Cryptocurrency Dictionary/Lingo/ Slang: how to speak on the same language with crypto community
By: Clos Belmont
Tags: Cryptocurrency Investment, Bitcoin, Crypto, Cryptocurrency

When you decided to buy your first bitcoin or altcoin you have to perform your own delve into the Cryptocurrency Ocean.

You are making your researches by reading Medium, Reddit threads, Slack channels, Bitcoin talk and other Cryptocurrency related forums and chats and meet lots of new words and don’t catch a thing. You start feeling left out and like everybody talking on unfamiliar to you language.

So how to stand tall in all these conversations?

Read our compilation of all spread-used Cryptocurrency keywords and terms and become a real guru.

HODL.

“Hodl,” is a misspelling of “Hold” that mean ‘keep’. A crypto owner who buys a coin and does not see himself selling them in a close future is called a hodler.

The term originated on the Bitcointalk forum in the thread titled “I AM HODLING“, in which a user named “GameKyuubi” who made the spelling mistake when expressing his thoughts about the fact that he was holding his BTC despite the serious fall that had just happened. Since then, this misspelled term became very popular in the Cryptocurrency world.

Some people claim that the phrase has also been described as meaning “Hold on for dear life”, because your portfolio is going for a wild ride no matter what.

There are still a few people who are still holding bitcoins from 2009 and 2010. And according to forensic analysis from blockchain detective firm Chainalysis, we know that some of these “holders” are still hodling!

2. FOMO.

Short form for ‘fear of missing out’. FOMO is a huge factor to consider when swing trading in crypto.

When a trader feel’s the anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening or often aroused by posts seen on social media. The reason. FOMO is when prices tend to up because investors are trying to catch the last train.

If you’re new to crypto get into crypto because somebody told you about the Bitcoin boom and you didn’t want to miss out — That’s FOMO.

3. FUD.

“FUD” stands for “fear, uncertainty, and doubt,” though some refer to it as “fear, uncertainty, and despair.” Example somebody spread FUD by saying Bitcoin is a fraud that will eventually blow up. See? Pretty simple right.

This phrase describes the exaggerated sense of panic that can spread through the community, sometimes deserved, sometimes not.

Very often there’s the FUD that comes from people who will have personal benefit from a price drop. You have to be critical and make your own research when you faced the FUD: is it real danger or somebody spread some kind of information on purpose.

4. ATH.

Short form for “All-Time High”. “ATH” means the highest historical price of a specific coin. It refers to the highest price milestone that coin or token has ever achieved.

The recent Bitcoin ATH is a great example. Years ago, it would’ve been unbelievable for the price of bitcoin to hit $19,000 USD. And we just saw another new major ATH for ETH; $1400 on January 15th.

5. Pump and Dump (PnD or P&D)

Pump and Dump refers to coordinated scheme where people promote a cryptocurrency to pump up the price in order to dump (sell) their holdings to make a profit at others expense. Traders who pump, buying huge volumes, may wish to appeal FOMO from the uninformed investors and then dump their coins at a higher price.

6. Shill.

Shill it’s when a person or account promotes a cryptocurrency with intent of making a profit. The act of promoting altcoins in public forums with the pretense of sincerity in hopes that people will start buying and the price will go up.

7. Bag Holder.

A term to refer to a trader who bought in at a high and missed his opportunity to sell, leaving him with worthless coins.

Bagholders are often people who purchase a currency at an all time high or during a bull run, they become the bagholder once the price lowers leaving them stuck in a position where if they were to sell they would make a loss. The correct decision most of the time is to keep holding until the price goes back up where you can sell your “bags”.

8. Arbitrage.

The act of buying and selling on different exchanges to earn the difference in the spread. Arbitrage opportunities occur due to differences in exchange reputation, community coin preferences and ease of bank funding.

Take note that fees, limits and prices could change anytime when you are transferring your coins between exchanges, especially during volatile times.

9. TO THE MOON

This refers to the moment when currency keeps climbing in price.

With some Cryptocurrency making over 1000%, you’ve might have come across some users who are asking ‘’ when to the moon?’’ Which refers to when the price will shoot upwards, making some impressive gains as you’re left with a big Green arrow through the roof, leaving the stratosphere eventually ending up on the moon.

10. Weak Hands

Those who cannot be patient and sell his crypto at loss when the market is down.

11. Bears, Bulls and other fauna

“Bears” and “bulls” come from traditional stock concepts of bear and bull markets: Bull Market — when market prices rise or are expected to rise and Bear Market — when prices decrease due to a pessimistic sentiment. So crypto bears have an acutely pessimistic outlook for prices, whereas a crypto bull has optimism for prices.

For instance, you could call an investor “overly bullish” if they’re dogmatically into a project while ignoring that project’s red flags.

And then there are “whales,” which are simply crypto investors that have massive crypto holdings. Whale is huge player who has a substantial amount of capital. Whales are often the market movers for small alt-coins too due to their huge capital. This includes things like putting up buy walls at certain prices to prevent people selling above that price. And selling a large volume of a currency in a short space of time to crash the price and cause further downward action, at which point the whales buy back in cheaper.

The Whales usually are bullish (thinks the market will rise) on the price of any specific cryptocurrency. These people are also referred to as bullish whales.

BearWhale it’s a combination of terms ‘’Bear’’ (used to indicate a trader’s believes that prices will fall whereas the word) and “Whale” (someone who owns a lot of Bitcoin/Altcoin). I.e. it’s a trader with a fat account who is bearish on the price of a cryptocurrency.

12. REKT

This is a misspelling of “wrecked”. This term refers to a trader or investor who is utterly ruined and destroyed with losses from the current downfall of a price.

13. ADDY

This refers to a cryptocurrency public address (or key).

14. CHOYNA

A way of referring to China. As China is a country which is immensely influential in the Bitcoin space, it has largely dominated mining and trading activities.

15. DYOR.

Acronym for do your own research. DYOR is to warn you to research a Cryptocurrency when you heard someone shilling G Coin as the next big thing.

16. Lambo.

The car all traders seek to obtain (a Lamborghini).

17. Shitcoin

Any coin that purports to save the world. Also refers to alts that are perceived to be terrible, worthless, or a downright scam. (Note, one man’s shitcoin could be another’s treasure.)

18. SAT(s)

Short-form for 1 satoshi, the lowest denominator of a Bitcoin. 1 Sat is equal to 0.00000001 BTC.

19. Beetconnek

A suspicious Ponzi scheme often used by social media influencers who have vested agendas. Refers to BitConnect — project that a project that was considered and proved as a scam.

And of course we don’t forget about moto Buy Low Sell High — we think we don’t need to comment it! ;)

References:

https://www.smallcapasia.com/what-is-fud-hodl-or-fomo-in-cryptocurrency-lingo-find-out-more-here/

https://blockonomi.com/common-cryptocurrency-terms/

https://www.voiceofnaija.co/hodl-fomo-ath-fud-cryptocurrency-world-must-know-cryptocurrency-terms/

https://steemit.com/steemit/@steemitguide/learn-to-understand-crypto-lingo-hodl-rekt-fomo-and-more-explained-6-days-left-community-contribution-contest

https://www.blockchainshop.io/blogs/what-the-block/cryptocurrency-terms-and-lingo

http://www.sgbudgetbabe.com/2017/12/terms-to-know-in-cryptocurrency-social.html