Few year back, I was also left scratching my head when I first got involved in Cryptocurrencies. Therefore, I decided to put together a list of the Cryptocurrency Lingo/Slang which can help out others as well.
HODL
A spin on the investing lingo ‘hold’ — Hold On for Dear Life. A crypto trader who buys a coin and does not see himself selling in the foreseeable future is called a hodler of the coin.
FOMO
Short form for ‘fear of missing out’. The feeling when you see a huge green candle on a chart and you don’t own that coin, so you sell other shit to buy into it freaking out.
FUD
Short form for ‘fear, uncertainty and doubt’.
ATH
Short form for “All-Time High”. Therefore it means the highest historical price of a specific coin.
Whale
A 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.
Pump and Dump
The recurring cycle of an Altcoin getting a spike in price followed by a huge crash. Such movements are often attributed to low volume, hence the ‘pump’
Shill
The act of unsolicited endorsing of the coin in public. Traders who bought a coin has an interest in shilling the coin, in hopes of igniting the public’s interest in that particular coin.
Limit Order
An order placed at a future price that will execute when the price target is hit.
BUY | SELL Wall
A wall as seen in the depth chart of exchanges is an amalgamation of limit orders of the same price target.
Altcoin
“Alternate coin” so it is everything other than Bitcoin (BTC). Bitcoin is the main index for cryptocurrency market.
ICO
Short form for “Initial Coin Offering”, which takes a page from the usual IPOs investors know.
Coins bought during ICOs are usually sold for a profit when the coin first hits exchanges. This is due to the initial hype which increases demand for the coin.
Moon
Extreme bullish movement of a coin.
Weak Hands
Those who cannot be patient and sell at loss when the market is down.
Token Airdrop
Simply put, an Airdrop means a coin/token is distributed to the community for free or for small tasks. This is done to ensure early distribution and to have as many people with “skin in the game” as possible.
