Glossary
Crypto has its own language. This is the Base Camp glossary: every term you will meet in our Camp Log and Trail Guides, explained in plain English. Tap a letter to jump.
A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · X · Y · Z
A
Account abstraction
Turns an Ethereum wallet into a smart contract with its own rules: pay gas in other tokens, recover access with friends or email, set spending limits. Makes self-custody easier for normal users.
Accumulation
A phase where larger buyers quietly build positions while price moves sideways, often after a big drop. The opposite of distribution.
Address
A public string of letters and numbers you share to receive crypto, like an account number. Each blockchain has its own format. Always check the first and last characters before sending.
Address poisoning
A scam where someone sends you a tiny transaction from an address that looks almost the same as one you use, hoping you copy it from your history next time. Always copy addresses from the source, never from past transactions.
Airdrop
Free tokens sent to wallets, usually to reward early users of a project or to spread ownership. Real airdrops never ask you to send crypto first.
Airdrop farming
Using new protocols early, often across many wallets, in the hope of qualifying for a future airdrop. Projects increasingly filter out farmers they see as bots (see Sybil attack).
Algorithmic stablecoin
A stablecoin that tries to hold its peg with code and incentives instead of real reserves. Several have collapsed, the best known being TerraUSD (UST) in 2022.
All-time high (ATH)
The highest price an asset has ever reached. Price above the ATH is called price discovery, because there are no old sellers waiting there.
All-time low (ATL)
The lowest price an asset has ever traded at.
Alpha
Information or an edge that most people do not have yet. “Sharing alpha” means passing on an early insight.
Altcoin
Any cryptocurrency that is not Bitcoin. Short for “alternative coin”.
Altseason
A period when altcoins rise much faster than Bitcoin and Bitcoin dominance falls. Often expected, rarely on schedule.
AML (Anti-Money Laundering)
Rules that make exchanges and other financial services monitor and report suspicious money flows. Usually comes together with KYC.
AMM (Automated Market Maker)
The engine behind most DEXs. Instead of an order book, traders swap against a liquidity pool, and a formula sets the price based on how much of each token is in the pool.
Ape (in)
Buying something fast and with conviction, usually without much research. Fun when it works.
APR (Annual Percentage Rate)
The yearly return without compounding. 10% APR on 1,000 dollars pays 100 dollars over a year.
APY (Annual Percentage Yield)
The yearly return with compounding included, so it is always a bit higher than the APR. Very high APYs are usually paid in a token that is being printed fast.
Arbitrage
Buying an asset where it is cheap and selling it where it is more expensive at the same time, to profit from the price gap between markets.
ASIC
A computer chip built for one job only. In crypto: machines made purely to mine Bitcoin or other proof-of-work coins.
Ask
The lowest price a seller is willing to accept right now. Also called the offer. See Bid and Spread.
Atomic swap
A trade of coins between two different blockchains that either happens completely or not at all, so neither side can be cheated, and no exchange is needed.
B
Backtest
Testing a trading strategy on past price data to see how it would have performed. Useful, but past results do not guarantee future ones.
Bag
Your holding of a coin. A bagholder is someone still holding a coin that has dropped a lot and may not come back.
Base currency
The first asset in a trading pair. In BTC/USDT, Bitcoin is the base currency and USDT is the quote currency.
Basis
The price difference between a futures contract and the spot price. A basis trade buys spot and sells futures to collect that gap with little exposure to price moves.
Bear market
A long period of falling prices and low confidence. A common rule of thumb is a drop of 20% or more from the top.
Bear trap
A drop that looks like the start of a breakdown, tempting traders to sell or short, before price quickly reverses upward.
Bid
The highest price a buyer is willing to pay right now. See Ask and Spread.
Bitcoin (BTC)
The first cryptocurrency, launched in 2009 by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto. Its supply is capped at 21 million coins and it runs on proof of work. Often called digital gold.
Bitcoin dominance
Bitcoin’s share of the total crypto market cap, shown as a percentage. Rising dominance usually means money is moving into Bitcoin; falling dominance can mean altcoins are gaining.
Block
A batch of transactions added to a blockchain together. Each block links to the one before it, which is what makes the chain.
Block explorer
A website where you can look up any address, transaction or block on a blockchain. Examples: mempool.space for Bitcoin, Etherscan for Ethereum, Solscan for Solana.
Block height
The number of blocks in a chain before a given block. A simple way to say where the chain is in time.
Block reward
New coins paid to the miner or validator who adds a block, plus the fees in that block. On Bitcoin the new-coin part halves roughly every four years.
Blockchain
A shared record of transactions kept by many computers at once. Once something is written and confirmed, it is extremely hard to change, so nobody has to trust a single company to keep the books.
Blue chip
A large, established project with a long track record. In crypto this usually means Bitcoin and Ethereum, sometimes a few others.
Bollinger Bands
An indicator that draws a band two standard deviations above and below a moving average. Tight bands (a “squeeze”) often come before a big move; price at the outer band is stretched.
Bonding curve
A formula that sets a token’s price by how many have been bought. Memecoin launchpads such as pump.fun use one: price rises as people buy, and when the curve fills the token moves to a regular DEX.
Bot
Software that trades automatically using set rules. Can be a simple grid or DCA bot, or a sniper bot that buys new tokens within seconds of launch.
BRC-20
An experimental token standard on Bitcoin, built on Ordinals. Lets people create and trade fungible tokens on the Bitcoin chain.
Breakout
When price moves through a key level such as resistance, support or a trendline, often with rising volume. If it falls straight back, it was a fakeout.
Bridge
A tool that moves tokens from one blockchain to another, usually by locking them on one chain and issuing a matching token on the other. Bridges hold a lot of money and are a favourite target for hackers.
Bull market
A long period of rising prices and growing confidence.
Bull trap
A rise that looks like a breakout, tempting traders to buy, before price turns and drops again.
Burn
Sending tokens to an address nobody controls, removing them from supply for good. Some chains burn part of every fee, like Ethereum since 2021.
Buy the dip (BTD)
Buying after a price drop in the belief it will recover. Works in a bull market; in a bear market the dip can keep dipping.
C
Candlestick
The most common way to show price on a chart. Each candle shows the open, high, low and close for one period. A green (or hollow) candle closed higher than it opened; a red one closed lower.
Capitulation
A wave of panic selling where many holders give up at once, often on huge volume. It is frequently near a bottom, but only clear in hindsight.
CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency)
Digital money issued by a central bank, such as a digital euro. It is not a cryptocurrency: one central party controls it.
CEX (Centralised exchange)
An exchange run by a company, such as Coinbase, Kraken or Binance. Easy to use, but the exchange holds your coins while they sit there. See Self-custody.
Circulating supply
The number of coins that exist and can be traded right now. Market cap is price multiplied by circulating supply.
Cold wallet
A wallet whose keys never touch the internet, usually a hardware wallet. The safest place for coins you are not trading.
Collateral
Assets you lock up to borrow against or to back a leveraged trade. If its value drops too far, it can be liquidated.
Confirmation
Each new block added after your transaction’s block counts as one confirmation. More confirmations mean the transaction is more final.
Confluence
When several signals point to the same level or direction, for example support, a moving average and a Fibonacci level all at one price.
Consensus mechanism
The method a blockchain uses to get thousands of computers to agree on which transactions are valid. The main ones are proof of work and proof of stake.
Consolidation
A period where price moves sideways in a range after a strong move, while the market makes up its mind.
Contract address (CA)
The on-chain address of a token or smart contract. Always check it against the official project source: fake tokens copy names and tickers, but not addresses.
Correction
A drop of roughly 10–20% after a rise, without the trend changing. Bitcoin bull markets have historically included several drops of 20–30%.
Correlation
How closely two assets move together. Crypto often moves with tech stocks; most altcoins move with Bitcoin.
Cross margin
A setting where all funds in your futures account back all your positions. One bad trade can eat into your whole balance. See Isolated margin.
Crypto winter
A long, deep bear market where prices, volume and interest all stay low for months or years.
CT (Crypto Twitter)
The crypto community on X. A lot of news, alpha and noise starts there.
CTO (Community takeover)
When the original team of a memecoin leaves or sells, and holders take over its socials and promotion themselves.
Custodial
A service that holds your private keys for you, such as an exchange. Convenient, but you rely on the company staying honest and solvent.
CVD (Cumulative Volume Delta)
Running total of market buy volume minus market sell volume. Shows whether aggressive buyers or sellers are driving a move.
Cycle
The repeating pattern of bull and bear markets. In Bitcoin it has historically lined up with the four-year halving schedule, though nothing says it must continue.
D
DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation)
A group run by rules in smart contracts, where token holders vote on decisions such as spending the treasury or changing the protocol.
dApp
A decentralised application: an app whose core logic runs on a blockchain through smart contracts, such as a DEX or lending platform.
DCA (Dollar-cost averaging)
Buying a fixed amount at regular intervals, for example 50 dollars every week, regardless of price. Smooths out your average entry and removes the stress of timing.
Dead cat bounce
A short recovery after a big drop, before the downtrend continues.
Death cross
When the 50-day moving average crosses below the 200-day moving average. Seen as bearish, though it is a lagging signal. The opposite of a golden cross.
Decentralisation
Spreading control across many independent parties instead of one company or person, so no single party can shut the system down or change the rules alone.
DeFi (Decentralised finance)
Financial services such as trading, lending and borrowing that run on smart contracts instead of banks or brokers.
Degen
Short for degenerate. A trader who takes big, risky bets, often on memecoins or high leverage. Often said with pride.
Delisting
When an exchange removes a coin from trading. Usually hits the price hard.
Delta neutral
A position set up so that small price moves up or down do not change its value, for example holding spot and an equal short on futures to earn funding.
Depeg
When a stablecoin or pegged token loses its target price, for example a dollar stablecoin trading at 0.95.
Derivatives
Contracts whose value comes from another asset, such as futures, perpetuals and options. They let you trade with leverage or bet on price falling.
DEX (Decentralised exchange)
An exchange that runs on smart contracts, where you trade straight from your own wallet. Examples: Uniswap, Raydium, Jupiter (an aggregator).
Diamond hands
Holding through big drops without selling. The opposite of paper hands.
Difficulty
How hard it is to mine a new Bitcoin block. It adjusts every 2,016 blocks (about two weeks) so a block keeps coming roughly every 10 minutes.
Distribution
A phase where larger holders sell into strength while price moves sideways near a top. The opposite of accumulation.
Divergence
When price and an indicator such as RSI move in opposite directions, for example price makes a higher high while RSI makes a lower high. Can warn that a move is losing strength.
Double spend
Spending the same coins twice. Blockchains exist to prevent exactly this without a bank in the middle.
Double top / double bottom
A chart pattern where price hits roughly the same high (or low) twice and fails to break it. Often a sign of reversal.
Drainer
Malicious code, usually on a fake website, that empties your wallet after you sign a transaction or approval. Never sign anything you do not understand.
Drawdown
How far an account or asset has fallen from its peak, shown as a percentage.
Dump
A fast, heavy price drop, often from large sellers.
Dusting attack
Tiny amounts of crypto sent to many wallets to track them or to bait the owner into interacting. Ignore them.
DYOR (Do your own research)
A reminder that you are responsible for your own decisions. Read, check and think before you buy.
E
EIP (Ethereum Improvement Proposal)
A formal proposal to change Ethereum. EIP-1559 (2021), for example, introduced the fee burn.
EMA (Exponential moving average)
A moving average that gives more weight to recent prices, so it reacts faster than a simple moving average.
ERC-20
The standard for fungible tokens on Ethereum and EVM chains. Most tokens you trade on Ethereum, including USDT and USDC there, are ERC-20.
ERC-721
The standard for NFTs on Ethereum: each token is unique.
ETF (Exchange-traded fund)
A fund you can buy on a stock exchange. Spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in the US in January 2024 and spot Ether ETFs that July; daily ETF inflows and outflows are now closely watched.
Ethereum (ETH)
The second-largest cryptocurrency and the main platform for smart contracts, DeFi and NFTs. Moved from proof of work to proof of stake in 2022 (The Merge).
EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine)
The engine that runs smart contracts on Ethereum. Chains that are “EVM-compatible” (Base, Arbitrum, BNB Chain and many others) can run the same contracts and use the same wallets.
Exchange netflow
Coins flowing into exchanges minus coins flowing out. Big inflows can mean selling is coming; steady outflows suggest people are moving coins to cold storage.
Exit liquidity
Late buyers whose purchases let earlier holders sell at a good price. Nobody wants to be it.
Exploit
An attack that abuses a bug or design flaw in a smart contract or protocol to take funds.
F
Fair launch
A token launch with no pre-sale and no tokens reserved for insiders, so everyone gets the same chance to buy at the start.
Fakeout
A move through a key level that quickly reverses, catching traders on the wrong side. Also called a false breakout.
FDV (Fully diluted valuation)
Price multiplied by the maximum supply, including tokens not yet released. A big gap between market cap and FDV means many tokens are still to unlock.
Fear & Greed Index
A daily score from 0 (extreme fear) to 100 (extreme greed) built from price, volatility, social data and more. Extreme readings are often contrarian signals.
Fiat
Government-issued money such as euros or dollars.
Fibonacci retracement
Horizontal levels at 23.6%, 38.2%, 50%, 61.8% and 78.6% of a move, used to guess where a pullback might find support or resistance. The 0.618 level is the one traders watch most.
Flag
A short, tight pullback after a sharp move, shaped like a flag on a pole. A bull flag often continues up, a bear flag down.
Flash crash
A very sudden, deep price drop that often recovers within minutes, usually from a large sell order hitting thin liquidity or a liquidation cascade.
Flash loan
A loan with no collateral that must be borrowed and repaid within the same transaction. Used for arbitrage, and sometimes in attacks on protocols.
Flippening
The idea of Ethereum’s market cap overtaking Bitcoin’s. It has not happened.
FOMO (Fear of missing out)
The urge to buy because price is rising fast and everyone else seems to be making money. A common cause of buying the top.
Fork
A change to a blockchain’s rules. A hard fork is not backward-compatible and can split the chain in two (Bitcoin Cash split from Bitcoin in 2017); a soft fork is. Also used for copying a project’s open-source code.
FUD (Fear, uncertainty and doubt)
Negative news or rumours, true or not, that spread fear about a coin or the market.
Funding rate
Regular payments between long and short traders on perpetual futures that keep the perp price close to spot. Positive funding means longs pay shorts and the market leans long; very high funding means crowded longs.
Fungible
Interchangeable. One bitcoin is the same as any other bitcoin. NFTs are non-fungible: each one is unique.
Futures
A contract to buy or sell an asset at a set price on a set future date. In crypto, most traders use perpetual futures, which never expire.
G
Gas
The fee you pay to have a transaction processed on Ethereum and similar chains. It rises when the network is busy.
Gas limit
The maximum amount of gas you allow a transaction to use. If it runs out, the transaction fails, but the fee is still spent.
Genesis block
The very first block of a blockchain. Bitcoin’s was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto on 3 January 2009.
GM
“Good morning”. The standard crypto greeting, used at any hour.
Golden cross
When the 50-day moving average crosses above the 200-day moving average. Seen as a bullish long-term signal. The opposite of a death cross.
Governance token
A token that gives its holders a vote on a protocol’s decisions.
Gwei
A small unit of ETH used to quote gas prices. One gwei is one billionth of an ETH.
H
Halving
The event, every 210,000 blocks (about four years), that cuts Bitcoin’s new-coin block reward in half. The most recent was in April 2024, which cut it to 3.125 BTC; the next is expected around 2028.
Hardware wallet
A small device, such as a Ledger or Trezor, that keeps your private keys offline and signs transactions on the device itself. Buy it only from the maker, never second hand.
Hash
A fixed-length fingerprint of any data, made by a one-way function. Change one letter of the input and the hash changes completely. Every transaction and block has one.
Hash rate
The total computing power securing a proof-of-work network like Bitcoin. Higher hash rate means a more secure network and more miners committed.
Head and shoulders
A reversal pattern with three peaks, the middle one highest. A break below the “neckline” is seen as bearish. The inverse version, at a bottom, is seen as bullish.
Hedge
A position taken to reduce the risk of another, for example shorting futures to protect coins you hold.
Higher highs and higher lows
The basic shape of an uptrend. Lower highs and lower lows mean a downtrend. See Market structure.
HODL
Holding on through ups and downs instead of selling. Started as a typo of “hold” in a 2013 forum post, later read as “hold on for dear life”.
Honeypot
A scam token you can buy but are blocked from selling, because of hidden code in the contract.
Hot wallet
A wallet connected to the internet, such as a browser or phone wallet. Handy for daily use; keep only what you need in it.
I
ICO (Initial Coin Offering)
Selling a new token to the public to raise money, popular in 2017. Variations include IEO (through an exchange) and IDO (through a DEX).
Impermanent loss
The loss a liquidity provider can face when the prices of the two tokens in a pool move apart, compared with simply holding them. It becomes permanent when you withdraw.
Inflation (token)
The rate at which new tokens are created. High inflation means your share is diluted unless you stake or earn the new tokens.
Isolated margin
A setting where each futures position has its own separate collateral, so a liquidation only loses what you put into that position. Safer than cross margin.
J
Jeet
Slang for someone who sells very early, often at the first small profit. Mostly heard around memecoins.
K
KOL (Key opinion leader)
An influencer with a large following. Some are paid to promote tokens; check whether a post is labelled as sponsored.
KYC (Know your customer)
Identity checks, such as a passport and selfie, that regulated exchanges must do before you can trade or withdraw.
L
Layer 1 (L1)
A base blockchain that processes and settles its own transactions, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum or Solana.
Layer 2 (L2)
A network built on top of a Layer 1 to make transactions faster and cheaper, while relying on the L1 for security. Examples: Lightning on Bitcoin; Arbitrum, Optimism and Base on Ethereum.
Leverage
Trading with borrowed money to make a position bigger than your own funds. 10x leverage means a 10% move is 100% of your margin, in either direction. Gains and losses both grow.
Lightning Network
A Layer 2 for Bitcoin that sends small payments almost instantly and for tiny fees, by settling them off-chain and only recording the final balance on Bitcoin.
Limit order
An order to buy or sell at a set price or better. It waits in the order book until the price is reached. See Market order.
Liquid staking
Staking through a protocol that gives you a token back (such as stETH) that you can still trade or use in DeFi while your coins are staked.
Liquidation
When an exchange or protocol force-closes a leveraged position because the margin can no longer cover the loss. You lose the margin in that position.
Liquidation cascade
A chain reaction where liquidations push price further, which triggers more liquidations. Behind many of the fastest moves in crypto.
Liquidation heatmap
A chart showing price levels where many leveraged positions would be liquidated. Price is often drawn to these clusters.
Liquidation price
The price at which a leveraged position will be liquidated. Higher leverage puts it closer to your entry.
Liquidity
How easily you can buy or sell without moving the price. High liquidity means tight spreads and little slippage.
Liquidity pool
A pot of two or more tokens locked in a smart contract that traders swap against on a DEX. People who add tokens (liquidity providers, LPs) earn a share of the fees.
Liquidity sweep
A quick move past an obvious high or low that triggers the stop-losses resting there, before price reverses. Also called a stop hunt or liquidity grab.
Long
A position that profits when price goes up. Going long means buying.
Long squeeze
A sharp drop that forces leveraged longs to sell or get liquidated, which pushes price down even faster. The opposite of a short squeeze.
Long-term holder (LTH)
In on-chain analysis, a coin that has not moved for at least 155 days. Long-term holders selling into strength is often a sign of a maturing rally.
M
MACD
Moving Average Convergence Divergence. An indicator built from two moving averages that shows momentum. A cross of the MACD line over its signal line is a common trigger.
Mainnet
The live version of a blockchain where real money moves. The opposite of a testnet.
Maker / taker
A maker adds an order to the order book (a limit order that waits); a taker fills an existing order (a market order). Exchanges usually charge makers lower fees.
Margin
Your own money put up to open a leveraged position.
Mark price
A fair-value price that futures exchanges use to calculate profit and loss and liquidations, so one wild trade does not liquidate everyone.
Market cap
Price multiplied by circulating supply. The most common way to compare the size of coins.
Market maker
A firm that keeps buy and sell orders on both sides of the order book so others can always trade, earning the spread.
Market order
An order to buy or sell right now at the best price available. Fast, but in thin markets you may get a worse price (slippage).
Market structure
The pattern of highs and lows that defines a trend. A “break of structure” is when price breaks the last high in a downtrend, or the last low in an uptrend.
Max pain
In options, the price at which the most options would expire worthless. Some traders watch it ahead of large monthly expiries.
Memecoin
A coin built around a joke, meme or community, usually with no product behind it. Dogecoin was the first. Extremely volatile.
Mempool
The waiting room for transactions that have been sent but not yet included in a block. A full mempool means higher fees.
MEV (Maximal extractable value)
Profit block producers or bots make by reordering, adding or front-running transactions in a block, for example by sandwiching your swap. A reason to set low slippage.
MiCA
The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, fully in force since December 2024. It sets rules for crypto companies and stablecoins across the EU.
Mining
Using computing power to add new blocks to a proof-of-work blockchain, in return for the block reward and fees.
Mint
Creating a new token or NFT on a blockchain.
Moon
A huge price rise. “Wen moon?” means “when will it go up?”
Moving average (MA)
The average price over a set number of periods, drawn as a line to smooth out noise. The 50-day and 200-day are the most watched. See EMA.
Multisig
A wallet that needs several keys to approve a transaction, for example 2 of 3. Used by teams, treasuries and careful holders.
MVRV
Market value divided by realised value. Compares the market cap with the average price all holders paid. High readings have marked cycle tops in the past; readings below 1 have marked deep bottoms.
N
Narrative
The story the market is buying at the moment, such as AI coins, real-world assets or memecoins. Money tends to rotate from one narrative to the next.
NFT (Non-fungible token)
A unique token that proves ownership of a specific item, such as artwork, a collectible or a ticket.
NGMI / WAGMI
“Not gonna make it” and “we’re all gonna make it”. Crypto slang for bad and good decisions, or moods.
Node
A computer that runs a blockchain’s software and keeps a copy of the chain. Nodes check that the rules are followed. Anyone can run a Bitcoin node.
Nonce
A number used once. In Bitcoin mining, the value miners keep changing to find a valid block; in Ethereum, a counter that keeps your transactions in order.
Not your keys, not your coins
If someone else holds the private keys, such as an exchange, they control the coins, not you. Learned the hard way by FTX customers in 2022.
NUPL
Net Unrealised Profit/Loss. Shows what share of Bitcoin’s market cap is in profit or loss on paper. Used to judge where the market is in a cycle, from capitulation to euphoria.
O
Off-chain
Anything that happens outside the blockchain, such as trades inside an exchange or Lightning payments before settlement.
On-chain
Anything recorded on the blockchain itself. On-chain analysis reads that public data (wallet flows, holder behaviour, exchange balances) to understand the market.
Open interest (OI)
The total value of open futures and perpetual positions. Rising OI with rising price means new money is coming in; very high OI means a lot of leverage that can unwind.
Options
Contracts that give the right, but not the obligation, to buy (a call option) or sell (a put option) an asset at a set price before a set date.
Oracle
A service that brings outside data, such as prices, onto a blockchain for smart contracts to use. Chainlink is the best known.
Order book
The live list of all buy (bid) and sell (ask) orders on an exchange, sorted by price.
Ordinals
A way to write data such as images or text onto individual satoshis, creating NFT-like items directly on Bitcoin.
OTC (Over the counter)
Large trades done directly between two parties through a desk instead of on the open order book, so they do not move the market price.
Overbought / oversold
When price has risen (or fallen) so fast that a pause or pullback is likely. Usually judged with RSI above 70 or below 30. In strong trends price can stay overbought for a long time.
P
P&L (Profit and loss)
How much a position or account has made or lost. Unrealised P&L is on paper while the trade is open; realised P&L is locked in when you close it.
Paper hands
Selling at the first sign of trouble. The opposite of diamond hands.
Paper trading
Practising trades with fake money to test a strategy without risk. Many exchanges offer a demo mode.
Peg
The target price a token aims to hold, such as 1 dollar for a dollar stablecoin.
Perpetual futures (perps)
Futures contracts with no expiry date, the most traded product in crypto. A funding rate keeps their price close to spot.
Phishing
Fake websites, emails, DMs or ads pretending to be a real service to steal your login, seed phrase or funds. Nobody legitimate will ever ask for your seed phrase.
Points
Rewards protocols hand out for using them, often before a token exists. Usually expected to turn into an airdrop later, with no guarantee.
Position size
How much you put into one trade. Sizing positions so a stop-loss costs only a small part of your account, often 1–2%, is the core of risk management.
Prediction market
A market where people trade on the outcome of real events, such as elections or rate decisions. Prices act as crowd-sourced odds. Polymarket is the best known.
Private key
The secret number that controls a wallet. Anyone who has it can move the funds. Never share it, never type it into a website.
Proof of reserves
An audit or on-chain check showing that an exchange actually holds the customer assets it claims.
Proof of stake (PoS)
A consensus mechanism where validators lock up (stake) coins to earn the right to add blocks. Bad behaviour costs them part of the stake. Used by Ethereum and Solana.
Proof of work (PoW)
A consensus mechanism where miners compete with computing power to add blocks. Costly to attack. Used by Bitcoin.
Protocol
The set of rules and smart contracts that make a blockchain or DeFi service work, such as the Bitcoin protocol or the Aave lending protocol.
Public key
The part of a key pair that can be shared. Your address is made from it.
Pump
A fast price rise.
Pump and dump
A scheme where a group hypes a small coin to push the price up, then sells to the buyers it attracted. Illegal in regulated markets and common in crypto.
Q
Quote currency
The second asset in a trading pair, used to price the first. In BTC/USDT, USDT is the quote currency.
R
Range
When price moves sideways between a clear high and low. Traders buy near the range low and sell near the high until it breaks.
Realised price
The average price at which every bitcoin last moved on-chain, roughly the average cost basis of all holders. Price below the realised price has historically marked deep bear-market bottoms.
Rekt
Wrecked. Having lost a lot of money on a trade.
Resistance
A price level where selling has stopped rises before. Once broken, old resistance often becomes support.
Restaking
Using already-staked ETH to also secure other services, for extra yield and extra risk. EigenLayer is the best known.
Retest
When price comes back to a level it just broke through to check whether it holds. A successful retest often confirms a breakout.
Revoke
Cancelling a token approval you gave a smart contract, so it can no longer spend your tokens. Worth doing regularly with a tool like revoke.cash.
Risk/reward ratio
How much you could gain on a trade compared with how much you risk. Risking 100 to make 300 is a 1:3 ratio.
Roadmap
A project’s published plan for upcoming features and milestones.
Rollup
A type of Layer 2 that bundles many transactions and posts them to Ethereum together. Optimistic rollups assume transactions are valid unless challenged; zk-rollups prove them with math.
RSI (Relative Strength Index)
A momentum indicator from 0 to 100. Above 70 is seen as overbought, below 30 as oversold. Watch for divergence with price.
Rug pull
A scam where a project’s team drains the liquidity or dumps their tokens and disappears, leaving the token worthless.
RWA (Real-world assets)
Traditional assets such as government bonds, property or gold turned into tokens on a blockchain.
S
Satoshi (sat)
The smallest unit of Bitcoin: one hundred-millionth of a BTC (0.00000001). “Stacking sats” means buying small amounts regularly.
Satoshi Nakamoto
The pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, who published the white paper in 2008 and disappeared in 2011. Their identity is still unknown.
Scalping
Very short-term trading that aims for many small profits, holding positions for seconds or minutes.
Seed phrase
A list of 12 or 24 words that can restore your whole wallet. Write it down on paper or metal and store it offline. Anyone with these words owns your funds. Also called a recovery phrase.
Self-custody
Holding your own private keys in your own wallet, instead of leaving coins on an exchange. You are in full control, and fully responsible.
Sentiment
The overall mood of the market. Extreme fear or greed often comes near turning points.
Sharding
Splitting a blockchain’s work into smaller parts that run side by side to handle more transactions.
Shill
Promoting a coin hard, often because you hold it or are paid to. Paid promotion should be labelled.
Shitcoin
A coin with little or no value or purpose. Sometimes used for any altcoin, depending on who is talking.
Short
A position that profits when price goes down. You sell first (with borrowed coins or futures) and buy back later, hopefully cheaper.
Short squeeze
A sharp rise that forces short sellers to buy back or get liquidated, which pushes price up even faster.
Short-term holder (STH)
In on-chain analysis, a coin that moved within the last 155 days. Their average cost basis often acts as support or resistance.
Slashing
A penalty in proof of stake where part of a validator’s stake is destroyed for breaking the rules, such as signing two different blocks.
Slippage
The difference between the price you expected and the price you got, usually because of low liquidity or a big order. On DEXs you set a maximum slippage.
Smart contract
A program on a blockchain that runs automatically when its conditions are met. It powers DEXs, lending, NFTs and most of DeFi.
Smart money
Wallets or traders with a strong track record, such as funds and early insiders. On-chain tools track what they buy and sell.
Snapshot
A record of all wallet balances at a set block, often used to decide who qualifies for an airdrop or a governance vote.
Sniper bot
A bot that buys a new token in the first seconds or blocks after launch.
Solana (SOL)
A fast, low-fee Layer 1 blockchain, popular for memecoins, trading and payments. Tokens on Solana are called SPL tokens.
SOPR
Spent Output Profit Ratio. Shows whether coins moved on a given day were sold at a profit (above 1) or a loss (below 1).
Spoofing
Placing large fake orders to trick others about supply or demand, then cancelling them before they fill. Illegal in regulated markets.
Spot
Buying or selling the actual coin for immediate delivery, with no leverage and no expiry. The opposite of derivatives.
Spread
The gap between the best bid and the best ask. A small spread means a liquid market.
Stablecoin
A token designed to keep a steady value, usually 1 US dollar. USDT and USDC are the biggest. Backed by cash and short-term government bonds, by crypto, or by an algorithm.
Staking
Locking up coins to help secure a proof-of-stake network, in return for rewards. Often there is a waiting period to unstake.
Stop-loss
An order that sells automatically if price falls to a set level, to cap your loss. A trailing stop follows the price up and keeps the same distance.
Supply shock
A sudden drop in the coins available to buy, for example after a halving or when ETFs absorb more than miners produce.
Support
A price level where buying has stopped drops before. Once broken, old support often becomes resistance.
Swap
Exchanging one token for another, usually on a DEX.
Swing trading
Holding trades for days to weeks to catch a bigger move, between scalping and long-term investing.
Sybil attack
One person creating many fake identities or wallets to gain influence or rewards, such as a bigger airdrop share.
T
Take profit (TP)
An order that closes a trade automatically at a set profit target. Many traders take profit in steps (TP1, TP2).
Testnet
A copy of a blockchain using worthless coins, used to test apps before they go live on mainnet.
TGE (Token generation event)
The moment a project’s token is created and starts trading.
Ticker
The short code for a coin, such as BTC or ETH. Many tokens can share a ticker, so check the contract address.
Timeframe
The period each candle represents, from one minute to one month. Higher timeframes (daily, weekly) show the bigger trend; lower ones show the noise.
Token
A crypto-asset built on top of an existing blockchain, such as an ERC-20 on Ethereum. A coin has its own chain (BTC, ETH, SOL); a token lives on someone else’s.
Token approval
Permission you give a smart contract to spend a token from your wallet. Some apps ask for unlimited approval; old approvals can be revoked.
Token unlock
When tokens held by the team or investors are released from vesting and can be sold. Large unlocks can push price down.
Tokenomics
How a token works economically: total supply, how it is released, who holds it, what it is used for and how inflation or burns work.
Total supply / max supply
Total supply is all tokens created so far; max supply is the most that will ever exist (21 million for Bitcoin). Some coins have no max supply.
TPS (Transactions per second)
How many transactions a blockchain can process each second. A rough measure of speed.
Trading pair
Two assets you trade against each other, such as BTC/USDT or ETH/BTC.
Trailing stop
A stop-loss that moves with the price as it goes your way, keeping a fixed distance, to lock in profit.
Trendline
A line drawn along rising lows or falling highs to show the direction of a trend. A clean break can signal a change.
TVL (Total value locked)
The total value of crypto deposited in a DeFi protocol or chain. A common measure of its size.
Two-factor authentication (2FA)
A second step to log in, such as a code from an app or a security key, on top of your password. Use an authenticator app or key, not SMS.
U
Unstaking
Withdrawing staked coins. Many networks have a waiting period before the coins are free.
UTXO (Unspent transaction output)
How Bitcoin keeps track of coins: as separate chunks left over from past transactions, a bit like notes and coins in a wallet, instead of one account balance.
V
Validator
A participant in a proof-of-stake network who stakes coins and runs software to check and add blocks.
Vesting
A schedule that releases a team’s or investors’ tokens gradually over time, so they cannot sell everything at launch.
Volatility
How much and how fast price moves. Crypto is very volatile: 5–10% daily moves are normal for many coins.
Volume
How much of an asset was traded in a period. Moves on high volume are taken more seriously than moves on low volume.
VWAP (Volume-weighted average price)
The average price weighted by how much traded at each level. Used by traders and funds as a fair-value line for the day.
W
Wallet
Software or a device that holds your keys and lets you send, receive and use crypto. It does not hold the coins themselves: they live on the blockchain.
Wash trading
Buying and selling to yourself to fake trading volume. Common on low-quality exchanges and NFT markets.
Web3
The idea of an internet where users own their data and assets through blockchains, instead of big platforms owning them.
Whale
Someone holding a very large amount of a coin, big enough to move the price. Whale alerts track their transfers.
White paper
A document explaining how a project works and what it is for. Bitcoin’s nine-page white paper was published on 31 October 2008.
Wick
The thin line above or below a candle’s body showing how far price went before pulling back. Long wicks show rejection.
Wrapped token
A token that represents another asset on a different chain, such as WBTC (Bitcoin on Ethereum). Backed 1:1 by the original held somewhere, which adds counterparty risk.
X
x (as in 10x)
A multiple. A “10x” is a coin that rose ten times; 10x leverage means a position ten times your margin.
Y
Yield
The return you earn on your crypto, for example from staking, lending or providing liquidity.
Yield farming
Moving funds between DeFi protocols to earn the highest rewards, often paid in extra tokens.
Z
Zero-knowledge proof (ZK)
A way to prove something is true without revealing the details, such as proving a batch of transactions is valid without replaying them. Used in zk-rollups and privacy tools.