# Crypto 101 & Basic Terminologies

**Published by:** [insecureLemur1](https://paragraph.com/@insecurelemur1/)
**Published on:** 2022-04-07
**URL:** https://paragraph.com/@insecurelemur1/crypto-101-basic-terminologies

## Content

Learning a new language starts with the right vocabulary… Let’s begin with a little test! Have you ever heard of these words? “HODL, REKT, DYOR…” If you answered yes, congratulations! You are one of 300 million cryptocurrency users worldwide, approximately 3.9% of the world population. If you replied no, don’t worry; you will after reading this post! In the previous article we discussed that it’s like learning a new language when it comes to cryptocurrency. It is critical to focus on the right words and reduce wasted time while learning a new language in order to enhance the quantity of information you absorb. Learning cryptocurrencies works on the same principle. Adding certain key terms to your vocabulary list is essential if you want to obtain a basic understanding of the crypto market and survive it. Here are some fundamental crypto terms you should know! Altcoin: Altcoins are coins that are not Bitcoin. ATH: All-Time High. The highest price of a currency ever recorded. ATL: All-Time Low. The lowest price of a currency ever recorded. Bear Market: Strong market downtrend. It is widely used both in the traditional and cryptocurrency markets. Bitcoin Pizza: Bitcoin Pizza is the name given to the first known purchase of physical goods with Bitcoin. (Click here to see how two pizzas were worth $600 million!) Bull Market: Strong market uptrend. It is widely used both in the traditional and cryptocurrency markets. Buy Wall: Refers to the situation where a massive buy order, or cumulation of buy orders have been placed at a particular price level. Circulating Supply: The best approximate number of cryptocurrency coins or tokens that are publicly available and circulating in the market. DEX: Exchanges which do not require users to deposit funds to start trading and do not hold the funds for the user. Users trade directly from their own wallets. (E.g. Uniswap, Pancakeswap) DeFi: Decentralized Finance. The ecosystem comprised of decentralized financial applications developed on top of blockchain networks. Dead Cat Bounce: A brief recovery in the price of a declining asset that is shortly followed by a continuation of a downtrend. Death Cross: Technical chart pattern indicating the potential for a major sell-off. The death cross is a downtrend indicator that appears when the 50-day moving average (MA) dips below the 200-day MA. Double Spending: When a given amount of coins are spent more than once. Usually as a result of a race attack or a 51% attack. DYOR: Do Your Own Research. It’s always wise to research a coin or token yourself instead of following what others say. ERC-20: A technical standard used to issue and implement tokens on the Ethereum blockchain proposed in November 2015 by Fabian Vogelsteller. Exchange: A marketplace for cryptocurrencies where users can buy and sell coins. (List of Top Crypto Spot Exchanges) FGI: Fear & Greed Index. A daily snapshot that analyzes sentiments and indicates whether the market is bullish (high) or bearish (low). The index of 1 represents extreme fear and 100 represents extreme greed. Fiat: A government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical commodity but rather by the government that issued it. FOMO: Fear Of Missing Out. Fear and anxiety that you might be missing out on a potentially lucrative trading opportunity, mostly during bull market. FUD: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. Spreading fear via misinformation to gain an advantage in the market. Usually used in the form of “xxx spreading FUD again.” Gas: The pricing mechanism employed on the Ethereum blockchain to calculate the costs of smart contracts operations and transaction fees. Golden Cross: Bullish breakout pattern. An uptrend in the market where a shorter-term moving average crosses above a longer-term moving average. Halving: Approximately every four years, the amount of bitcoin awarded to miners is reduced by half, until all 21 million bitcoin have been virtually mined (probably around the year 2140). HODL: In early bitcoin forums, someone posted a message with a typo that spelled “hold” wrong, and later it has been retrofitted to be an acronym for “Hold On for Dear Life”. Refers to crypto investors who do not plan to sell, and are long-term HODLERS. ICO: Initial Coin Offering. A fundraising method in which new projects will sell their cryptocurrency to investors. Ledger: A physical book or digital computer file where monetary and financial transactions are tracked and recorded. Lightening Network: A second later operation on top of a blockchain, enabling increased transaction speed among participating nodes. Liquidity: The ability to sell or buy any given asset without causing significant fluctuations and convert into cash or other coins in the market. Market Capitalization: The total trading value of a given coin, calculated by the product of the supply of the coin by the current price. Mining: The process of verifying and validating blockchain transactions that creates new units of cryptocurrencies. Moon: A strong upward market trend and extreme bullish movement. Usually used in the form of “To the moon!.” NFT: Non-fungible Token. NFTs are non-fungible, cryptographic, and one-of-a-kind digital assets that cannot be reproduced or divided, such as images, music files, or text. Paper Wallet: A piece of paper on which a cryptocurrency address and its corresponding private key are physically printed out. P2P: Peer-to-Peer. When two or more computers are connected and share workload or resources without relying on a centralized server. Phishing: A malicious attack where a bad actor will attempt to obtain the credentials of a user in order to gain unauthorized access into their account. Private Key: A lengthy number, like a PIN or password, which grants cryptocurrency users the ownership of their funds. Private keys should be kept private! REKT: A slang term for “wrecked”, used to define someone who has experienced a heavy financial loss due to a wrong trade or investment. RSI: Relative Strength Index. A technical indicator that measures market momentum & used to identify overbought and oversold conditions. Satoshi: The smallest unit of a Bitcoin, as defined by the Bitcoin protocol. It equals one-hundred-millionth of a Bitcoin or 0.00000001 BTC. Satoshi Nakamoto: The pseudonym of the creator or creators of the Bitcoin protocol and whitepaper. Seed Phrase: A seed phrase or mnemonic seed is a collection of words that can be used to access your cryptocurrency wallet. TA: Technical Analysis. In the traditional and cryptocurrency market, TA is one of the popular ways to estimate and predict the price of an asset in the near future. Weak Hands: A term referring to traders or investors who lack the confidence to hold their assets or to follow their trading plans. Whale: An individual or organization that holds a large amount of Bitcoins or other cryptocurrency, allowing them to impact the markets. *Source: Binance Academy Glossary / Investopedia Disclaimer: This article does not constitute investment advice, nor is it an offer or invitation to purchase any crypto assets. The Content in this article is for informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

## Publication Information

- [insecureLemur1](https://paragraph.com/@insecurelemur1/): Publication homepage
- [All Posts](https://paragraph.com/@insecurelemur1/): More posts from this publication
- [RSS Feed](https://api.paragraph.com/blogs/rss/@insecurelemur1): Subscribe to updates