The 'Sad Guys on Trading Floors' meme refers to a long-standing genre of news photography capturing the raw emotion of stockbrokers during periods of extreme market volatility. These images, often nicknamed 'The Sad Grad' or 'Despairing Traders,' typically feature men in trading jackets with their heads in their hands or staring blankly at plummeting charts. The meme gained significant traction during the 2008 financial crisis and saw a resurgence with the rise of cryptocurrency crashes and high-stakes retail trading. It is used to humorously convey the feeling of overwhelming financial loss, poor investment decisions, or the general stress of the modern global economy.