Crypto Market Glossary: 100 Beginner Essentials [2026]

A–D

• ATH (All-Time High) — The highest recorded price. For example, Bitcoin has set a new ATH.
• ATL (All-Time Low) — The lowest recorded price.
• Altcoin — Any coin other than Bitcoin.
• Bear Market — A market with a sustained decline in prices.
• Block — A group of transactions recorded on a blockchain.
• Bridge — A protocol connecting different blockchains.
• Bull Market — A market with a sustained rise in prices.
• CEX — A centralized exchange, such as Upbit or Binance.
• Cold Wallet — A wallet without an internet connection, such as a hardware wallet.
• DAO — A decentralized autonomous organization.
• DCA (Dollar-Cost Averaging) — Regularly investing a fixed amount.
• DeFi — Decentralized finance: financial services without intermediaries.
• DEX — A decentralized exchange, such as Uniswap.
• Dip — A temporary price decline. Buy the dip means buying during a decline.
• DYOR (Do Your Own Research) — Investigate for yourself.

F–K

• FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) — Fear of missing an opportunity, often causing late entries in a rising market.
• FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) — Fear, uncertainty, and doubt, described here as being spread maliciously to push prices down.
• Gas Fee — A blockchain transaction fee, such as on Ethereum.
• HODL — Originated as a misspelling of hold; a long-term holding strategy.
• Hot Wallet — An internet-connected wallet, such as MetaMask.
• ICO (Initial Coin Offering) — A public token sale, the crypto equivalent of an IPO.
• KYC (Know Your Customer) — Identity verification required when registering with an exchange.
• Kimchi Premium — Korean exchange prices being higher than overseas prices.

L–R

• Liquidation — Forced closure of a futures position when its margin is exhausted.
• Long — A buy position betting on rising prices.
• Market Cap — Coin price multiplied by total issued supply, as defined in this glossary.
• Meme Coin — A coin based on memes or humor, such as Dogecoin or Shiba Inu.
• Mining — The process of validating transactions and issuing new coins.
• Moon — An expectation that price will soar, as though reaching the moon.
• NFT — A non-fungible token, representing a unique digital asset.
• Node — A server participating in a blockchain network.
• PnL (Profit and Loss) — Gains and losses.
• Pump and Dump — A scam that artificially raises a price before selling.
• Rekt — Slang for wrecked, used after a major loss.
• ROI (Return on Investment) — The return earned on an investment.
• Rug Pull — A scam in which developers take funds and disappear.

S–Z

• Satoshi — Bitcoin's smallest unit, 0.00000001 BTC.
• Seed Phrase — A set of 12 or 24 words used to restore a wallet.
• Short — A sell position betting on falling prices.
• Slippage — The difference between the expected and actual execution price.
• Smart Contract — A program that executes automatically on a blockchain.
• Spot — Buying and selling coins directly without leverage.
• Stablecoin — A dollar-linked coin, such as USDT or USDC.
• Staking — Locking coins to receive rewards.
• Stop Loss — An automatic sell instruction intended to limit losses.
• Token — A digital asset issued on a blockchain.
• TVL (Total Value Locked) — The total assets locked in a DeFi protocol.
• Whale — An investor holding a large amount of cryptocurrency.
• Yield — Interest earned by providing assets in DeFi.