A downtick is when a asset's price is lower than the previous transaction price. So, if a stock traded at $100, and then the next trade posts at $99,90, then the stock has had a downtick.
Buy and hold is an investment strategy in which stocks are bought and held for a number of years in hopes of making a sizeable return, without focusing on daily price fluctuations.
Fading the market is the process of taking a position that goes counter to the primary trend of the market. This trading strategy is a suited for traders that are more open to taking risks and are able to handle the emotional run sometimes associated with going against the market.
A direct access broker is a firm that provides their clients direct access to the exchanges via electronic communication networks (ECN). Direct access brokers focus more on the trading platform and order execution.
An auction market is when buyers and sellers place their orders in the same environment and then negotiate the best execution price. These orders were done mechanically in the past, but are now executed in seconds electronically.
Dead money is a common Wall Street phrase that refers to an investment that has little or no chance of earning a return. Dead money is most often used to refer to stocks from the Internet bull market that are still worthless some 8 years later.