In cryptocurrencies, there are many expressions, abbreviations, which can make it difficult at first to read certain articles, discussions… Some of these expressions come from trading, others from economics, others are purely related to cryptocurrencies. I offer you a (non-exhaustive) inventory of certain commonly used expressions.
This article is part of the file “Cyptocurrencies, the big folder”
ATH : All Time High, this is the highest price ever reached by an asset
AirDrop : Action of giving tokens, often when starting a cryptocurrency.
Baleine : Or whale in English. A whale is a person (or institution) that owns a large number of a cryptocurrency. It can therefore have a significant influence on the price.
Bear market : market with a downward trend
Bear trap : bearish trap. This is the fact of believing that the price will return to a downtrend. For example, a support break (suggesting the beginning of a downtrend), but with a rise behind.
Blockchain : see the blockchain article for all the details
Bull market : market with an upward trend
Bull trap : bullish trap. Works like the bear trap, but to suggest an uptrend.
DCA : for Dollar Cost Average. It is an effective investment strategy of buying a specific amount of a crypto at regular intervals. For example, say that at least every 5th buys 50 euros worth of bitcoin.
DeFi : see the article on DeFi .
Dip : Fall, often brutal, of a course, which rises quite quickly behind. This creates a low point, which is the dip. Used in the expression “buy the dip”, which could be translated as “buy the low point”.
FIAT : fiduciary currency (euro, dollar)
FOMO : Fear Of Missing Out, or the fear of missing the train. This results in purchases during big upswings, for fear that the asset will fly away and no longer return to the current value.
FUD : Fear Uncertain and Doubt, or the fear that an asset will lose much or even all of its value. Often linked to bad news, and a fear of regulation. This is all the more true on cryptos where many projects are young and can disappear quickly.
HODL : Keeping a crypto, sometimes against all odds. The spelling comes from a typo on a forum in December 2013.
ICO : for Initial Coin Offering. Often used when starting a cryptocurrency and fundraising project. This can have the advantage of buying a token when it starts, so at a very attractive price. But if the project never sees the light of day, it is an investment at a loss.
NFT : see the article on NFTs .
Marketcap : Total valuation of a cryptocurrency (number of tokens in circulation * price)
Masternodes : see the article on masternodes .
Mining : see the article on mining .
Moon : Used for example in the expression “to the moon”. Often an invocation to hope that the price flies away.
Proof-of-stake : see blockchain article .
Proof-of-work : see the article on blockchain and proof-of- work
Short : Used for example in the expression “short the bitcoin”. This involves betting on the decline of an asset.
Smart contracts : see the article dedicated to smart contracts .
Staking : see the article on staking .
