| Address |
Public identifier where you receive funds. Derived from the public key |
| Airdrop |
Free distribution of tokens, usually to early users of a protocol |
| Altcoin |
Any crypto that isn't BTC |
| APY / APR |
Annual compound / simple yield |
| ATH / ATL |
All-time high / low |
| Bear / Bull market |
Falling / rising market |
| Bid / Ask |
Best buy / sell price in the order book |
| Burn |
Permanent destruction of tokens (reduces supply) |
| CEX / DEX |
Centralized / decentralized exchange |
| Cold / Hot wallet |
Offline wallet (hardware) / wallet connected to the internet |
| DCA |
Dollar Cost Averaging — buying a fixed amount on a regular schedule |
| DeFi |
Decentralized Finance: financial services built as smart contracts |
| Depeg |
Loss of the peg of a stablecoin or mirror token |
| BTC Dominance |
% of the total crypto market cap that is Bitcoin |
| DYOR |
Do Your Own Research |
| FDV |
Fully Diluted Valuation — price × maximum supply |
| FOMO / FUD |
Fear Of Missing Out / Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt |
| Funding rate |
Periodic payment between longs and shorts in perpetual futures |
| Gas |
Fee for executing transactions on a network (Ethereum, etc.) |
| Halving |
Cutting BTC issuance in half roughly every 4 years |
| Hash |
Cryptographic fingerprint of some data |
| HODL |
Holding for the long term (meme from a misspelling of "hold", 2013) |
| IL (Impermanent Loss) |
Loss for the LP when the assets in the pair diverge in price |
| KYC |
Know Your Customer — identity verification on exchanges |
| L1 / L2 |
Base blockchain (Ethereum) / scaling layer on top (Arbitrum, Base) |
| Leverage |
Trading with more capital than your own. Multiplies losses. Avoid it |
| Liquidation |
Forced closing of a leveraged position when the margin runs out |
| Liquidity pool |
Fund of token pairs on a DEX that swaps are made against |
| LP |
Liquidity provider — someone who deposits into a pool in exchange for fees |
| Market cap |
Price × circulating supply |
| Memecoin |
Token with no utility, 100% speculative/community-driven value |
| Mempool |
Queue of transactions waiting to be included in a block |
| Mining / Staking |
Securing the network in PoW (energy) / PoS (capital) in exchange for a reward |
| MVRV |
Market Value / Realized Value — on-chain metric of over/undervaluation |
| Node |
A computer that keeps a copy of the blockchain and validates the rules |
| OCO |
One-Cancels-Other — a dual stop+target order |
| On-chain |
Data verifiable directly on the blockchain |
| Oracle |
Service that feeds external data (prices) into smart contracts. E.g.: Chainlink |
| Order book |
The list of buy/sell orders for a market |
| PoW / PoS |
Proof of Work / Proof of Stake — consensus mechanisms |
| Private key |
The key that controls your funds. NEVER share it |
| Pump & dump |
Coordinated price inflation, then selling onto those who get in late |
| R:R |
Risk/reward ratio of a trade |
| RSI |
Relative Strength Index — momentum indicator (0-100) |
| Rug pull |
Scam: the creators pull the liquidity and disappear |
| Seed phrase |
12/24 words that regenerate all your keys (BIP-39) |
| Slippage |
Difference between the expected price and the executed one due to lack of liquidity |
| Smart contract |
Code on a blockchain that runs automatically |
| Spread |
Difference between the best bid and the best ask |
| Stablecoin |
Token pegged to a fiat currency (USDT, USDC, DAI) |
| Stop-loss |
Order that closes your position if the price hits your invalidation level |
| Supply (circulating/max) |
Tokens on the market / that will exist in total |
| Tokenomics |
The economic design of a token: supply, distribution, issuance, value capture |
| TVL |
Total Value Locked — capital deposited in a DeFi protocol |
| Unlock / Vesting |
Scheduled release of locked tokens held by the team/investors |
| Wallet |
Software/device that manages your keys (it doesn't "store" coins; the coins live on the blockchain) |
| Whale |
A holder with a huge position capable of moving the market |
| Whitepaper |
A project's founding technical document |
| Yield |
Return generated by an asset (staking, lending, LP) |