In today’s article, you’ll find the meaning of popular cryptocurrency terms that will enable you to peruse this space seamlessly.

I divided them into groups based on the starting letters, so you can click on any of the jump links below to navigate this post faster.

Enjoy!

A – B

1. Alpha

Early and potentially valuable information that might generate a big upside in the future.

2. Altcoin

This is any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin i.e. alternative to Bitcoin.

3. AMM

Stands for “Automated Market Maker”. They’re used in decentralised exchanges as a trustless automated service that can trade one asset for another.

4. Angel Investor

Wealthy investors that seek opportunities to provide funding to startups or other entrepreneurs.

5. Anon

Short for anonymous. A way to address random people in Crypto since most are anonymous.

6. Ape In

To Buy a Coin without doing any research

7. API

Stands for “Application Programming Interface”

8. ASHDRAKED

A situation where you lost all your money.

9. ATH/ATL

Stands for “All-Time High” and “All-Time Low”, respectively

10. Bag holder

A person who holds a stock or coin to $0 despite signs along the way that it should’ve been sold. It’s common for Diamond hands to become bag holders.

Or, a person who buys and holds a particular coin(s) in large quantity hoping to make good profits in the future.

11. Beacon Chain

It is the POS layer network from Ethereum

12. Bear/Bera

Someone who has low confidence in the market

13. Bear/Bearish

Negative/downward price movement

14. Blockchain

The general ledger that keeps track of all the transactions that happen within the network.

15. Blockchain Trilemma

It refers to blockchains’ inherent challenge in designing a fully scalable, secure, and decentralized chain.

16. Blue Chip

An established, stable, and well-recognized coin. In stocks, Google and Microsoft would be considered blue chips. In Crypto, only BTC and ETH are considered blue chips for now.

17. BTFD

Buy The Fucking Dip. An indication to buy a coin when it has gone down in price.

18. Bubble

Refers to a fortunate situation that is isolated from reality or likely to last.

19. BUIDL 

This refers to focusing on developing the product more than anything else

20. Bull

Someone who has high confidence in the market.

21. Bull/Bullish

Positive/Upward price movement

C -D

22. CeFi

Stands for “Centralized Finance”

23. CEX

Stands for “Centralized Exchange”

24. Cold Wallet

A special type of hardware device that holds cryptocurrencies offline. Ledger and Trezor are the most popular cold wallet brands.

25. Cope

Overcome and deal with problems

26. CZ

Changpeng Zhao – the founder of Binance and one of the wealthiest men in Crypto.

27. DAO

Stands for “Decentralised Autonomous Organisations”. They are internet communities that self-organize around a specific niche.

28. DApp

Stands for “Decentralised Application”. This term is used for all applications built in a blockchain, since blockchains, in general, are decentralized.

29. DCA

Stands for “Dollar Cost Averaging“

30. DeFi

Stands for “Decentralized Finance“

31. DEGEN

Stands for “Degenerate”. It refers to people who take ultra-risky behaviours in Crypto. Investing in Shitcoins, using leverage, or aping in without doing research.

DEGEN also refers to traders who trade without knowledge or experience

32. DEX

Stands for “Decentralized Exchange” e.g Uniswap, Sushiswap, Pancakeswap, etc.

33. Diamond hands

Someone who has a high-risk tolerance and can hold their portfolio through the most volatile times. 

34. Dildo

Long green or red candles on the chart

35. Dip

A sharp downward movement of a crypto coin.

36. Dump

To Sell off a coin or when a coin’s price drops suddenly.

37. Dumping

This is also a downward price movement

38. Dutch Auction

A declining price format selling. The selling starts at a determined point and goes down progressively until all tokens/units are sold.

39. DYOR

Stands for Do Your Own Research

E – H

40. EIP

Stands for Ethereum Improvement Proposal. It is how the Ethereum blockchain works through specific protocols.

41. ENS

Stands for “Ethereum Name Service”. It makes your blockchain address a name, for example, Edgy.eth.

42. FA

Stands for Fundamental Analysis. FA is using the news and press to determine the direction of the price of a coin.

43. Fiat 

Government-issued currency like the US Dollar.

44. Filled order

This is when a buy or sell order on an exchange has been executed.

45. FMA

Stands for “First Mover Advantage”

46. FOMO

Stands for Fear Of Missing Out

That is to say, a coin is pumping/going up and you buy without making due analysis thinking it will keep going up.

47. Fork

This is when a blockchain splits to create another coin e.g Bitcoin forked to create Bitcoin cash. It usually occurs when the community does not come to a consensus on a decision.

48. Fren

A way to address strangers in Crypto.

49. FUD

Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. It refers to scepticism about a coin. This happens when a piece of news is spread especially on social media. Oftentimes, the news is false/not verified and can cause a drop in the price of a coin.

50. GAS

It’s the computational effort to execute a specific operation. It requires a fee, that’s why GAS has a cost behind it.

51. GWEI

The smallest Ethereum unit of value worth 0.0000000001 ETH

52. Hash

It’s the identity of a successful transaction like the address for a transaction.

53. HODL

This is advise to hold a position or hold a coin and not sell. It is a rallying cry when there are dips. You encourage people to not sell by saying HODL. Some have said it stands for “Hold on for Dear Life”

54. Hot Wallet

A software that holds cryptocurrencies online. This type of wallet is mostly used for fast transactions. Also, they’re way less safe than Cold wallets.

I – L

55. ICO

Stands for Initial Coin Offering

56. IRL

Stands for In Real Life

57. JOMO

Joy Of Missing Out – expressing happiness for not buying a coin that is currently doing poorly.

58. KYC

Stands for Know Your Customer. Ensures entities over certain information about their clients.

59. Layer 1

Base layer blockchains e.g Ethereum, Bitcoin, Avalanche, Solana, etc.

60. Layer 2

Blockchains built on top of layer 1 to solve some issues such as high fees and speed e.g Arbitrum, Optimism, etc.

61. Long

Predict upward price movement and take a position by buying.

62. LP

Stands for Liquidity Pool

M – O

63. Maximum supply

This is the maximum number of a coin that can ever be mined or produced. e.g the maximum supply of Bitcoin (BTC) is 21 million BTC.

64. MCap

Market Capitalization – a term for the total market value of a coin.

65. McDonald’s

When there’s a bad market or someone gets rekt, you say you’re applying to McDonald’s as a form of self-deprecating humour.

66. Mempool

This is where nodes keep track of transactions that have not been confirmed yet.

67. Moon/pumping

When a coin has a strong upward trajectory

68. NFA

Stands for Not Financial Advice

69. NFT

Stands for Non-Fungible Token

70. NGMI

Stands for Not Gonna Make It – describing someone who’s dumb or makes bad investment decisions. 

71. Node

A computer connected to a blockchain that supports the network by validating and relaying transactions.

72. Normie

Someone that doesn’t own any cryptocurrency.

73. OTC

Over The Counter. 

P – S

74. P2P

Stands for Peer-to-Peer

75. Paper hands

A trader who lacks conviction in their investments. They sell at the first sign of a downtrend or FUD.

76. PoAP

Stands for Proof of Attendance Protocol

77. PoR

Stands for Proof of Reserves

78. PoS

Stands for Proof of Stake

79. PoW

Stands for Proof of Work

80. Private Key

Series of numbers serving as the password to your digital assets. — Never share with anyone.

81. Probably Nothing

Ironic way of saying “probably something. — used when there’s news that affects things. Example: Shanghai allocates $1.5B to the Metaverse development fund. Probably nothing.

82. Public Key

Series of numbers that, when used in conjunction with your private key can validate and perform a transaction. A Public Key is always related to a Private key.

83. Pump & Dump (P&D)

When people promote a project to their audience, and then secretly sell the project’s coin for profit.

84. Pump/Pumping

Upward price movement

85. Rekt

Describes someone experiencing a severe financial loss. 

86. Roadmap

It’s the plan for the short and long-term goals of a company, with an estimated timeline.

87. ROI

Stands for Return on Investment

88. RSI

Relative Strength Index – a crypto trading indicator that is used to point out overbought and oversold conditions.

89. Rug Pull/Rugged

When the founders of a project scam its users. The rug got pulled from under them.

90. SAFU

Stands for Secure Asset Fund for Users

91. SAJ Candle

Huge green candle

92. Satoshi

The smallest unit of Bitcoins available (1 Satoshi = 0.00000001BTC)

93. Ser

Used in place of Sir. It’s gender-neutral. A combination of Sir/Her

94. Shill

To promote a project.

95. Shitcoin

A coin with no potential value or use

96. Short

Predict downward price movement and Take position by selling.

97. SL

Stop Loss

98. Spread

The difference between the lowest sell price and the highest buy price of a crypto asset.

To fully understand what spread is and how it works, check out this post.

99. Stablecoin

It is a cryptocurrency that maintains a stable value over time. They are generally correlated with the US Dollar or other Fiat.

100. Swing

Zigzag price movement (Upwards and downwards)

T – Z

101. TA

Technical Analysis – analyzing the market based on charts and several indicators.

102. The Dip

This means the lowest point of a cryptocurrency

103. The Flippening

The belief that Ethereum’s marketcap will surpass Bitcoin’s marketcap

104. The Merge

When Ethereum fully transitions to Proof of Stake.

105. TP

Take Profit – Orders used to set a target profit price on a trade position.

106. TPS

Stands for “Transactions Per Second”

107. TXID

Stands for “Transaction ID”. It is the label for each transaction in the blockchain

108. UI/UX

Stands for “User Interface” and “User Experience” respectively

109. VC

Stands for “Venture Capital”

110. veTokens

Stands for “Voter Escrowed Tokens”. It serves for governance rights in crypto.

111. WAGMI

Stands for We’re All Going To Make It

112. Whale

Very Wealthy trader/Market mover with a wallet worth >$20m in value

113. Whitelist

A list of allowed individuals/entities concerning a service or event.

114. ZK Proof

Stands for Zero-Knowledge Proof

115. ZK-Snarks

Stands for Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge. It’s another approach to ZK Proofs.

Conclusion

This is where we’ll draw the drapes in this post. I hope learning about these cryptocurrency terms was worth your time.

Do you have more terms to add? Please drop them in the comments section below.

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