Four months into President Donald Trump’s second term, market observers have adopted his penchant for condensing slogans into memorable acronyms like MAGA, DOGE, and MAHA. This trend has led to the creation of new acronyms that are now circulating among trading desks.
Even those acronyms that do not directly correspond to a specific trading strategy still encapsulate factors that traders identify as crucial in Trump-era markets. These include volatility and uncertainty, which investors are urged to consider when making financial decisions.
Some of these new labels are linked to investment strategies designed to capitalize on Trump’s economic and trade policies, as well as his international relations objectives. Others playfully allude to economic implications or his abrupt policy reversals, as markets and trade partners react to his proposals.
The “Trump Trade,” which capitalized on the “Make America Great Again” theme following his November election victory and January inauguration, contributed to record highs on Wall Street in February. However, this phenomenon is now barely discussed as stocks, the dollar, and Treasury bonds have become susceptible to concerns about his tariff policies.
“Post the election, we heard a lot about YOLO (You Only Live Once), which seemed to promote taking outsize risks in a concentrated investment theme,” noted Art Hogan, a strategist at B. Riley Wealth.
YOLO, in this context, describes a tendency within that initial Trump trade to pursue high-momentum strategies such as cryptocurrency. “While the term YOLO was popular for some time, it goes against all traditional advice,” Hogan added.
Here are a few more acronyms that have gained traction in the investment world in recent weeks:
TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out): This acronym, coined by a Financial Times columnist, has been used to describe Trump’s indecision and reversals on tariffs following his April 2 “Liberation Day” speech. When questioned about TACO in a recent press conference, the President reacted strongly, labeling the query “nasty.”
“Where we end up might not be too far from what he promised on the campaign trail. So, does he always chicken out? I wouldn’t go as far as to say that,” commented Christian DiClementi, a fixed income portfolio manager at AllianceBernstein.
“I think that he wants to rebalance the economy without pushing it off a cliff. And we’re watching that being executed in real time. I think some of the ideas are thought out and some of them change on the fly.”
MEGA (Make Europe Great Again): MEGA, first coined last year to address European competitiveness, resurfaced this spring as a descriptor for the surge of investor interest and capital inflows into European markets. MEGA hats, spoofing their MAGA counterparts, are readily available online. The term has been revived by investors and traders in light of the outperformance of European stocks immediately after Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs bombshell.
MAGA (Make America Go Away): While the original Trump Trade was also known as the MAGA trade, this variation twists the president’s motto. It first appeared in response to Vice President JD Vance’s brief and unsuccessful visit to Greenland, the autonomous territory of Denmark, which Trump has expressed interest in annexing. At least one Canadian investor suggests that this quip is circulating among trading desks in Toronto and Montreal, sparking “wishful thinking” about simply boycotting US investments.
When contacted for comment, White House spokesman Kush Desai stated in an email, “these asinine acronyms convey how unserious analysts have consistently beclowned themselves by mocking President Trump and his agenda that’ve already delivered multiple expectation-beating jobs and inflation reports, trillions in investment commitments, a historic UK trade agreement, and rising consumer confidence.”
