Crypto has its own jargon and slang (street words). It is important to know crypto slang if you want to converse at a level with a crypto-enthusiast. It is also helpful to know the words to know what the sentiment is in the market. For example, when many people respond under crypto media channels with "To the moon" they mean they are positive about a coin. "Trust me bro" is used, for example, when someone touts a coin of which hardly anything is known or shares information that has not been verified. "When lambo?" is jokingly used for new-be's entering the cryptospace and focusing only on upward price action with mostly relatively little deposit
Table of contents
- 1 Ape
- 2 ₿agholder
- 3 ₿itcoin Maximalist
- 4 ₿uy The Dip
- 5 Cryptojacking
- 6 Cryptosis
- 7 Diamond Hands/Paper Hands
- 8 DYOR
- 9 Flipping/Flapping
- 10 FOMO
- 11 FUD
- 12 HODL
- 13 IYKYK
- 14 LFG
- 15 Moon/Mooning
- 16 No-coiner
- 17 Normie
- 18 Pump and Dump
- 19 Stretches
- 20 Back/back pull
- 21 Sats
- 22 Shill
- 23 Vaporware
- 24 Weak Hands
- 25 Whale
- 26 When Lambo?
Ape
An ape is someone who purchases a token or NFT in a short time after its launch without doing proper research, it is also called apeing
₿agholder
A bagholder is a word for a person who holds on to their assets despite their continued declining value. They hold their position even until a value finally drops to zero, usually because they hope the price will bounce back up after a crash
₿itcoin Maximalist
As the name reflects, a Bitcoin Maximalist is someone who believes that Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency of value and thus is the only currency worthy of receiving their support. Other crypto currencies are considered worthless by Bitcoin maximalists
₿uy The Dip
"Buy The Dip" or BTD is a phrase often used in a bear market. A phrase that encourages and investors to buy their assets in a supposed price dip. If an investor dares to buy a dip they have a great chance of obtaining profits in the future. The idea of buying on a price dip is that the price will eventually rebound allowing for large profits to be made
Cryptojacking
Cryptohacking refers to the hacking of a computer or computer program of an unsuspecting victim that allows crypto to be mined by third parties unseen through the victim's computer. Cryptohacking was a problem in 2017 because the exchange rates were high at the time and all sorts of fraudulent mining activities emerged
Cryptosis
A cryptosis is someone who strives to take in all the streams of information surrounding crypto. Someone who also can't stop talking about crypto and its value in any setting
Diamond Hands/Paper Hands
Diamond Hands and Paper Hands is used to determine an investor's risk appetite. A trader with a diamond hand holds his assets until the bitter end, regardless of market conditions. A diamond hand has a high risk appetite. Traders with diamond hands are unwilling to sell their coins until a coin has reached its maximum potential in their eyes
Paper hands are investors who sell their assets at the first signs of price declines or crashes. They are investors who act according to Panic Sell. This means that in case of a threat, they sell their crypto immediately. Paper hands are risk averse and do not like highly volatile crypto. They close their position at an early stage of a threat of a crash to avoid as much loss as possible
DYOR
DYOR is an abbreviation for Do Your Own Research. It is often used in cryptospace to indicate that something is not financial advice. When a coin is being showcased by a YouTuber, for example, this phrase is used as a disclaimer. DYOR is also used when investors want to point each other to further research the background of a crypto project, graph or a person
Flipping/Flapping
The term flipping was coined in 2017 to describe the potential flip between major cryptocurrency BTC and ETH. It refers to a theoretical possibility that ETH could be the leading cryptocurrency instead of Bitcoin in terms of numbers in market cap. In other words; investors devise a theory of what happens if not Bitcoin but Ethereum has the largest market cap. Flappening is a term coined in 2018. Flappening was used as a term when low-cap coin Litecoin (LTC) overtook Bitcoin Cash (BHC) in market cap numbers
FOMO
The term FOMO stands for Fear of Missing Out. This term is used for traders who fear missing a price move up or down and act on it immediately and very impulsively because they think a potentially lucrative opportunity has been created in the market. A trader may have FOMO on the way up, that is, on a price rise. In that case, he buys more coins at a relatively high price with the risk that the price will suddenly turn downward or even crash. A trader can also have FOMO when the price drops or crashes. He thinks he has bought the bottom of a price while another dip follows, resulting in a loss of the earlier position. A sentence that goes with this is; "Never chase a falling knife" referring to the risk that an investor takes by buying a dip that dips even lower resulting in loss upon loss.
FUD
FUD stands for Fear Uncertainty and Doubt. It is a psychological tactic used by parties to instill fear in the market causing investors to make reckless decisions often leading to losses. FUD is used to influence the market, media and people to take a negative view of the cryptospace or a cryptoproject or crypto brand by spreading misinformation. This is done by competing parties in the cryptospace and beyond who see price movements move downward through the spread of FUD allowing them to purchase crypto cheaply themselves. FUD is also spread by government, mass media and traditional centralized banks and financial institutions to discourage investors from investing in crypto. FUD can seriously damage a project, coin, brand or exchange and lead to bankruptcies. FUD can be seen as the opposite of FOMO. When prices rise, investors suffer from FOMO. When markets cool down, investors often suffer from FUD
HODL
HODL stands for Hold on For Dear Life. The term HODL comes from a misspelling of the word hold in a Bitcoin Forum online post in 2013. HODL has been embraced in the cryptospace as a term indicating that investors hold on to their portfolio despite any circumstances and do not sell under pressure even if the market cools down and there is FUD. Hodlers are investors who hold on to their assets for the long term. They firmly believe in the value of their crypto portfolio in the future. A hodler's goal is to preserve his portfolio regardless of whether the market moves up or down. A hodler is in it for long-term gains. Short-term noise in the market has no effect on an investor who is a hodler
IYKYK
IYKYK is an abbreviation for If You Know, You Know. It is a phrase used to indicate that a post or article or comment is only relevant or understood by a select few. The phrase is also sometimes jokingly used as a comment under a post about information that is common knowledge in cryptospace but is brought up by a commenter as new information
LFG
LFG is used to represent enthusiasm and is an abbreviation for Let's Fucking GO!
Moon/Mooning
To the Moon or Mooning is used to describe the movement of a cryptocurrency that has the potential to have a strong upward trajectory in a short period of time. A coin that moons experiences a rocket-like price rise. A price rise so high that it will proverbially go to the moon or land on the moon. Every trader hopes that it has a coin in its portfolio that will moons. That means at that point a coin's price becomes so high in a short period of time that a trader has chances to sell at a great profit. Individuals who are over enthusiastic about a coin are called moonboys. Sometimes these are coins that do not have the potential to be mooned.
No-coiner
A no-coiner is someone who criticizes crypto. Someone who believes crypto has no value and never will. No-coiners tend to not only think that but also say that. A no-coiner is not convinced of crypto nor does he or she hold a crypto portfolio. No-coiner is used to label a traditionally thinking person outside the cryptospace, such as a politician, when they express a negative opinion about crypto. Sometimes no-coiners turn around and start promoting crypto for the sake of an agenda. Bitcoiners then usually expose the no-coiner's past so they are not believed
Normie
A normie is a person with a traditional mindset and little to no knowledge of crypto
Pump and Dump
Pump & Dump is a scam scheme in which a coin's price is artificially pushed upward by false or misleading information. In most cases, one group of people buys a coin in large quantities and at a low price at a certain and/or communicated time causing the coin 's price to move upward in a short period of time. This sudden rise in price creates attention for the coin from other investors who want to surf along on the upward movement of the price. The group that initiated the pump suddenly sells their coins all at once causing the price action to move downward at a rapid pace. Investors who got in on the pump paid a high price for a coin that then dumped. The original group made a lot of profit while the investor who got in at too high a price level suffer heavy losses
Stretches
Rekt is a crypto slang for the word wrecked and means an investor has suffered huge losses due to wrong decisions in investment or trading
Back/Rugpull
A Rugpull is a cryptoscam in which the development team of a crypto project leaves the project before it is completed. At that point, they take all assets out of the project and leave investors with a worthless purchased coin. The name comes from "pulling a back out from under someone." A back pull was seen at FTX in 2022. Victims of a back pull use the term "got rugged" when discussing their experience with such a scam
Sats
Sats is an abbreviation for Satoshis, the smallest amount of Bitcoin (BTC) named after the creator of Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto. Like fiat money, Bitcoin can be divided into smaller amounts. You could make the comparison with the Dollar cent to understand this.1 Dollar is 100 Dollar cents. 1 Bitcoin is 100 million Satoshi
Shill
Shilling means that a person, usually an influencer or someone seen as having influence in the cryptospace, promotes a specific crypto coin and is overly enthusiastic about it to persuade investors to buy this particular coin. Individuals who are paid to promote a particular coin are called shillers
Vaporware
Vaporware are blockchain or software projects that are in the concept phase without having a working product. A vaporware project may be promoted in the cryptospace for months or years before it is publicly announced through media or other channels. In some cases, it remains at the concept stage and a working product is never delivered
Weak Hands
Weak Hands are investors who sell their crypto assets at the 1st signs of a falling price. These weak hands lack confidence in their own strategy, are influenced by FUD and are risk averse. They become anxious when there is price action downward or when there is negative news surrounding a crypto project or crypto exchange
Whale
A whale is an investor who has a large amount of one type of cryptocurrency. While it is not defined for each coin how much a whale must have to be a whale, a whale is someone who has such a large stake in a particular coin that they can influence its price. Whales make large buy and sell orders that allow them to determine the price of a coin, especially in low-volume(small cap) cryptocurrencies. Investors keep track of what whales are doing to determine their own strategy. There are several indicators that provide insight into whales' transactions
When Lambo?
"When Lambo?" refers to "When will you buy a Lamborghini?" and is a term crypto enthusiasts use for individuals who focus only on the price action of cryptocurrency so not on the underlying advancing Blockchain technology. It stems from times of bull market when some crypto investors are able to buy a Lambourghini from their profits. Lambourghinis are a status symbol for crypto investors. Crypto enthusiasts use the phrase "When Lambo?" when wondering when an investment will yield enough to buy a Lambourgini
This article was written by new Crypto Guide guest blogger Marieke of CryptoFamily. You are going to come across articles from Marieke more often. She is a real Bitcoin enthusiast and with her website CryptoFamily she is also doing some really cool stuff! People like Marieke are what the crypto space is for.
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