See 11 popular crypto terms and their meanings

Have you been in a meeting where cryptocurrency investors/traders talk and you seem lost? Do you struggle to grasp some crypto terms, acronyms and terminologies thrown around in blockchain/cryptocurrency discourses? Do crypto articles/journals sound like jargon to you?

If the answers are mostly yes, then you need to learn basic crypto terms. In fact, before you kickstart crypto trading/investment you need to understand some of them.

See crypto terms below:

Altcoin

An altcoin is used to refer to any type of cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin. Ether is the most popular altcoin, others include Binance Coin, Solana, Cardano and thousands of others.

Bear/Bull market 

These are crypto terms used to refer to the situation of the crypto market. A bear market is a period where digital assets experience a price surge and often go on for a long period of time. A bear market is when cryptocurrencies experience a continuous market decline.

An example of a bull market is the situation from the last two months of 2020 to mid-2021. While a bear market can be likened to the market movement from December 2021 till now (July 2022).

DYOR

This is a common phrase used by crypto enthusiasts. It is an acronym for ‘do your own research’. It is a way of prompting individuals to ensure they do proper findings and get accurate information before making decisions in the crypto market.

HODL

This is commonly used as HODLing or HODLer. HODL can be used interchangeably with HOLD.

The term originated from a forum post in 2013 as a typo mistake. The post was written by an account named Gamekyuubi while he was intoxicated, thus causing this spelling error.

Interestingly, the crypto community began to adopt this term, making it a norm today. The term basically means holding your cryptocurrency for dear life regardless of crazy market swings to enjoy long-term gains.

FOMO

It is an abbreviation of “Fear of Missing Out”. In the crypto context, this refers to the feeling of not being included in a valuable project, especially when the token is experiencing a price surge.

This feeling of guilt has led many investors to ape in coins at the peak, which usually leads to loss of trading capital. In view of this, it is better to always move on from crypto projects that have ‘mooned’. 

The market will always be available and there is room for more money to be made except if you want to invest in top projects because you have ‘DYOR’. 

FUD

This stands for ‘Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt’. It refers to instilling negative emotions and perceptions in a crypto community. Most times, information released is usually false or misleading.

A quintessential example of FUD is when it was rumoured that bitcoin was going to crash to zero, which made many market whales dump their bags.

ATH

This represents ‘All-time-high’. It means the highest market price value achieved by a cryptocurrency in its entire history. 

The ATH of bitcoin was reached on November 10, 2021, when the flagship asset reached $69,045. Ethereum ATH is $4,878 which was attained on the same day as Bitcoin.

Moon

Often used as “Mooning” or “To the Moon”. The term is used to depict how the price of an asset would skyrocket to an extremely high level, i.e: Bitcoin is going to the moon!

WAGMI/NGMI

A short form of ‘we’re all gonna make it’.  An expression of positivity regarding a crypto investment. NGMI (not gonna make it) is the opposite.

Dip

A decline or depreciation in the market price of a digital asset. An instance of a dip is the one being experienced by flagship asset bitcoin. It has plunged from above $40,000 at the beginning of the year to around $21,000 at press time.

Airdrop

A crypto airdrop is issued to users in exchange for completing a certain task. These tasks often involve things such as: following an account on social media, sharing or retweeting one of their posts, including hashtags, sending or receiving a transaction (using a particular crypto platform or wallet) and creating an account/signing up to receive updates.

A crypto airdrop is basically used to promote a blockchain start-up, project or service.

Other notable crypto terms in the space include:

Lambo: When a person asks ‘when lambo?’. They are asking when a particular cryptocurrency will rally, in order for them to profit enough to buy a Lamborghini.

Noob: This is used to refer to a newbie in the crypto space.