What do the stock market and a jungle have in common? They’re both unpredictable and full of wild animals!

Well, maybe not wild animals per se – but if you look up stock market terminology, you are sure to come across several animal terms which may leave you a bit bewildered!

We thought of introducing you to some of the more common terms so you are prepared for your foray into the jungle that is the stock market. Bear in mind that these animal terms are all descriptive of investor behaviors in the stock market. Ready to enter the jungle?

1. The Bear & The Bull – We start off with the Bear and the Bull – two terms that are often clubbed together, and are interesting in that they are used to describe investors or traders, as well as the market itself. When you hear someone say they are entering a Bear market, it means that they are entering the market in which the stock prices are going to fall for the foreseeable future – and as a Bear investor, you expect this downward slope to continue. On the other hand, if one says they are entering the Bull market, it means that as Bull investors, they are expecting the market prices to rise for the foreseeable future. We have talked a little bit about the Bear & Bull duo here.
   
   
2. The Stag – The Stag traders and investors are a direct contrast to the Bull and Bear investors. How? Because the Stags are not interested in whether they are entering a Bear market or a Bull market – they are only looking out for the right investment opportunity at any given point in time. For this reason, the Stags are also dubbed the ‘Opportunists’ of the stock market. A perfect example of this would be an investor who buys the stock of a company in its IPO phase, and sells that stock as soon as it is listed. 
   
   
3. The Rabbit – Just like their namesakes, these stock market traders and investors are the ones who make quick trades. They do not want any long-term risks and are only looking to make quick investments in stock, often in a matter of minutes, and they do this day to day – hopping from one stock to another with every sunrise!
   
   
4. The Turtle – No points for guessing – the Turtles are the investors and traders who are slow to buy as well as sell their stock – they are in it for the long haul and are always working with a longer timeline in mind when it comes to their stock market transactions. The Turtles will make the least possible number of trades as their focus is long-term returns and are not easily swayed by market fluctuations. 
   
   
5. The Pig – The traders and investors who are impatient and often willing to take higher risks in the stock market. An old saying in the investment world goes – “Bulls make money, bears make money, and pigs get slaughtered.” This is because Pigs do not do any market research or analysis before they trade stock – they simply dive in! Sadly, they are often the biggest losers in the stock market. 
   
   
6. The Ostrich – You’ve heard that saying about Ostriches burying their head in the sand when faced with difficulty? Yeah – that. The Ostrich traders and investors never act on the negative news pertaining to the stock market – they simply bury their heads in the sand (figuratively!) and hope their investment stays intact. The Ostriches always hope that their financial portfolio will survive any market fluctuations and expect they’ll somehow come out of this jungle unscathed.
   
   
7. The Wolf – Lastly, we come to the big, bad Wolf. The Wolves are the investors and traders who will be unfailingly involved in scams that can shake the stock market when brought out into the open. Remember ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’? Yeah. This is why that movie was called what it was called. Jordan Belfort was the perfect example of a Wolf investor. Wolves will typically use any and every way, however unethical it might be, to make money from the stock market. 

And that brings us to the end of this jungle safari. It is important to remember that each kind of trader and investor has a role to play in how the stock market works – which is why it is important to know about them. After all, you can’t enter any jungle without knowing a little bit about the kind of wildlife you’ll be witnessing – can you?