Doing the Reverse Desk

A short-lived dance craze of the 1990s? No, though we wistfully remember the Macarana. "Heeeyyyy, Macarana."

Instead, perhaps a pose in the new corporate trend known as "office yoga"?

Nope. Instead, it's a way for hedge fund managers to disguise what they're doing. Like a head fake in basketball. Or a military leader staging a fake advance with a small number of troops to mask the fact that they plan to attack somewhere else with their main force.

It's a misdirection technique used by hedge fund managers who don't want people sniffing out their intentions or copying their trades.

Basic setup: a hedge fund manager wants to buy a big stake in Tropic Fingers, Inc. They don't want people to know about it, because then others will want in, and it will drive the price up.

So they fool lookie-loo market watchers by setting up some relatively low-level short positions on Tropic Fingers...bets that the stock will go down. The word gets out that the hedge fund manager is looking for Tropic to fall. Meanwhile, the hedge fund manager is preparing for a big buy.

A classic "doing the reverse desk." That is, doing the reverse of what your trading desk is doing.