYA - Blow It Out Your Ass

(I think I'll just leave today's additions right here at the bottom of the thread... )

we can split them off and have our own "BIOYA" thread later when we get enough BS on here...that would make a great Bar thread..

Also,

PPT = Plunge protection team
PTB = Powers that be
MSM = Mainstream media