Airdrop
This is a marketing campaign that refers to the expedited distribution of a cryptocurrency through a population of people. It usually occurs when the creator of a cryptocurrency provides its coin to low-ranked traders or existing community members in order to build their use and popularity. They are usually given away for free or in exchange for simple tasks like sharing news of the coin with friends
All Time High (ATH) Acronym for “All Time High”
The highest price ever achieved by a cryptocurrency
All Time Low
The lowest price ever achieved by a cryptocurrency
Altcoins
Bitcoin was the first and is the most successful of all the cryptocurrencies. All the other coins are grouped together under the category of altcoins. Ethereum, for example, is an altcoin, as is Ripple
Ask
This is the lowest price an owner is willing to accept for an asset
Bag
If you have a large quantity of units in a certain cryptocurrency, you’d have a bag of them.
Bear/Bearish
If the price of a cryptocurrency has a negative price movement.
Bear market
This is a market that is falling. A bear market has a downward trend, and someone who believes the market is headed for a drop is often referred to as a “bear”. Bear markets can last for a few weeks or years.
Bear Trap
This is a trick played by a group of traders aimed at manipulating the price of a cryptocurrency. The bear trap is set by this group all selling their cryptocurrency at the same time, which bluffs the market into thinking there is a drop incoming. As a result, other traders sell their assets, further driving the price down. Those who set the trap then release it, buying back their assets, which are now at a lower price. The overall price then rebounds, allowing them to make a profit.
Bid
This is the highest price a buyer is willing to pay when buying an investment. Today, electronic trading makes it possible to ask and bid to be matched up automatically and almost instantly.
Build your position
This means to continue adding additional funds to an asset.
Bull market
This is a market that is trending higher, likely to gain. If you think that the market is going to go up, you are considered a “bull.” Additionally, the term, like bear, can be applied to how you feel about an individual investment. If you are “bullish” on a specific company, it means you think the stock price will rise.
Burned
If a coin in any particular cryptocurrency has been made unspendable, it is said to be burned.
Capital gain (or loss)
This is the difference between what you bought an investment for and what you sell if for. If you buy 100 shares of a stock at $10 a share (spending $1,000) and sell your shares later for $25 a share ($2,500), you have a capital gain of $1,500. A loss occurs when you sell for less than you paid. So, if you sell this stock for $5 instead ($500), you have a capital loss of $500).
Circulating Supply
The total number of coins in a cryptocurrency that are in the publicly tradable space is considered the circulating supply. Some coins can be locked, reserved or burned, therefore unavailable to public trading.
Cold Storage
Another term used for a paper wallet (see below).
Confirmed
When a transaction has been confirmed, it means it has been approved by the network and permanently appended to the blockchain.
Diversity
A portfolio characteristic that ensures you have more than one type of asset. It also means choosing to buy investments in different sectors, industries, or geographic locations.
Terms coming soon....
FOMO
An acronym for “fear of missing out”.
Fork
When a new version of a blockchain is created, resulting in two versions of the blockchain running side-by-side, it is termed a fork. As a single blockchain forks into two, they will both run on the same network. Forks are categorized into two categories: soft or hard.
FUD
Acronym for “fear, uncertainty and doubt”.
Fundamental Analysis
A method through which you can attach value to a coin by looking at similar economic and financial factors and researching the underlying motives of the creators and market opinion.
Gas
Gas a is measurement given to an operation in the Ethereum network that relates to the computational power required to complete it. That measurement relates to the fee offered to miners who process that transaction. Other operations have a small cost of 3 to 10 gas, but a full transaction costs 21,000 gas.
Gas Limit
When users make a transaction on the Ethereum network, they set their gas limit, which is the most they are willing to pay as a fee for that transaction. If the transaction is going to cost more gas than what is offered, the transaction will not go through. If it costs less, the difference will be refunded.
Gas Price
The amount you are willing to pay for a transaction on the Ethereum network. If you want miners to process your transaction fast, then you should offer a higher price. Gas prices are usually denominated in Gwei.
Halving
Every time miners approve transactions on the bitcoin blockchain, they earn bitcoin. As each block on the blockchain fills up with transactions, a certain amount of bitcoin enter the marketplace. However, the number of bitcoin that will ever be created is finite, locked at 21 million. In order to ensure this cap is kept, the amount of bitcoin earned by miners for filling one block is halved at the completion of that block. This is called halving. For the record, by the year 2140, all 21 million bitcoin will be in circulation.
Hard Cap
During an ICO, the creator can set a hard cap. This is the maximum amount it planned to raise, and it will therefore stop offering
coins at this figure.
Hard Fork
A fork in the blockchain that converts transactions previously labeled invalid to valid, and vice versa. For this fork to work, all nodes on the network must upgrade to the newest protocol.
Hardware Wallet
A physical device, similar to a USB stick, that stores cryptocurrency in its encrypted form. It’s considered the most secure way to hold cryptocurrency.
HODL
Acronym for “hold on for dear life”.
ICO
Acronym for “initial coin offering”.
Initial Coin Offering
In order to raise funds, the creator of a cryptocurrency will put an initial batch of its coins up for purchase. This is an initial coin offering.
JOMO
Acronym for “joy of missing out”.
KYC
Acronym for “know your customer”, which refers to a financial institution’s obligation to verify the identity of a customer in line with AML laws.
Ledger
A record of financial transactions. A ledger cannot be changed, it can only be appended with new transactions.
Leverage
A loan of sorts offered by a broker on an exchange during margin trading (see below).
Lightning Network
A peer-to-peer system for cryptocurrency micropayments that is focused on low latency, instant payments. They’re typically low cost, scalable and can work across chains, and transactions can be public or private.
Limit Order/Limit Buy/Limit Sell
If you set a rule whereby a cryptocurrency is sold or bought when at a certain price, you are setting a limit order. When traders place an order for a buy or sell, the system looks for these limit orders.
Liquidity
The liquidity of a cryptocurrency is defined by how easily it can be bought and sold without impacting the overall market price.
Long
When you intend to take a large amount of cryptocurrency and stockpile it with the anticipation that it will grow in value, you are going long (or taking a long position).
Market Order
As opposed to a limit order, a market order does not wait until a certain price to buy or sell; it trades wherever the price is at the time the transaction order is made.
Mining
The term, somewhat confusingly, given to the process of verifying transactions on a blockchain. In the process of solving the encryption challenges, the person donating the computer power is granted new fractions of the cryptocurrency.
Mining Contract
An investment in mining hardware whereby you rent out the hashing power of mining hardware for a certain amount of time. The renter does not pay for the hardware or the maintenance and electricity required to run it.
Mining Pool
If a number of miners combine their computing power together to try and help complete the transactions required to start a new block in the blockchain, they are in a mining pool. The rewards are spread proportionately between those in the mining pool based on the amount of power they contributed. The idea is that being in a mining pool allows for better chances of successful hashing and therefore getting enough cryptocurrency reward to produce an income.
Moon
A term used to describe a major price movement upwards. For example, Ripple is mooning.
Terms coming soon....
OCO
Acronym for “one cancels the other order”.
One Cancels the Other Order
When two orders for cryptocurrency are placed simultaneously with a rule in place whereby if one is accepted, the other is cancelled.
Oracles
The smart contracts stored on a blockchain are stuck within the network. They can only be reached by the external world through a program called an oracle. The oracle sends the data to and from the smart contract and the outside world as required. Oracles are most commonly found on the Ethereum network.
Overbought
If a large number of purchases have been made on a cryptocurrency, its price will increase for an extended period of time. At this juncture, it is considered overbought and a period of selling is expected.
Oversold
If a cryptocurrency has spent significant time being sold without an upward movement, it is considered oversold. In this condition, there would be concerns about whether it will bounce back.
Protocols
The set of rules that defines how data is exchanged across a network.
Public blockchain
A blockchain that can be accessed by anyone through a full node on their computer.
Public Key
This is your unique wallet address, which appears as a long string of numbers and letters. It is used to receive cryptocurrencies.
Pump
This is a term used to refer to an upward price movement, usually driven by whales investing large sums of money in a cryptocurrency.
Pump and Dump
The frowned-upon practice of buying a lot of one cryptocurrency to drive up its price and encourage others to invest, then selling the lot when there is a suitable margin.
Terms coming soon....
REKT
Shorthand slang for “wrecked” and a term used to describe a bad loss in a trade.
Scale In
This means investors will buy into an asset at different price levels over time.
Scale out
This means investors will sell out of the asset at different price levels over time.
Short
Also known as short selling, this is a concept whereby traders sell an asset they don’t have. The hope is that they can then buy the asset at a lower price than which they sold it to complete the deal. Thereby they earn a margin in the interim.
Smart Contracts
When a contract is written in computer code, as opposed to traditional legal language, it is deemed a smart contract. This programmed contract is set up to execute and carry itself out automatically under specified conditions. When a smart contract is on the blockchain, both parties can check its programming before agreeing to it, and then let it do its thing, confident that it cannot be tampered with or changed. It lets two parties agree to complex terms without needing to trust each other and without needing to involve any third parties. This functionality is the defining feature of the Ethereum blockchain.
TA
Acronym for “technical analysis”.
Technical Analysis
Using a trading tool to look at historical data on a cryptocurrency in the hope of forecasting its future.
Token
The “coin” of a cryptocurrency is a token. Effectively, it’s the digital code defining each fraction, which can be owned, bought and sold.
Terms coming soon....
Terms coming soon....
Wallet
A wallet is defined by a unique code that represents its “address” on the blockchain. The wallet address is public, but within it is a number of private keys determining ownership of the balance and the balance itself. It can exist in software, hardware, paper or other forms.
Whale
A term used to describe extremely wealthy investors or traders who have enough funds to manipulate the market.
White Paper
A detailed explanation of a cryptocurrency, designed to offer satisfactory technical information, explain the purpose of the coin and set out a roadmap for how it plans to succeed. It’s designed to convince investors that it’s a good choice ahead of an ICO.
Whitelist
Prior to an ICO, interested parties can sign up/register their involvement and intent to purchase or even purchase under pre-sale conditions. The list of these parties is referred to as the whitelist.
Terms coming soon....
Terms coming soon....
Terms coming soon....