About
Trying to Impress the Trade is a series of memes[1] using the phrasal template[2] “Trying to impress X trade” alongside images or videos of someone doing something subtle that might impress the subject, “X.” The meme uses the LGBTQ+[3] slang[4] term “trade,” meaning a gay man who acts masculine and cannot be easily identified as gay, or a man who identifies as straight but has sexual encounters with other men. The trend was popularized throughout 2025 on sites like TikTok and X and first went viral in late May of that year.
Origin
It is unclear who started the “trying to impress the trade” meme. One of the earliest known examples of the meme was posted by X user @malegrlfriend, who shared a video of a woman attempting to do the “Apple dance”: at a Charli XCX show, writing, “me trying to impress brat trade,” garnering around five likes in four months.
The post uses the term “trade,” an LGBTQ+ slang term that refers to a gay man who acts masculine and cannot easily be identified as gay, or a closeted gay man who has sexual encounters with men. The term purportedly derives from the idea of being “gay for pay,” meaning men who “trade” sexual favors with other men for money or something else.
Spread
The meme spread over the following months, primarily on X and TikTok.
On May 26th, 2025, X user @emilyinqatar quoted a post from a now-deleted X user sharing a selfie of a shirtless man grilling vegetables on the barbecue, writing, “Me trying to impress bugs bunny trade,” garnering over 70,000 likes and 3,100 reposts in four months. The post was screenshotted and reposted by Instagram[5] user comegetyourjuice on May 27th.
On May 27th, X user @jilroberts posted a clip captioned, “me trying to impress flappy bird trade,” garnering over 18,000 likes in four months.
me trying to impress flappy bird trade pic.twitter.com/wvanW8AnaM[6]
— ky (@jilroberts) May 27, 2025[7]
On September 2nd, X user @romansmercy posted a photo of Alyssa Edwards in an Egyptian costume, writing, “Me trying to impress Egyptian trade,” garnering over 9,600 likes in two weeks.
On September 7th, 2025, X user @HOUSPSYCHOTIC posted, “me trying to thirst trap impress pervert ethel cain vacillator trade” over an image of a guy captioned, “ambient drone study session and chill,” garnering over 2,100 likes in a week.
Various Examples
@brokebackcountessa[8]
@ruscloset[10] PinkPantheress inspired outfit 🇬🇧⭐️🍎
Search Interest
External References
References
- ^ memes (knowyourmeme.com)
- ^ phrasal template (knowyourmeme.com)
- ^ LGBTQ+ (knowyourmeme.com)
- ^ slang (knowyourmeme.com)
- ^ Instagram (knowyourmeme.com)
- ^ pic.twitter.com/wvanW8AnaM (t.co)
- ^ May 27, 2025 (twitter.com)
- ^ @brokebackcountessa (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ ♬ original sound – moon.exe (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ @ruscloset (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ ♬ Tonight – PinkPantheress (www.tiktok.com)