David Gilmour
MEDIAITE
Wall Street traders have cooked up a new food-themed acronym for President Donald Trump’s Iran war deadlock – “NACHO” – as the Strait of Hormuz disruption drags on and keeps oil markets on edge.
The label has reportedly emerged in trading circles where skepticism of the president’s ability to reopen the strait, a key global energy trade route, is now such a trend that it merits its own code name.
Bloomberg columnist Javier Blas revealed “NACHO” on Wednesday, citing a trader who told him the acronym stands for: “Not A Chance Hormuz Opens.”
The strait has been effectively closed since the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28, triggering retaliatory attacks across the region and a collapse in maritime traffic.
Before the conflict, the Strait of Hormuz was one of the world’s busiest energy routes, carrying roughly a fifth of the global oil supply, but now, shipping has ground to a halt.
This, in turn, has sent shockwaves through global markets. Oil prices extended their rally on Wednesday, with Brent crude climbing above $114 a barrel and U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate surpassing $103.
In 2025, Wall Street had coined a different code to help traders stay cool and navigate Trump’s whiplash-inducing tariffs policy, TACO – meaning “Trump Always Chickens Out.” Reportedly first coined by Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong, TACO gained traction among investors who are profiting from what they claimed was a predictable pattern: Trump threatens steep tariffs, the markets plunge, and days later, he backs off in a way that prompts a rebound.
The Hormuz impasse, however, is altogether different, and the frustrated president has gyrated between claims that Tehran is begging for him to end his blockade of their ports to outbursts threatening further strikes if Hormuz is not reopened.
Early Wednesday morning, for example, Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself armed with a gun in front of an exploding hillside as he warned Iran to “get smart soon”, as attempts to restart negotiations appeared to stall.
Trump’s oscillation between bluster and brinkmanship has only deepened the uncertainty, but for traders, it leaves one growing certainty: “NACHO.”
With no clear strategy to reopen Hormuz and no breakthrough in sight, markets are bracing for a standoff that isn’t ending anytime soon.