About

Trade or DL Trade are slang terms that originated from African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and LGBTQ spaces. The terms have been used for decades but spread throughout the internet primarily in the 2020s, entering common use on various social media platforms, such as Twitter / X, TikTok and Instagram.

Origin

"Down-low," sometimes shortened to "DL," is an African-American slang term that refers to men who identify as heterosexual while seeking sexual encounters and relations with other men, usually in secret.^[1]

Additionally, "Trade" is a gay slang term that originally referred to casual sex partners, though in modern usage it is used as an adjective to refer to stereotypically masculine men.^[2]

The slang "DL Trade" likely predates the internet, but an early example of the term being used can be seen in the title of a YouTube^[11] video from February 3rd, 2010, called "D.L. Trade at Nite Club."

Though the terms have been in use for decades, they saw an exponential spread online during the 2020s, with users on various social media platforms using or misusing the slang for memes and other jokes.

One such example was posted on November 17th, 2024, by TikTok^[3] user @jamiethedolll, who posted a video using the term that received over 403,400 views and 52,300 likes in four months.

Spread

The terms DL trade and trade continued to spread online as they became more prominently featured in memes during the mid-2020s, especially on TikTok.

On November 2nd, 2025, TikTok^[4] user @beysiphone reuploaded a now-deleted video of TikTok user @thehottestmanever reading the X / Twitter feed of another user, overusing the word "trade." The video received over 426,400 views and 72,900 likes in four months.

TikTok users began commenting on the video in the following days, joking about the excessive use of the word "trade," as well as the use of "opium," in the video, likening the combination of terms to the British Opium Trade of the 18th century.

Two days later, on November 4th, 2025, TikToker^[5] @thehottestmanever posted a video claiming credit for the original "trade" audio used in the previous video. The video received over 207,300 views and 57,200 likes in four months.

The audio from TikTok user @thehottestmanever then began to spread throughout the platform in the following months.

For instance, on November 26th, 2025, TikTok^[6] user @this.is.a.mess used the audio in a video captioned, “The way the only other point of history where this string of words would make sense would be from an Ottoman Empire merchant in the 19th century,” which received over 50,300 views and 10,700 likes in less than four months.

On November 29th, 2025, TikToker^[7] @bongfest_924 posted a video using the audio, this time joking about the term "trade" in reference to economics. The video received over 307,600 views and 84,100 likes in just over three months.

As this particular audio made the rounds on TikTok, other users began using the term "DL Trade" in various horror-themed comedy videos, with creators lampooning the danger of meeting up with "DL trade" in unsafe or otherwise creepy locations.

One video, posted by TikTok^[8] user @skinnty_ on November 30th, 2025, acts as a parody of Courage the Cowardly Dog. The video received over 638,500 views and 128,100 likes in just over three months.

On January 28th, 2026, TikToker^[9] @sebas.xcx_ posted a video with the caption, "Me pulling up to the location my dl trade sent at 3am." The video received over 937,000 views and 192,600 likes in roughly a month.

As the terms gained more traction online in late 2025 and early 2026, they became increasingly divorced from their original context and meanings, with "trade" in particular becoming a popular term used in slang overload posts, and has generally taken on a nonsensical tone and usage.

For example, on February 1st, 2026, X^[10] user @oirandrive posted a tweet reading, “fat white opium trade…,” quoting a post that said, “yo bob’s tekken 8 design looks REALLY good 👀.” The tweet received over 73,700 views and 3,000 likes in just over a month.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References