The world of crypto has a language all its own.

 

 

Hodl

To hold onto one’s coins no matter what.    

• “While most people were panic-selling their coins at a loss during the dip, I chose to hodl and I was glad I did when the market came roaring right back.”
• Origin: While some have interpreted “hodl” as an acronym for “Hold On for Dear Life,” it’s actually derived from a misspelling of the word “hold” from a bitcoin discussion forum post in 2013 titled “I AM HODLING.”  Here’s a link to the original forum in which the word appears (disclaimer: post contains colorful language).

 

FOMO

Acronym for “Fear Of Missing Out.”

• “I usually only buy a coin when its price dips, but I bought this one at its all-time high because my FOMO got the better of me.”
• FOMO is an emotional reaction that has buyers “following the herd,” often times when seeing friends or others enjoying enviable gains that they suddenly want to be a part of.  

 

Rekt: 

To lose your money from a bad trade, poor investing, or unfortunate luck.  

• “I tried shorting bitcoin during a bull market, and got totally rekt when the price went up.”
• Most commonly refers to having a short position liquidated in a futures contract (see link for my article on short-selling and futures).  Getting “rekt” has become so synonymous now with futures and “having your margin blown” that there’s a Twitter account that chronicles all the liquidated positions that happen during crypto trading.  

 

Moon

A coin’s eventual top, presumably a very high price from its current position.  

• (noun):  “When moon, bro?”
• (verb):  “My coin really started to moon when it was finally listed on a popular crypto exchange.”
• The term comes from “to the moon,” the idea that a coin’s price will eventually reach levels out of this world.  

 

Sats

Short for “satoshis,” a sat is the smallest unit of a bitcoin, equal to a hundred-millionth of a bitcoin (0.00000001 BTC).

• “She’s been stacking sats since 2012, and now she’s the CEO of her own crypto company!”
• Named after the pseudonymous founder Satoshi Nakamoto, “sats/satoshis” are to bitcoin what pennies are to the US dollar.

 

FUD

Acronym for “Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.”

• “The government tried to stop the people’s rapid adoption of Bitcoin by spreading FUD and false information.”
• FUD is any news that causes fear, uncertainty and/or doubt in crypto markets.  Some notable examples are investor Warren Buffett calling Bitcoin “rat poison squared,” China imposing a crypto trading ban, and any of hundreds of articles falsely calling Bitcoin “dead.”

 

Whale

Someone with a ridiculous amount of crypto.

• “The price of PotatoCoin was soaring to all-time highs until an unknown whale came along and sold, causing the price to plunge.”
• While the actual amount of crypto that makes someone a “whale” is often up to interpretation, whales tend to own enough of a single crypto that they can usually make the price go up or down when they buy/sell.  Whales often are early investors and the uber-(crypto)rich.

 

Altcoin

Any cryptocurrency that’s NOT Bitcoin.

• “When the price of Bitcoin started to fall, money started to flow into altcoins instead.”
• Because of Bitcoin’s historical domination of the crypto markets, the term “altcoin” emerged to describe any of the thousands of coins outside of the Big One.  Some argue that ETH is not an altcoin, due to its consistent position as #2 behind Bitcoin, and these definitions are all very much fluid depending on who you ask.

 

BATHSALTS

Acronym for “Buy All Time High, Sell At Loss Too Soon.”

• “The new crypto investors got overly excited about the recent price increase, and made the mistake of BATHSALTS when the market started to drop.”
• A common mistake made by new buyers.  People notice a coin that’s surging to an all-time high, and want a piece of the pie… but not long after buying, the price starts to plunge and those same buyers get spooked.  Next thing you know, BAM!  They’ve sold at a loss.  BATHSALTS, man. 

 

Bullish

Belief that the price of a coin will go up.

• “She continued to buy through the market downturn because she was so bullish on the future of Cardano.”
• The term comes from the way in which a bull attacks, by striking upwards with its horns.
• Those who are “bullish” are referred to as “bulls.”  When the market enters a phase where prices are all trending upwards for a long period of time, this is referred to as a “bull market.”

 

Bearish

Belief that the price of a coin will go down.

• “Her trusted friend has been bearish on XRP for years now, and that caused her to stay away from buying it.”
• The term comes from the way in which a bear attacks, by swiping downwards with its claws.
• Those who are “bearish” are referred to as “bears.”  When the market enters a phase where prices are all trending downwards for a long period of time, this is referred to as a “bear market.”

 

BTD

Acronym for “Buy the Dip.”

• “What do you do when the market goes down like this?  BTD, girl.  BTD.”
• As an investment strategy, those who BTD are buying crypto at a discount compared to the recent highs by taking advantage of a dip in the market.
• Think of BTD as the opposite of FOMO, buying low on a downturn instead of piling in when the price is rising.

 

Stay golden.

 

Curious about what we do here and who we are?  Read on to learn more about Crypto Logically.

Find any surprises here? What are some terms you’d like to see?  Drop your two sats in the comments.