What are the hand gestures for stock market traders and what do they mean?
Currently, hand signals are used to convey the three essential elements of a futures or options trade: * Whether one is buying or selling. This is a simple gesture. If you are buying, put your hands out in front of you, palms facing in, and pull your hands towards you (as if you were pulling the shares you want into your chest.) For selling, do the opposite: place your hands in front of you palms out, and push your hands away from you (as if discarding of your shares.) For options: The universal “okay” signal (index finger to thumb, other fingers outstretched) is used to place put orders, while making a letter “C” with your hand indicates a call. * The price at which to buy or sell. The signal is simple; the interpretation, less so. Options, securities, and futures generally trade at prices in the double digits: 61, 73, 19, etc, and a one or two point shift can be considered a major move. Thus, traders only indicate the last digit of the sale price, and the broker extrapolates this to
