FBS turns 16
June 19, 2025
Psychology
You’ve probably seen The Wolf of Wall Street with Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort. Have you ever wondered why the main character was referred to as a wolf?
And almost everybody has heard of bulls and bears in the context of trading in the financial markets. If you go deeper, you will find that the markets are inhabited by an entire animal kingdom that goes beyond just wolves, bulls, and bears.
In stock markets, animals refer to characteristics that define types of traders and investors, or describe market scenarios.
Let’s meet the trading animals of the shares market.
Do you know the story behind the Charging Bull in the Financial District in NYC? Why did it have to be a bull? A bull represents the American dream: You fight through adversity to come out on top.
Thus, bull traders speak for a positive market environment — prices tend to rise, increasing traders’ investments and profits.
The total opposite of bulls are bears.
To understand bear traders, you can think of Leonard Hofstadter from The Big Bang Theory. The main character is pessimistic and lacks self-confidence. When he talks to strangers or feels shy and awkward, he always has his head down. But when it’s time to pounce, Leonard transforms momentarily into a killing machine.
This is a typical bear trader. Traders with a negative market outlook are called bears because of how bears attack, usually in a downward swiping motion. They believe the price of trading instruments will drop and tend to sell, making the price even lower.
To understand the concept better, read What is a Bull Market in Trading? What Traders Need to Know.
Another animal representing a type of trader behavior is the chicken. What pops up in your mind when you hear the word ‘chicken’? That is right; chickens are associated with the idiom ‘to chicken out,’ meaning to get scared away.
Chicken traders in the stock markets panic and start selling impulsively when the market goes down. As a rule, they lose more than they gain.
However, movie and cartoon characters are not always accurate. A sheep trader is a great example of that. A sheep trader is not that timid sheep who turned out to be the main villain in Zootopia. With the sheep, everything is exactly as it seems.
Sheep traders are just like actual sheep — they follow the herd, stay on the side of the majority, and follow a leader regardless of their qualifications in finance.
Sheep traders have no specific trading strategy, they rely on tips and lifehacks from others. Regardless of the changes that happen on the share market, they have only one trading style, which they have followed for years.
To make your trading style more organized and prepared for the market’s ups and downs, check out The road to successful trading written by FBS financial analysts.
Rabbits are overactive traders, whose goal is to make as many profits during the day as possible. Rabbit traders buy securities for short periods and avoid long-term risks. As soon as quick money is made, they sell their assets.
Unlike the overactive rabbits, turtle traders are slow and steady. They stick to long-term returns and usually win. Profitting from short-term fluctuations is not for them.
Any unskilled trader can be taught to be successful and profit from trading. Find out who invented this idea and coined the term “Turtle Trading,” in 20 Inspiring Forex Quotes to Boost Your Trading.
To understand what a whale trader is, imagine Nick Fury from The Avengers. Like the head of S.H.I.E.L.D and the founder of the Avengers, the whale trader is cool-headed and makes carefully weighed decisions. You do not see him in the scenes much, but he is the one who makes tough calls that have a profound effect on the situation.
Whale traders can move the market with one trade. Market experts advise keeping an eye on whale traders’ trading – there is a chance to profit from watching the whales’ moves. This can be difficult to do, however, because they prefer to stay anonymous.
If whales are the ones who move the market, ostriches are the ones impacted by these moves. Why? Because they prefer to avoid negative news and hope for the better.
As an ostrich buries its head in the sand when it faces danger, so an ostrich trader closes their eyes to all signals the financial markets send them.
Here’s another bird — the lame duck. There is an interesting story behind this term.
Originally, this term came from London and its first stock exchange. It was used when an investor could not pay the money they owed and walked out of the exchange alley, shuffling.
Nowadays, this term is mainly used to indicate a margin call.
Funny fact: there is a Three Ducks trading strategy developed by professionals for trading on a moving average. Even though the word ‘duck’ is in the name, it does not correlate with lame duck traders.
Sharks are primarily brokers and funds interested only in making money. These brokers are as dangerous as sharks. Sharks usually work in teams and lure individuals into buying obscure stocks, promising high gains. Then they push prices up by trading among themselves, dump the stocks, and vanish.
Finally, we come to the wolf. Due to the movie The Wolf of Wall Street, wolves are the third most recognizable trading animal in the share market.
If you’ve seen the movie, you know that, like sharks, this animal indicates brokers, not traders. Knowing the main character and his way of running his business, it’s clear why he is called a wolf. This type of broker is powerful but unethical. They do not mind running scams and frauds to earn more.
Every animal represents a trader with a unique trading style. What type of trader are you? Find out with FBS. Our financial analytical team does its best to make trading successful for every client regardless of their trading style.
If you are a beginner, put your worries aside and learn to trade like a pro with Trading tutorials and our Trading course for beginners. Seasoned traders can boost their trading skills with Daily Market Analysis, great sources providing market overview, trade ideas, and in-depth analysis.
Whether you are a sheep or a bull, your trading will be successful with FBS.
A bull is a positive trader that buys stocks hoping their price will go up.
A bear is a negative trader that sells stocks as they expect the prices to decline.
A chicken is a fearful trader that does not take risks and sells impulsively whenever the market shakes.
A sheep is a trader that does not have their own strategy and always follows other traders’ moves.
A rabbit is an overactive trader that tries to profit fast and hard during the day.
An ostrich is an investor that buries their head in the sand when the market sends them some negative signals.
A whale is a wealthy trader who can influence the situation on the market with only one trade.
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