Crypto Slang

Like any other field, cryptocoins too have their own technical language. A language not always easy to understand for newbies, often made by acronyms. Also, it is not easy to find the source of such words, especially if you search on ‘traditional’ finance glossaries. So let’s try to explain some of these crazy words and acronyms used by crypto-lovers:
 

HODL: this means to keep your investment for a long period of time, despite any price drop or adverse news. The correct word in English would be “HOLD”, but this misspelling was originated by this post on Bitcointalk where a trader, probably drunk, in a very critical moment during Bitcoin price drop in 2013, wrote “I AM HODLING” and thus since that time: Let’s HODL!

Also, it may be considered as an acronym (Hold On Dear Life).
 

WHALE:this word is taken from casino world. With the word ‘whale’ we can refer to those traders particularly important and influential who have large sums of money to invest. So it is believed that they are able to influence the markets in any way they want.
 

BULL/BEAR: these are typical trading words; the former refers to a market where prices go up, the latter to a market where prices go down. For example a ‘BEARWHALE’ is a trader with a huge portfolio who try to lower the prices. Any bulk sales of a ‘BEARWHALE’ could lead to massive price drops.
 

 

BAGHOLDER: this mainly refers to altcoins holders, who keep on holding such coins or tokens for a very long period of time. Usually a ‘BAGHOLDER’ bought many of these altcoins at a very high price and, despite its price drop, keep on holding them hoping to still gain some profit.
 

PUMP ‘N DUMP: this is a shady trading strategy to gain big profits in a short period of time, which works mainly for low cap altcoins. In a nutshell, traders who run this method “pump” coin’s price first buying big amounts and then creating a positive sentiment among new and more naïve traders, for example promoting such altcoins on social media like facebook or twitter. Then they get rid of such coins (i.e. they “dump”) when they achieve profitable results, selling all of them to the ones who buy last.
 

FOMO: this is an acronym which stand for “Fear Of Missing Out” that is the fear to lose the opportunity to buy a coin before its price will rise. Usually this acronym is used to describe the behavior of investors who, in a bull market, feel a sense of urgency to buy some coin because they are afraid its price will never be so cheap again in the future.
 

FUD: this is another acronym which stand for “Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt”. This is usually used to describe negative news or posts which attempts to undermine investors’ trust in the cryptocurrencies.
 

TO THE MOON!: This is the most loved one among cryptocoins investors/traders. This is often said or written on forums and social media during a bull market and it’s a sort of incitement so that price will keep on rising even more (maybe, hopefully, that it will never stop rising)! This word is taken from movies and has the same meaning of other sayings like “Sky is the limit” or similar ones.