Trading glossary
Green candles, red candles and everything in between. Learn the language of orders, leverage and market chatter, with the context behind the terms.
Alpha
Information someone thinks gives them an early edge in crypto: a lead, insight or tip others haven't spotted.
Ape in
Jumping into a token or NFT quickly, usually before doing much research.
APR
Annual percentage rate: in DeFi yield displays, an annualized rate usually quoted without compounding periodic returns.
APY
Annual percentage yield: an annualized measure that includes the stated effect of compounding.
Arbitrage
Attempting to capture price differences between related assets, markets or trading routes.
Ask
A price at which a participant or trading system is prepared to sell an asset.
Bagholder
Someone still holding a coin or token after its value has dropped badly, often hoping it will recover.
Bid
A price at which a participant or trading system is prepared to buy an asset.
Bid-ask spread
The gap between the best available buying and selling prices in a market.
Centralized exchange
A trading platform run by an organization that manages accounts, orders and exchange services.
Circulating supply
An estimate of the asset units available to the market under a data provider's methodology.
Copium
A joking label for excuses or comforting stories that make a bad crypto outcome feel less bad.
Diamond hands
Holding through big price swings and pressure to sell, described in crypto chat as having an unshakable grip.
DYOR
Do your own research: check the claims yourself instead of taking a stranger's hype as the whole story.
Exit liquidity
The buying demand that lets someone else sell; in crypto slang, often the late buyers left after the hype fades.
FOMO
Fear of missing out: that itch to jump in because everyone else seems to be making money without you.
FUD
Fear, uncertainty and doubt: crypto shorthand for scary news, rumors or negative talk about a project or market.
Fully diluted valuation
A hypothetical valuation multiplying a reference price by a broader total or maximum supply figure.
Hopium
Hope with the volume turned up: crypto slang for optimism running ahead of the evidence.
Leverage
Exposure to a position larger than the capital directly supporting it.
Limit order
An order that buys only at or below a chosen price, or sells only at or above it.
Liquidity
The ability to trade an amount of an asset without a large delay or adverse price effect.
Market capitalization
An asset's reference price multiplied by its estimated circulating supply.
Market order
An instruction to trade promptly against available liquidity under a venue's execution rules.
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Concept entries explain ideas. Our separate asset registry identifies coins, tokens and networks by source metadata. Sources & standards