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Welcome to The Realistic Trader Crypto Glossary!

This resource is designed to provide definitions and explanations of common terms and acronyms used in the world of cryptocurrency. Whether you’re new to the industry or a seasoned trader, having a clear understanding of these terms will help you navigate the exciting and rapidly evolving world of crypto.

We would like to extend our gratitude to Harry Harrigan, our Head Avenger, for his hard work in compiling this comprehensive glossary. Harry’s expertise and passion for the crypto industry has made this resource possible, and we are grateful for his contribution.

Now, let’s dive into the world of crypto and start learning!

#

51% Attack
If more than half the computer power on a network is run by a single person or a single group of people, then a 51% attack is in operation. This means this entity has full control of the network and can negatively affect a cryptocurrency by halting mining, stopping or changing transactions, and reusing coins.
80/20 Rule
The 80/20 rule, often known as Pareto Principle, is a concept that states that 20% of the input determines 80% of the outcome in a particular scenario or system.

A

Addresses
Every cryptocurrency coin has a unique address that identifies where it sits on the blockchain. It’s this address, this location, at which the coin’s ownership data is stored, and where any changes are registered when it is traded. These addresses differ in appearance between cryptocurrencies but are usually a string of over 30 characters.

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 their 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.
ATH | All Time High

The highest price ever achieved

ATL | All Time Low

The lowest price ever achieved
ALTs | Altcoins
All cryptos, other than Bitcoin, coins are grouped together under the category of Altcoins.
APY | Annual Percentage Yield
This is a normalized representation of an interest rate, based on a compounding period of time.

APR | Annual Percentage Rate

This represents the annual rate charged for earning or borrowing money.
AML | Anti Money Laundering
A set of international laws enacted to curtail criminal organizations or individuals laundering money through cryptocurrencies into real-world cash.
Apeing
Apeing is when a cryptocurrency trader buys a token shortly after the token project launch without conducting thorough research.

B

Back testing
The process of testing a trading strategy on historical data to assess its accuracy.
Bag holder
If you have a large quantity of units in a certain cryptocurrency you’d have a bag of them.
Bear
Someone who believes that prices in a given market will decline over an extended period. Such a person might be referred to as ‘bearish’
Bear Market

When prices of assets in a market fall by 20% or more from recent highs, it is called a bear market. As a result, investor confidence is low, and the economy and market turn pessimistic

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.
Bearish
Price Action has a negative movement / sentiment
BTC | Bitcoin
The very first cryptocurrency. It was first created in 2008 by an individual or group of individuals operating under the name Satoshi Nakamoto. It was intended to be a peer-to-peer decentralised electronic cash system.
Bitcoin Pizza
Bitcoin Pizza refers to the infamous transaction where a guy, named Laszlo Hanyecz, paid 10,000 Bitcoins for two pizzas making it the first business transaction of Bitcoin in the real world. Bitcoin Pizza Day is celebrated on 22 May each year, after the transaction was undertaken on 22 May 2010.

Black Swan Event

A black swan event, also known as black swan occurrences, is a metaphor for an unexpected event that has a significant impact.
Block
The blockchain is made up of Blocks. Each Block holds a historical database of all cryptocurrency transactions made until the Block is full. It’s a permanent record, like a bag of data that can be opened and viewed at any time.
Block Reward
A form of incentive for the miner who successfully calculates the hash (verification) in a block. Verification of transactions on the blockchain generates new coins in the process, and the miner is rewarded a portion of these.
Blockchain
The blockchain is a digital ledger of all the transactions in a particular cryptocurrency ever made. It comprises of individual blocks (see definition above) that are chained to each other through a cryptographic signature. Each time a block’s capacity is reached, a new block is added to the chain. The blockchain is repeatedly copied and saved onto thousands of computers all around the world, and must always match each other. As there is no master copy stored in one location, it’s considered decentralised.
BFA | Brute Force Attack
An attempt to crack a password or key through automated trial and error.
Bull Market
A bull market in crypto and stock markets refers to a time during which the prices of assets grow dramatically. These markets act as a source of motivation for both investors and purchasers.
Bull Trap
A bull trap occurs when a steadily declining asset appears to reverse and go upward, but soon resumes its downward trend.
Bullish
Price Action has a positive movement / sentiment
BTFD | Buy the F&*$ing Dip
Phrase used when you’re (enthusiastically) telling someone a currency has dipped to a low value and should be bought.

C

Capitulation
Capitulation is the process of selling assets or cryptocurrencies at a significant loss because you have lost hope or belief that it will ever increase in price.
CBDC | Central Bank Digital Currency
CBDCs are digital currencies issued by a central bank whose status as legal tender depends on government regulation or law.
CEX | Centralised Exchange
A type of cryptocurrency exchange that is operated by a company that owns it in a centralized manner, where cryptocurrencies are exchanged (bought and sold). Some allows for FIAT transfers from bank accounts and the ability to convert FIAT into cryptocurrency. Eg Binance, Coinbase, Kraken.
Centralized
A centralized organizational structure is one in which a single node or a small number of them are in control of an entire network.
Circulating Supply
The total number of coins in a cryptocurrency that is in the public tradable space is considered the Circulating Supply. Some coins can be locked, reserved or burned, therefore unavailable to public trading.
Coin Burn
A process where cryptocurrency miners and developers remove a portion of coins/tokens from the circulating supply to control the price.
Cold Storage
A place to store your cryptocurrency which is offline – i.e not connected to the internet. Considered the safest place to store cryptocurrency. Also refered to as Cold Wallet / Hardware wallet.
Cold Wallet
A cryptocurrency wallet that is in cold storage, i.e. not connected to the internet.
Commodities
A basic good used in commerce that is interchangeable with other goods of the same type. Commodities are most often used as inputs in the production of other goods or services
CPI | Consumer Price Index
A Consumer Price Index (or CPI) is a type of index where the prices of a basket of goods and services are tracked to gain insights into market segments
Crypto OG
Someone who has been in Cryptocurrency since at before 2017.
Cryptocurrency
A form of money that exists as encrypted, digital information. Operating independently of any banks, a cryptocurrency uses sophisticated mathematics to regulate the creation and transfer of funds between entities.

D

Dead Cat Bounce

A temporary recovery in prices after a prolonged decrease, before further falling.

Death Cross

A death cross is a bearish technical trading indicator that occurs when the 50-day moving average falls below the 200-day moving average, indicating a big sell-off.

dApp | Decentralised application
A computer program that utilises a blockchain for data storage, runs autonomously, is not controlled or operated from a single entity, is open source, and has its use incentivised by the reward of fees or tokens.
DAO | Decentralised Autonomus Organisation
Refers to organisations that are run by an application (computer program), rather than direct human input. Control of this application is granted to everyone, rather than a single central entity.
DEX | Decentralised Exchange
A peer-to-peer exchange allowing users to trade cryptocurrency without the need for an intermediary.
DeFi | Decentralised Finance
A movement encouraging alternatives to traditional, centralized forms of financial services.
Depth Chart
This graph plots the requests to buy (known as bids) and the requests to sell (known as asks) on a chart. Because you can put a Limit Order on your buy or sell transaction, the Depth Chart shows the crossover point at which the market is most likely to accept a transaction in a timely fashion. It also shows if there are any significant Buy Walls or Sell Walls in play.
Derivatives
A financial instrument deriving its value from the value of an underlying asset. Derivatives are extremely common and popular financial instruments. They are often used for risk hedging. If an investor knows that they want to buy an asset, they may sign a derivatives contract agreeing to buy the asset at a specific price. This helps them to hedge against potential fluctuations in the value of the asset.
Diamond Hands
A popular term on social media platforms. It refers to people who hold their coins even if their portfolio drops in value by more than 20%.
Difficulty
When someone refers to difficulty in the cryptocurrency space, they are referring to the cost of mining in that moment in time. The more transactions that are trying to be confirmed at any single moment in time, divided by the total power of the Nodes on the network at that time, defines the difficulty. The higher the difficulty, the greater the transaction fee – this is a fluid measurement that moves over time.
Dildo candle
Large red or green “candles,” or vertical lines, on graphs showing cryptocurrency market data. Also referred to as a Lightsaber candle.
Dip
A dip is when markets experience a short or protracted downturn.
DYOR | Do Your Own Research
Encouraging investors to complete due diligence into a project before investing.
Dump
The term used to describe selling all (or a lot) of your cryptocurrency.
Dumping
When a lot of people dump at once, causing a sharp downward movement in a cryptocurrency’s price.

E

ERC-20
The standard to which each Ethereum token complies. It defines the way that each token behaves so that transactions are predictable. Other cryptocurrencies also use the ERC-20 standard, piggybacking on the Ethereum network in the process.
ETH | Ether
The token and the form of payment used in the operation of the distribution application platform, Ethereum.
Ethereum
Currently the top Altcoin in the world based on its market capitalisation. Despite being open source and based on blockchain technology, it differs from Bitcoin in two key ways: it allows developers to create dApps and also write smart contracts.
EIP | Ethereum Improvement Proposal
Describe standards for the Ethereum platform, including core protocol specifications, client APIs, and contract standards. E.g. EIP 1559 which changed the transaction fee market for Ethereum from a first price auction to a fixed priece sale. Commonly referred to as the London Fork
Exchange
Businesses that allow customers to trade cryptocurrencies for fiat money or other cryptocurrencies. Eg. Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, Kucoin.
ETF | Exchange Traded Fund

A security that tracks a basket of assets such as stocks, bonds, and cryptocurrencies but can be traded like a single stock.

F

FOMO | Fear Of Missing Out
A situation where a trader is afraid of missing out on a huge trading opportunity in the market.
FUD | Fear Uncertainty and Doubt
It is a strategy to influence perception of certain cryptocurrencies or the cryptocurrency market in general by spreading negative, misleading or false information
FED | Federal Reserve
The central banking system of the USA. Its core responsibilities include setting interest rates, managing the money supply, and regulating financial markets.
Fiat
Refers to money recognised as legal tender by governments, such as the US dollar, pound or Euro
Fiat On-ramp
A way to get cryptocurrency from fiat, or regular money.
FCA | Financial Conduct Authority
Responsible for the functioning of the UK financial markets. The FCA aims to ensure honest and fair markets by protecting consumers, protecting the financial markets, and promoting competition
Flippening
A speculative moment in the future when an altcoinmarket cap will surpass Bitcoin’s market cap. Most likely contender at present is Ethereum.
FOREX | Foreign Exchange Trading
A global market for exchanging national currencies with one another. Foreign exchange venues comprise the largest securities market in the world by nominal value, with trillions of dollars changing hands each day
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 categorised into two categories: soft or hard
FA | 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
Futures
A futures contract is a standardized legal agreement to buy or sell a particular commodity or asset at a predetermined price at a specified time in the future.
Futures Contract
This is a pre-approved contract between two entities to fulfil a transaction when the value of cryptocurrency hits a certain price. It’s different from a Limit Order in that the buyer and seller are already nominated and bound. A future contract becomes relevant when a buyer wants to go Short, and a seller wants to go Long on the asset.

G

GameFi
The concept of GameFi relies on the intersection of blockchain technology, gaming, and several forms of decentralized financial products, like non-fungible tokens (NFTs), yield farming, borrowing and lending, and algorithmic stablecoins, etc. Also referred to as play-to-earn (P2E) games.
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 21000 gas.
Gas Price
The amount you are willing to pay for a transaction in 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.
Genesis Block
The first or first few blocks of a blockchain
Golden Cross
Golden cross is a bullish technical trading indicator that signals an imminent price rise of the asset/stock/cryptocurrency. The most commonly referred to is the 50 & 200 day moving average cross.

H

Halving
A feature written into Bitcoin’s code in which after a certain number of blocks are mined (typcially every four years) the amount of new Bitcoin rewarded after each block gets halved. Currently 6.25 BTC are created every 10 mins. Due to be reduced to 3.125 BTC around May 2024.
HODL | Hold On For Dear Life
Used in the crypto world to refer to a strategy of holding onto bitcoin/crypto holdings through its various price fluctuations and volatility. The acronym is a misspelling of the word “holding” by a user on an online forum.
Hot Wallet
A cryptocurrency wallet that is connected to the internet for hot storage of cryptoassets, as opposed to an offline, cold wallet with cold storage.

I

Impermanent Loss
Impermanent loss is when a liquidity provider has a temporary loss of funds because of volatility in a trading pair.
Indices
A measurement of the price performance of a group of shares from an exchange.
Inflation
A general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money
ICO | 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.
IR | Interest Rates
A time-dependent charge or return made in proportion to the amount of money deposited, borrowed or lent.
IMF | International Monetary Fund
An agency of the United Nations which works to achieve sustainable growth and properity for all UN member countries. It does this by supporting economic policies that promote financial stability and monetary cooperation.
Interoperability
Blockchain interoperability, or cross-chain interoperability, is the ability to see and share information across multiple blockchains

K

KOBO | Kiss Off, Bugger Off
Price Action breaks through resistance or support, pulls back to the trend line, and then finally heads off in the other direction confirming the break of the trend
KYC | Know Your Customer
Financial institution’s obligation to verify the identity of a customer in line with AML (Anti Money Laundering) laws
Hot Wallet
A cryptocurrency wallet that is connected to the internet for hot storage of cryptoassets, as opposed to an offline, cold wallet with cold storage.

L

LAMBO | Lamborghini
Term which is how someone might refer to themselves if they are getting rich quickly. The idea being, there is so much money coming in, they are going to go buy an exotic car.
Large Cap
Well-established projects and organizations having a market capitalization of $10 billion or above are called large cap or big cap projects/organizations.
L0 | Layer 0
Layer 0 is a network framework running beneath the blockchain. It is made up of protocols, connections, hardware, miners, and more that forms the foundation of the blockchain ecosystem.
L1 | Layer 1
A layer-1 blockchain is a set of solutions that improve the base protocol itself
L2 | Layer 2
Layer 2 is the name given to a scaling solution that enables high throughput of transactions whilst fully inheriting the security of the underlying blockchain that it is built on.
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
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
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.
LTV | Loan to Value
Used by lenders, loan-to-value (LTV) is the assessment ratio of risk involved while approving a loan. Simply, it is the ratio of the loan’s value to the value of the collateral.
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).

M

Mainnet
An independent blockchain running its own network with its own technology and protocol.
Margin Trading
A strategy used by experienced traders where they risk their existing coins to magnify the intensity of their trades. This allows them to buy more than they can afford using leverage provided by an exchange.
MCAP | Market Capitalisation (Cap)
This is defined as the total number of coins in supply multiplied by the price. CAP = SUPPLY x PRICE
Market Maker / Market Taker
The maker places an order (to buy or sell at a quoted price), while a taker accepts that placed order (to execute the buy or sell at the quoted price).
Market Order
As opposed to a Limit Order, a Market Order does not wait until a certain price to buy or sell, it does so at the price of the time the transaction order is made.
Max Supply
The best approximation of the maximum amount of coins that will ever exist in the lifetime of the cryptocurrency.
Memecoin
Memecoins are the crypto tokens created as a joke or meme and claim to offer huge gains to holders. Also see ShitCoin
Metaverse
A digital universe that contains all the aspects of the real world, such as real-time interactions and economies.
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 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 between those in the Mining Pool proportionately based on the amount of power they contributed. The idea is that being in a Mining Pool allows for more chance of successful hashing, and therefore getting enough cryptocurrency reward to have an income
Minting
Minting is the process of generating new coins using the proof-of-stake mechanism and adding them to the circulation to be traded.
Moon
A term used to describe a major price movement upwards. ‘Wen moon’ is a common term on social media used to question / suggest when a token (or tha market) is about to explode upwards.
Moonboys
People with unrealistic expectation of a cryptocurrency price / utility, particularly over a short timeframe. Often found on social media and quick to berate those with differing opinions.
MA | Moving Average
A technical indicator that reacts to the trends of the financial markets and is used by market experts to predict the direction of an asset’s trend.
MACD | Moving Average Convergence Divergence
A part of the technical analysis of a cryptocurrency’s value, this tracks the momentum of price change to try and forecast into the future.

N

Network
A network refers to all the Nodes committed to helping the operation of a blockchain at any given moment in time.
No-Coiner
A no-coiner is someone who has no cryptocurrency in his or her investment portfolio and firmly believes that cryptocurrency in general will fail.
NFT | Non Fungible Token
Are cryptographic assets on a blockchain with unique identification codes and metadata that distinguish them from each other, allowing for ownership to be determine. Often used in the digital art space, but are becoing more widespread throughout the industry.

O

On Chain

Transactions that are recorded on the blockchain itself and shared with all of the participants are done on-chain.

OTC | Over the Counter
A transaction made outside of an exchange, often peer-to-peer through private trades. OTC trading is preferred by private traders as it usually involves huge transactions and offers more flexibility and better pricing than exchanges can offer.

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

P

Paper Trading
Paper trading or simulated trading is the practice of using a virtual transactional environment to simulate trading without the use of real capital.
Paper Wallet
Storing your wallet code (your private key) on a physical document makes it a Paper Wallet. It’s also sometimes referred to as Cold Storage.
P2P | Peer to Peer
In a Peer to Peer connection, two or more computers network with each other without a centralised, third-party being used as an intermediary.
Peg
A specificed price for the rate of exchange between two assets. Stablecoins are usually a good example as the price is typically ‘pegged’ to a fiat currency/ Although note, this is not always the case and can lead to small, usually temporary, fluctations in the price.
Phishing
When a scammer pretends to be a trusted institution or person to trick people into revealing sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, passwords, banking details, etc., often through a malware link disguised as legitimate
Private Key
A string of numbers and letters that are used to access your wallet. While your wallet is represented by a public key, the private key is the password you should protect (with your life). You need your private key when selling or withdrawing cryptocurrencies as it acts as your digital signature.
PoS | Proof of Stake
Another alternative to Proof of Work, this caps the reward given to miners for providing their computational power to the network, at that miner’s investment in the cryptocurrency. So if a miner holds three coins, they can only earn three coins. The system encourages miners to stick with a certain blockchain, rather than converting their rewards to an alternate cryptocurrency.
PoW | Proof of Work
In order to receive a reward for mining a cryptocurrency, the miner must show that their computer contributed effort to approve a transaction. A variable is added to the process of hashing a transaction that demands that effort before a block can be successfully hashed. Having a hashed block proves the miner did work and deserves a reward – hence Proof of Work.
Protocols
The set of rules that defines how data is exchanged across a network, usually involving consensus, transaction validation, and network participation on a blockchain
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.
P&D | Pump and Dump
The frowned upon practice of buying a lot of one cryptocurrency to drive up its price encouraging others to invest, then selling the lot when there is a suitable margin.

R

Rebase
A token designed so that the circulating supply adjusts automatically according to price fluctuations.
Recovery Seed
A recovery seed is a cryptographically derived security code composed of a list of random words, typically ranging between 12 and 24. Very important to keep this stored securely offline.
REKT
Shorthand slang for “wrecked” and a term used to describe a bad loss in a trade.
RSI | Relative Strength Index
A type of technical analysis whereby you determine the momentum of price change over time. It looks at recent changes in price exponentially, with the most recent changes given more weight than older ones. This produces an overall trend of movement for a cryptocurrency that can determine if the market is Overbought (a reading higher than 70) or Oversold (a reading lower than 30)
Resistance
The highest price level of an asset during a specific period
ROI | Return on Investment
The ratio between the net profit and cost of investing.
Road Map
A high-level visual summary that helps map out the vision as well as the direction of a specific product.
Rug Pull
A type of scam where developers abandon a project and take their investors’ money. Also see Scam Coin

S

Satoshi Nakamoto
The pseudonym used for the individual, or group of individuals (it has never been confirmed) that created Bitcoin.
SATS | Satoshis
This is the smallest unit of Bitcoin, which is 0.00000001 BTC. The name SATS is shorthand for Satoshi Nakamoto, which is the fake name used by the creator of Bitcoin.
Scam Coin
Coins that are created as “get rich quick schemes” by their developers are referred to as a scamcoin.
SAFU | Secure Asset funds for Users
Coined by Binance when concerns were riased over the safety of crypto assets. Binance created an emergency insurance fund to protect investors. The term has since been widely adopted to mean ‘Safe’.
SEC | Securities and Exchange Commission
An independent agency of the United States federal government, responsible for enforcing federal securities laws, proposing securities rules, and regulating the securities industry, the nation’s stock and options exchanges, and other related activities and organisations.
Seed
The origin point from which you created your wallet id. Usually, a seed is a phrase or a series of words that can be used to regenerate your wallet id if you lose it. Something to keep very secret.
Sharding
Sharding is a way of splitting up the full blockchain history so each full node doesn’t need the whole copy of it. It’s considered a scaling solution for blockchains because as they grow larger, it begins to slow the network performance if every Node is required to carry the full blockchain.
Shilling
The act of enthusiastically promoting a cryptocurrency.
Shit Coin
No points for guessing this one. It’s a term used to describe a cryptocurrency not expected to have a positive future, which lacks an underlining usecase.
Short
Also known as Short Selling, this is a concept whereby a trader sells an asset they don’t have when it is at a low price. The hope is that selling it will further drive the price down. They can then buy the asset at an even lower price than which they sold it to complete the deal. Thereby they earn a margin in the interim.
Short Squeeze
An unusual market condition that causes the price of a coin to rise quickly, encouraging traders (who are betting against the price of the token) to buy it to avoid losses
Small Cap
A digital asset with a very small market capitalization (sub $20m) is referred to as a micro-cap stock/asset/cryptocurrency in the financial sector.
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.
Software Wallet
A common form of wallet where the private key for an individual is stored within software files on a computer. This is the system you are likely to use if you sign-up to a wallet online that is not associated with an exchange. Also referred to as a Hot wallet. has some level of security, but not considered as secure as storing via a cold wallet.
Spot purchase
A contract or transaction buying or selling a cryptocurrency for immediate settlement, or payment and delivery, of the cryptocurrency on the market. i.e purchasing the actual asset.
Stablecoin
A cryptocurrency with extremely low volatility, sometimes used as a means of portfolio diversification. Examples include gold-backed cryptocurrency or fiat-pegged cryptocurrency.
Staking
Participation in a proof-of-stake (PoS) system to put your tokens in to serve as a validator to the blockchain and receive rewards.
SL | Stop Loss
An order in trading allows investors to determine the lowest price at which they are willing to sell an asset and trigger an automatic sell order when and if this price is reached.
Support
The lowest price of an assets over a specific period.

T

TA | Technical Analysis
Using a trading tool to look at historical data on a cryptocurrency in the hope of forecasting its future.
Test Net
When a cryptocurrency creator is testing out a new version of a blockchain, it does so on a Test Net. This runs like a second version of the blockchain but doesn’t impact the value associated with the primary, active blockchain.
The Merge
A planned network upgrade that will combine the Ethereum mainnet and the Beacon Chain to transition from the proof-of-work consensus mechanism to the proof-of-stake system. Often referred to as Ethereum 2.0.
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.
Tokenomics
Tokenomics is the science of token economy which consists of a set of rules that governs a cryptocurrency’s launch and supply.
TVL | Total Value Locked
Тotal value locked represents the number of assets that are currently being staked in a specific protocol.
Tx | Transaction
The value of cryptocurrency if moved from one entity to another on a blockchain network.
Transaction Fee
Usually very small fees given to the miners involved in successfully approving a transaction on the blockchain. This fee can vary depending on the difficulty involved in a transaction and overall network capabilities at that moment in time. If an exchange is involved in facilitating that transaction, they too could take a cut of the overall transaction fee.
Trend Line
A line drawn over pivot highs or under pivot lows to show the prevailing direction of price. Trendlines are a visual representation of support and resistance in any time frame. They show direction and speed of price, and also describe patterns during periods of price contraction.
2FA | Two-Factor Authentication
A method of access that requires two different forms of authentication.

U

UP&L | Unrealised Profit & Loss
Unrealized profit and loss occur when you have a position open in a security that has appreciated or depreciated in value.

V

VPN | Virtual Private Network
A technology that creates a safe and encrypted network from a public internet connection – giving you anonymity and privacy.
Volatility
The fluctuation in an asset’s prices is measured by its Volatility. Cryptocurrency prices are notoriously Volatile compared to other assets as dramatic price shifts can happen quickly.
Volume
How much cryptocurrency has been traded over a set period, such as the past 24 hours.

W

Wallet
A Wallet is defined by a unique code, which 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.
Weak hands
An investor prone to panic selling at the first sign of a price decline. Also known as Paper hands.
Whale
A term used to describe extremely wealthy investors or traders who have enough funds to manipulate the market.
Whitepaper
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.

Y

YOLO | You Only Live Once
People who have a carefree attitude to a crypto or trade. Enjoy your life, because when it’s gone, it’s gone!