# Basic terminology

By [Crypto4light](https://paragraph.com/@crypto4light) · 2024-05-07

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**Trading** is a speculation in various assets with the aim of making a profit.  
**Technical analysis** is a type of market analysis that uses information from price movements on a chart.  
**Fundamental analysis** is a type of market analysis that uses information about a project, segment and market as a whole to create trading hypotheses.  
**Liquidity** is the ability to quickly execute a transaction.  
**KYC** - “Know Your Customer” is a mandatory procedure for identifying users for financial institutions, exchanges, and brokers.  
**Fiat money** is paper notes with several degrees of security, which are issued by the state for circulation within the country and abroad. This type of money also includes virtual funds, stored on a simple plastic card, and also accepted for payment for goods and services. P2P trading is the direct buying and selling of cryptocurrency by users without the participation of a third party or intermediary.  
**Ticker** is a short name given to the project for identification in financial markets (in crypto, most often the name of the token).  
**Spot trading** is real-time trading of a physical asset.  
**Order** - an application to buy/sell.  
**Limit order** is an order to buy/sell at a limit price you define, which is lower than the current one when buying and higher than the current one when selling. Such orders fall into the order book.  
**Order book** is a list of limit orders on the market at the current moment.  
**Makers** are traders who work with limit orders. Add liquidity to the exchange.  
**Market order** is a buy/sell order that is instantly triggered at the current price at the current moment.  
**Takers** are traders who work with market orders. They take away the liquidity of the exchange.  
**Stop-limit order** is a limit order that, when the stop price is reached, is placed in the order book.  
**Take profit** is a limit or market order with which profit is fixed.  
**Stop Loss** is an order that will allow you to close a losing position so as not to incur a larger loss.  
**Futures trading** is the trading of regular or perpetual contracts. This is an agreement that in the future one party will sell or buy something from the other party.  
**Long -** Long position, work to increase prices.  
**Short** - Short position, work to lower prices.  
**Stop market order** is a market order that, when the stop price is reached, interacts with the nearest limit orders in the order book.  
**Hedging** is a tool that allows you to reduce risks by trading on different markets. **Leverage** is a multiplier that allows you to open a position with a volume exceeding your deposit.  
**Margin** is the minimum amount of equity in the account that ensures maintaining an open position. Isolated margin is a margin provision in which a limited amount of margin (allocated by you) is used.  
**Cross margin** is a margin provision in which the entire futures deposit is used. **Liquidation** is the forced closure of a position with the loss of futures deposit funds (with cross margin) and the loss of the margin allocated for the transaction (with isolated margin).  
**ADL** (auto deleveraging) is a method of liquidation that occurs only if the exchange's insurance fund ceases to function.  
**Last price** - the cost of the last sold contract from the order book (order book).  
**The mark price** is an average price that is calculated based on the latest prices of several major exchanges. Prices on exchanges are different.  
**TradingView** is a web service for technical analysis of trading charts.  
**Backtest** is work on the history of the chart, which is aimed at testing and getting used to the trading strategy, as well as collecting statistics. Statistics help you understand whether a trading strategy is working.  
**Bullish candle** is a candle that indicates upward price movement.  
**Bearish candle** is a candle that indicates downward price movement.  
**Price Action (PA)** is a method based on analyzing a price chart using candlestick formations.  
**Candlestick formation** is a graphical pattern of several candles that indicates the mood of the market.  
**Patterns** are a graphical pattern, visible on the chart in the form of figures, indicating the mood of the market.  
**Time frame** - the time during which one candle is formed on the price chart.HTF - Higher Time Frame. MTF - Medium Time Frame. LTF - Lower Time Frame. H4 - 4 hour. H1 - 1 hour. M15 - 15 minute. M5 - 5 minute.  
**Trend** is a market tendency that is formed as a result of purchases/sales of a sufficiently large volume of assets and capable of influencing price movements.  
**Uptrend** is an upward price movement formed as a result of successive purchases of a large volume of an asset.  
**Downtrend** is a downward price movement formed as a result of successive sales of a large volume of an asset.  
**Accumulation** is a narrow price range in which a large player accumulates (buys) a position with the goal of selling an asset at higher prices. This creates an upward trend. **Distribution** - a narrow price range in which a large player distributes (sells) a position in order to make a profit. This creates a downward trend.  
**Market cycle** is a chain of market phases during which a major participant accumulates/distributes a position, initiating an upward/downward movement.  
**Bulls** are buyers.  
**Bears** are sellers.  
**HH** (Higher High) - higher maximum. **HL** (Higher Low) - higher minimum. **LH** (Lower High) - lower maximum. **LL** (Lower Low) - lower minimum.  
**Impulse** movement is movement directed along the main trend.  
**Correction** is a movement directed against the main trend.  
**Swing** is a structural point.  
**Swing High** - the highest structural point.  
**Swing Low** - the lowest structural point.  
**Strong Swing** - a price high/low that is key within a specific structural movement. Update of this point leads to a change in structural movement.  
**Weak Swing** - a price high/low that has no impact on the structural movement.  
**Market Structure (MS)** - market structure.  
**Bos** (break of structure) - breakdown of structure.  
**Conf** (confirmation) - continuation (update) of the structure.  
**Fake bos** – formation of manipulation in the zone of a key structural high/low.  
**Liquidity** (in the understanding of the concept) is the ability to buy or sell a large volume of assets without affecting the price. Large participants are exchanges, funds or wealthy traders (crypto market), central banks and their interbank algorithms which have a large amount of funds or assets, which makes it possible to manipulate the value of an asset.  
**Support level** is a conditional price level for purchases, which acts as a zone of liquidity accumulation.  
**Resistance level** is a conditional sales price level, which acts as a zone of liquidity accumulation.  
**Sweep/Raid** - false update of highs/lows in order to remove liquidity.  
**BSL** (Buy Side Liquidity) - liquidity as a goal for buyers.  
**SSL** (Sell Side Liquidity) - liquidity as a goal for sellers.  
**EQH** (Equal Highs) - equal price highs.  
**EQL** (Equal Lows) - equal price minimums. Internal liquidity is an accumulation within a sideways movement or formed impulse, between a structural maximum and a minimum, on the corresponding TF.  
**External liquidity** - accumulation outside the boundaries of the sideways movement and at the structural highs and lows of the corresponding TF.  
**Compression** is liquidity that is formed as part of a corrective movement between key structural points.  
**Crypto market** is a market where participants 24/7 trade assets associated with blockchain technologies on centralized and decentralized crypto exchanges.  
**Bitcoin** is the first cryptocurrency payment system that laid the foundation for the entire crypto market and has maximum trust among the community.  
**Altcoins** are cryptocurrencies launched as an analogue of Bitcoin with certain improvements in technology (speed, functionality, scalability).  
**Tokens** are modern altcoins, which, thanks to technological development, have moved away from cryptocurrency payment systems to implement functionality for the decentralization of classic centralized services, organizations and services.  
**Stablecoins** are tokens that are pegged 1:1 to fiat currencies.  
**On-chain analysis** is a type of analysis that uses transaction data within a blockchain to predict future changes in price.  
**Lot** is a unit of measurement for the value of a transaction.  
**Pip** is a unit of measurement for changes in the value of currency pairs.  
**Spread** is the difference between buying and selling.  
**Broker** is an intermediary between the trader and the Forex market.  
**Prop company** is a company that finances traders.  
**Trading sessions** are the time frames for banks' work.  
**Fibonacci** numbers are elements of a number sequence in which the first two numbers are 0 and 1, and each subsequent number is equal to the sum of the previous two numbers.  
**OTE** (Optimal trade entry) – zone of optimal entry into a position, specifies the entry point into the position.  
**Premium/Discount** - sales area and purchase area.  
**Balance** - balance.  
**Imbalance** - disequilibrium. In the context of trading - price inefficiency.  
**Fair Value Gap** (FVG) is a graphical pattern indicating a price imbalance.  
**Slippage** is the difference in price that can occur between the time an order travels and its actual execution.  
**Rebalance** is the process of covering market imbalances.  
**Fill** - complete coverage of the FVG zone.  
**Order Block** is a certain price area where large market participants leverage their large volumes of purchases / sales by capturing reverse orders (liquidity), which leads to a sharp acceleration in price.  
**Absorption** is the closing of a subsequent candle or several subsequent candles (not necessarily the first) with a body below or above (depending on the direction) the body of a potential order block. It is the most important factor in validating a potential block. **Breaker Block** / BB (breaker) is an order block that breaks through and leads to a reversal of the price movement (BOS or Shift\*), then becomes a breaker. In the future, it will act as a “support/resistance for price” zone during testing.  
**Rejection Block** is a separate form of order block in the form of a large wick that removes liquidity.  
**Mean Treshold (MT)** - the level of the middle (50%) of the OB body. 50% of the order block body is the second most important level that the price can test in the future. The level indicates the validity of the block. We must observe how price behaves with the MT level during the subsequent test.  
**Profit** - profit from the trades.  
**Risk management** is the process of making and executing management decisions aimed at reducing the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome and minimizing possible losses caused by its implementation. In trading, R is used to indicate possible risk. **Discipline** is strict and precise adherence to the rules accepted by a person for implementation.  
**RR** - Risk to Reward - the ratio of risk and reward (RR 1:3 would mean that I risk 1 to get 3).  
**R** is a conventional unit that the trader risks in a transaction.  
**WinRate** is an indicator of a trader's success, calculated as a percentage.  
**Sideways movement** (consolidation, sideways, Range, flat, range) is a market situation when the price of an asset is in a narrow range, without clear signs of an upward or downward trend.  
**Deviation** is the price going beyond the lateral movement in order to remove external liquidity. Indicators are tools based on statistical indicators of trading: prices, trading volumes, etc.  
**Relative Strength Index (RSI)** is a well-known indicator based on price momentum. It is widely used to measure the rate of price changes.  
**PD Array Matrix** - Premium/Discount matrix. It is expressed in the sequential arrangement of areas of interest (POI) and problem areas FTA within the premium / discount range.  
**Point of Interest (POI)** - area of interest. This is a certain price range on the chart from which a price reaction is expected and a position is entered.  
**First Trouble Area (FTA)** - the first problem area. In essence, this is also a POI, but formed against our main structural price movement. Usually acts an obstacle to the delivery of prices to the renewal of the structure, which leads to a “complex correction”. **Fractality** is the ability of prices to repeat identical price movements on different timeframes.  
**Substructure** is a full-fledged structural price movement on a lower timeframe, inside a senior impulse or corrective movement.  
**Long Term** - long-term perspective.  
**Intermediate Term** - mid-term perspective.  
**Short Term** - short-term perspective.  
**ROI** (Return on Investment) is an indicator of return on investment.  
**FOMO** – fear of missing out (Fomo) - a feeling of lost profits.  
**Trading strategy** is a set of rules that determine all the actions of a trader in the process of trading in financial markets.  
**Investing** is making a profit by helping projects in the early stages, when they have not yet entered the market.  
**Medium/long-term speculation** - making a profit by purchasing assets after the launch of the project.  
**Market cap** of a project is the circulating supply of an asset \* at the current price of the asset.  
**FDV (Fully Diluted Market Cap)** - market capitalization at the current price when tokens are fully released to the market.  
**The maximum (total) supply** of tokens is the number of tokens when fully unlocked. **The circulating (current) supply** of tokens is the number of tokens that have been mined to date.  
**Total market capitalization** is the sum of all market capitalizations of projects. **Dominance** is an index that shows the ratio of the market capitalization of an asset and the overall market capitalization.  
**Cumulative delta** - cumulative delta over a certain period of time. It combines the accumulated delta information and then displays this information visually in the form of a histogram.  
**Delta** is the difference between market buy and sell orders.  
**Volatility** is a financial indicator that reflects how much the price of an asset or product changes in a short period of time. In other words, this is the range in which the price fluctuates during the day, week, month, year. Imbalance is the state of the market during a period when demand prevails over supply or vice versa.  
**Transaction feed** - detailed information on transactions, where you can see how much of an asset was bought/sold (volume), at what price, when bought/sold (time), which order was the initiating one, i.e. who sent the order from the market, buyer or seller (direction).  
**Pump and Dump** - a sharp increase in the exchange rate in the markets followed by a strong collapse.  
**Mining** is the process of processing transactions in blockchains using the Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm.  
**Validation** is the process of processing transactions in blockchains using the Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm.  
**The consensus algorithm** is a technology that allows information to be added to the network without centralized intermediaries.  
**Smart contract** is an algorithm that allows certain actions to be performed on the blockchain and acts as a decentralized intermediary.  
**Contracts**, deferred payment systems, insurance - all this can be written in a smart contract.  
**Scam** - any type of fraud/unforeseen circumstances that caused the loss of assets. X - received or potential profit, which is measured by multiplying the deposit.  
**Narrative** is a market segment that receives a lot of attention and investment. For example, the AI sector.  
**Whitepaper** is a technical document that describes the basic principles of the protocol. **Hold** - holding assets for a long time.  
**TGE (Token generation event)** is the process of creating tokens, which most often starts when an asset is first listed on sites. The project announces its launch on a specific date and time. When this date and time is reached, a program is created with a predetermined number of tokens and operating parameters.  
**Lockup** - period of freezing/blocking of tokens. For example, lock 1 year start after TGE - one year of token freezing, which starts after listing.  
**Vesting** is a linear unfreezing of tokens. Usually you receive tokens once a month or quarter, in equal parts. For example, 10 month vesting starting on December 1, 2023 - 10 months linear vesting, we will receive tokens in equal parts over 10 months.  
**Cliff** is the same lock, but is more often used when there is a period of unfreezing along with vesting, for example, 3 month cliff followed by a 10 month vesting starting on December, 2023 - 3 months - complete freezing, after which 10 months you will receive tokens linearly in equal parts.  
**Allocation** is the amount per participant with which he can purchase assets. For example, allocation is $100-1500. This means you can purchase assets ranging from $100 to $1,500.  
**Listing** - the process of placing an asset at the market.  
**Venture funds** are organizations engaged in investments at the earliest stages. Most often, investments go into the idea, rather than the finished/working product.  
**Seed Round** is a round for large funds and investors. The best profit potential, but the biggest risks.  
**Private Round** is a round for smaller funds, or additional fundraising by large funds. The potential is worse, but the project already has some success.  
**Public Sale/Round** - a public investment round, anyone can participate. The worst potential, but the product is already functional.  
**Tokensale** - an event during which a Public Sale/Round is held. Tokens are sold to anyone. It is carried out to make a profit, as well as a more even distribution of tokens. **ICO** is a token sale on specialized centralized platforms.  
**IDO** is a token sale on decentralized platforms.  
**IEO** - token sale on exchanges.  
**IGO** is a token sale of gaming-related projects.  
**Launchpad** is a platform that helps projects launch a product. Assistance in marketing, economic model, initial investment and token sale.  
**Tokenomics** is the internal economy of the project. Describes the economic relationship between elements of the system.  
**Supply/Token Supply** - the number of tokens that the project issues as part of tokenomics. The supply can be: constant, inflationary and deflationary.  
**TVL (Total Value Locked)** - the volume of assets blocked on the network.  
**CEX** is a centralized exchange.  
**DEX** is a decentralized exchange.  
**NFT** is a non-fungible token. Technology that enables the digitalization of physical assets as well as images, videos and music.  
**PFP (Profile Picture/avatar)** - NFT, which is used as an avatar on Twitter, Discord, Telegram. Minting (Mint/Mint/Mining) is the process of creating an NFT token. The best example is the creation of a new NFT collection by the project to develop its ecosystem.  
**Whitelist** is a list of users who receive priority access to a specific action (purchase of NFTs, participation in a sale, access to a product, etc.).  
**Reveal** is the process of opening a real NFT image. When participating in the launch of a collection of projects, very often you initially receive some kind of blurry image that opens after some time. After opening, you can see the characteristics of your NFT and its rarity.  
**Flip** (Flip/flipper) - purchase of NFT for the purpose of subsequent resale. To put it simply, it's just speculation. People look for NFTs for less and sell them for a little more. **Floor Price** (Floor/Floor/flur) - lower price limit. Using this information, you can track the dynamics of interest in the collection. JPGs are NFTs that can be in the format of JPG, PNG, GIF, audio/video files or computer games.  
**Delist** - the process of removing a token or NFT from an exchange/marketplace. **Roadmap** is an action plan that a project plans to implement to achieve its goals.  
**Gas** - a sharp increase in the cost of gas (commission) in the Ethereum network, when a massive project enters the market in which everyone wants to participate. To participate in such projects, you need to conduct transactions from your wallets. A large number of such transactions loads the network and increases the transfer fee. **DYOR** (Do your own research/duor) - conducting your own research on the project. A person who makes such a note abdicates his responsibility for advice.  
**Airdrop** is a crypto-activity in which a project distributes its tokens or NFTs for simple actions. Most often used for media purposes.  
**Retrodrop** is a crypto-activity in which a project distributes its tokens for participation in the early work of the product. Most often used to increase on-chain parameters, test the service under load, and distribute tokens.  
**Testnet** is a beta version of the project, which is intended to test the functionality and performance of the product.  
**Faucet** is a service that allows you to obtain test tokens for working with the test version of the project.  
**Mainnet** - launched version of the product.  
**Nodes** - network nodes that allow the network to function.  
**Play-to-Earn/Play2Earn/P2E** is a crypto-game concept that allows you to receive project tokens for playing time and activity.  
**Metaverse** are ecosystems trying to develop the direction of virtual worlds.  
**DeFi** (Decentralized Finance) - decentralized finance. A separate segment of the crypto market trying to create a decentralized analogue of the current financial system (TradeFi).  
**DAO** (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) - decentralized autonomous organizations. A direction that develops solutions for decentralized management. **Staking** is the delegation of assets to validators.  
**Farming/Yield farming** is the process of making profit through DeFi protocols. Pharming allows you to receive rewards in the form of protocol tokens for providing loans, receiving loans, participating in liquidity pools, as well as through other forms of interaction with platform protocols.  
**Landing** - depositing one's funds in order to receive interest or a loan in order to receive third-party assets in return for one's own.  
**Oracles** are decentralized applications whose task is to collect reliable information from the outside world and convert it into a form convenient for blockchain applications.  
**AMA session** (Ask Me Anything) is an event held in text, voice and video format, at which the project team communicates with users and answers questions.  
**Crosschain** is a decentralized application that allows you to connect different blockchains.

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*Originally published on [Crypto4light](https://paragraph.com/@crypto4light/basic-terminology)*