Odd Lotter

It sounds like a very British insult. As in, "I was driving in my lorrie and some sozzled odd-lotter crashed into my boot."

But, in fact, it's a Wall Street term. It refers to traders who operate in small quantities or in bunches of shares that don't come in round numbers.

The term "lot" in stock trading generally applies to a chunk of 100 shares. Most traders who work in any quantity stick to full-sized lots...100, 200, 500 shares, etc.

An odd lotter might buy 43 shares, or 127 shares...an odd lot. Usually, it's because they're relatively small-time and are purchasing the most shares they can afford for that particular situation. Or an odd lotter could be targeting a dollar amount rather than a share total. "Buy me $25,000 of Exxon Mobil," for instance, rather than, "Buy me 100 shares of Exxon Mobil."