英语里有一个短语叫lion's share，说的是分配的资金或者食物中占的最大的一份。狮子是丛林之王，分到最大一份自然说得通。在资本交易中，交易额超大的那一类交易则被称为elephants deal，这背后的类比意味，大概也跟大象的体型有关系。

The term "elephants" is a slang for large institutions that have the funds to make high-volume trades. Examples of elephants are professionally managed entities like mutual funds, pension plans, banks and insurance companies.

“大象”指有资本进行大额交易的大型机构。这一类机构多是由专业人员管理的，比如，共同基金，养老金计划，银行以及保险公司。

Elephants deal refers to an extremely large business deal between large institutions, typically worth more than ￡20 million.

“大象交易”就是指这样的大型机构之间进行的超大额的商业交易，通常交易价值要超过2000万英镑(约合人民币1.85亿元)。

为什么要用大象来指代资本雄厚的大型机构呢?

Think of a swimming pool: if an elephant steps into the pool (buys into a position), the water level (stock price) increases; if the elephant gets out of the pool (sells a position), the water level (stock price) decreases. In comparison to the elephant's influence on stock prices, the effect of an individual investor is more like that of a mouse.

我们想象有这样一个游泳池：如果一头大象踏进了池子里(买入)，池子里的水位(股价)就会上涨;如果大象从池子里走出来(卖出)，池子里的水位(股价)就会下降。跟大象对股价的影响力比起来，个人投资者带来的影响最多跟老鼠相当。