Learn the Lingo

Makes perfect sense right??

…uhhh, what? WTF is a DAO?

If you none of that made any sense to you (and I don’t blame you) – then you’re definitely in the right place.

You are a crypto newb.

WAGMI… APED in… gm…

You’ll hear this type chatter all over twitter, discord and throughout the Crypto sphere.

You might be asking yourself what the heck are all these people saying!?

Just trying to take someone’s free advice is a daunting task when you have no idea what they’re talking about.

Aside from investing and the finance world, Crypto has its own set of esoteric lingo that’ll have you Googling every 10-seconds just so you don’t feel like a complete idiot on reddit and discord.

Here’s a glossary of the crypto terms that you need to know so you don’t sound like a crypto newbie forever.

These terms are divided by what you need to know for general investing in crypto and to understand crypto speak across different communities.

Crypto terms to get you going

• address = series of numbers and letters that represents a unique area of the blockchain for crypto to be sent and received (eg. wallet address or smart contract address); can be viewed by blockchain explorers like SnowTrace or EtherScan
• airdrop = method to distribute a token to an address; often used for marketing to raise awareness for a project as a reward for purchases made on a blockchain or holding certain coins and NFTs
• altcoin = lesser known coins with low market caps; usually available through DEXs before getting listed onto major CEXs
• ATH = all-time-high of a coin or market cap
• ATL = all-time-low of a coin or market cap
• AMM = automated market maker; AMMs calculate exchange prices of liquidity pools and raise/lower the value of crypto assets based on what traders buy/sell; this can lead to impermanent loss
• APY = annual percentage yield
• CEX = centralized exchange (eg. CoinBase, Binance, KuCoin, FTX)
• BEP-20 token = smart contract for BSC network (Binance Smart Chain)
• blockchain = a public ledger or distributed database that stores accumulating units of digital information
• Bridging = moving cryptocurrency across chains
• DaaS = DeFi as a service (eg. Thor nodes); also refers to an industry or particular business model which generates revenue from investments across the DeFi market to provide returns to its investors through a single token
• DAO = decentralized autonomous organization; DAO projects aim to distribute governance to its participants meaning the project is not ruled by one person or a small group as opposed to a corporation
• dApp = decentralized application that’s built on a decentralized network; dApps give users a dashboard or user-interface to interact with smart contracts
• DeFI = decentralized finance
• DEX = decentralized exchange
• emission = the rate that new tokens are created and released onto the market
• ERC-20 token = Ethereum token used for all smart contracts on the ETH blockchain
• EVM-compatible
• fiat currency = typically refers to the US dollar or other form of legal tender that’s backed by a central authority or governing body like the US treasury
• gas fee = network transaction cost (eg. gwei is used for ETH gas)
• GWEI = 1 billionth of ETH; unit of measure used for transactions on Ethereum blockchain
• ibTKN = Interest-bearing token (eg. sOHM = staked version of $OHM earning interest rewards)
• impermanent loss = unique risk in providing liquidity as a dual-asset pair to a liquidity pool in DeFi; loss occurs when there’s a drastic price change for one token in the pair (more on impermanent loss here)
• KYC = know your client
• liquidity pool = usually made of two equally weighted crypto pairs (eg. AVAX and gOHM); pools create markets for users to trade in/out of by providing access to liquidity versus spot markets which pair buyers/sellers to complete a trade
• LP tokens = liquidity pool tokens
• mining = verifying transactions and adding blocks to the blockchain
• minting = creating a new token or NFT by adding it to the blockchain
• NaaS = node as a service (eg. StrongBlock and Thor nodes)
• node = typically refers to a computer that supports networks on a blockchain by validating transactions; users run nodes to earn staking and and mining rewards (eg. StrongBlock nodes and Thor nodes)
• On-ramp = to exchange currency from fiat to cryptocurrency (eg. depositing cash from your bank account into an exchange like CoinBase to buy some tokens like $ETH)
• Proof-of-stake (PoS)
• Proof-of-work (PoW)
• protocol owned liquidity (POL)
• rebase token = aka interest-bearing token that earns rebasing or auto-compounding rewards (eg. gOHM and MEMO)
• reserve currency = a digital asset that is held in large quantities for the purpose of providing price stability that other currencies can be based on
• slippage = occurs if there’s a rapid price change when swapping tokens
• smart contract
• stable coin = refers to crypto currency coins pegged to the $US dollar, fiat currency, or other exchange-traded crypto (eg. DAI, MIM, USDC, USDT)
• staking = depositing tokens into a protocol or network that pays staking rewards or interest
• validator
• tokenomics = the economy of a token and its ecosystem; can refer to all of a crypto token’s features including things like token distribution and production
• TVL = total locked value; the value of coins staked or secured in a protocol which indicates the health of a market or DeFi project
• TVL ratio = market cap divided by TVL; this helps determine if a crypto currency is under or over-valued (crypto currencies with a TVL ratio under 1 are considered undervalued)
• wallet = storage of your private key that serves as the gateway to access your crypto on the blockchain
• whitelist = early access to a project or NFT for showing interest before launch
• whitepaper = explanation of a crypto protocol that details key information such as a project’s purpose, tokenomics, and more
• yield farming = earning rewards for providing liquidity to a liquidity pool on a DEX like TraderJOE or SushiSwap

Crypto community slang

• alpha = hot tip or piece of knowledge giving you an edge over the market
• APE = going all in, usually with little to no research; must have high risk tolerance, massive capital, or massive balls
• bank run = when everyone starts pulling their money out of a project
• bear = sentiment the market is in a downturn
• bullish = sentiment that the market is on the up and up
• DD = due diligence
• doxxed = individuals or a team behind a project has revealed their identity or at least their faces or social profiles; projects with doxxed teams are considered to be less risky and may be factored into your vetting process
• dump = sudden selling off of digital assets which causes even more sell pressure; also creates an opportunity to buy assets on “sale” for those with the money to buy
• DYOR = do your own research
• FOMO = fear of missing out; buying into a project or coin because you see others making money that you’re not
• FUD = fear, uncertainty, and doubt; often haters throwing shade on a project
• HODL = hold on for dear life
• GM = good morning; how NFT owners greet each other
• NGMI = not going to make it
• moon = skyrocketing prices
• rekt = you just got effed up; everything’s crashing and burning
• rugged = getting screwed; devs abandon a project and/or steal funds from investors
• WAGMI = we’re all going to make it; sentiment that everyone is going to come out ahead, profiting heavily

Crypto trading terms

• EMA = exponential moving average; technical analysis of a price chart that indicates support and resistance levels of an asset price
• leverage = trading with borrowed money to compound
• limit order = ​​exchange order that allows traders to purchase or sell assets at a specified price or better; used to buy asset at a specific price
• market cap = total value of all the coins in the market; calculated by multiplying the number of coins available times the current price
• Market order = most basic order type; used to buy an asset at its current spot price
• OCO order = order cancels order is a type of trade order for setting a target price to take profits or stop further losses when selling an asset
• Spot price = current market price
• Spot trade = can refer to trading at current market price or trading with your own funds (as opposed to margin trading which is with borrowed money)
• Stop-loss order = exchange order that allows traders to sell assets if they drop below a specific price; used to manage risk by “stopping losses”
• Stop-limit order = an exchange order that’s set to trigger a limit order at a specific price
• Support level = the price level that an asset stops falling below for a certain period; support levels are created when buyers enter the market whenever an asset dips to a lower price
• Resistance = the highest price a stock tends to trade
• Swing trade = 
• Margin trading = trading with borrowed money; as opposed to spot trading which is your actual money in your account