Crypto Life’s Guide to Crypto Slang — Part 1
The crypto world can be scary, especially if you’re new.
It’s a vast world filled with colourful NFTs, thousands of tokens flying around and everyone around you spouting all these strange words that you’ve never heard of before.
No, you’re not getting old and haven’t kept up with “trendy” slang. Rather, the crypto space has its own unique terms that not everyone is going to get at first.
So, we’re going to go through a couple of popular crypto terms and explain their meaning. Think of it like your own personal crypto dictionary.
HODL
“HODL” stands for “hold on for dear life”, which basically means holding on to your assets in hopes that the price will increase.
But there’s a funny story behind this one. “HODL” actually goes all the way back to 2013, when a Bitcoin forum member by the name of “GameKyuubi” wrote a post with the title “I am HODLING”, misspelling the word “holding”.
HODL has since exploded in popularity, and later on, became an abbreviation for holding on to dear life, as mentioned earlier. GameKyuubi probably had no idea their minor misspelling was going to blow up either, so props to them.
FUD
Another abbreviation that stands for “Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt”. FUD is when someone, or a group of people, starts to express negative views and feelings towards a project or the crypto market in general. So much so, that they feel the need to spread it all over social media for some reason.
In other words, no one likes fudders, so don’t become one.
FOMO
This means “Fear Of Missing Out”. While this term is often used as a marketing tactic to draw people in, it’s also used in the crypto space to create an intense feeling that you are missing out on something significant in the crypto space.
Think of it like peer pressure, except the teens at the bus stop aren’t pushing you to smoke, but to buy a token that’s meant to be “the next big thing” in crypto.
Obviously, we can’t share any financial advice, but all we can say is if you’re looking into buying, it’s important to do your research first, and your decision shouldn’t just be driven by FOMO alone. Don’t let those kids push you around.
GM
This is an easy one, as it simply means “Good Morning”.
You might see this a lot on your Twitter feed, but it’s not just a polite greeting. It’s also used to express optimism for the crypto market, as well as the idea of being “early” and that there is good promise for the industry. It’s believed that the term was first used during Bitcoin’s bull run in 2021, when its price reached almost $70,000.
So, if you’re reading this and it’s morning for you right now — good morning!
Bullish
“Bullish” refers to the bull market — a traditional stock market term that’s also used in crypto. Put simply, a bull market refers to when crypto prices are increasing, or are expected to increase.
The most common definition of a bull market is when prices rise by 20% or more after recent lows. Overall, it’s a positive trend in the crypto space, as it indicates a strong economy and good investor confidence.
Also fun fact — The “bull” metaphor comes from how bulls attack, which is thrusting its horn upwards.
Bearish
On the other hand, a bear attacks by swiping down with its claws. This is where the bear market — or “bearish” market — comes from. Unlike a bull market, a bear market is when crypto prices decline by 20% or more.
Bear markets happen for a few reasons, such as economic recession and geopolitical crises. Sometimes, bear market conditions last so long that it turns into what’s called a “crypto winter”, a term itself that references Game of Thrones. This long and painful period extends from your typical crypto giants (e.g. Bitcoin and Ethereum) to smaller projects.
NFT
Ever seen those funky-looking apes or weird pixelated punks floating around your Twitter?
Those are just small examples of NFTs — AKA non-fungible tokens. Being “non-fungible” means that it’s completely unique and can’t be replaced.
Take Bitcoin for example. This is a fungible token, so if you trade one Bitcoin for another, you’ll receive exactly the same thing. On the other hand, if you traded an NFT for another, you’ll get something completely different.
Think of them like one-of-a-kind trading cards — unique, original and authenticated with a special signature.
NFTs can be anything digital — from artwork and videos to music and even tweets. Digital art is by far the most popular type of NFT though, with collections like Bored Ape Club, Pixel Punks and Cryptokitties practically exploding in popularity since their release. We also saw the Everydays: the First 5000 Days by Mike Winkelmann (Known as “Beeple”) sold for a colossal $69.3 million in 2021.
BTD
This stands for “buy the dip”, and refers to investors buying crypto assets at a low price, in hopes that the price will bounce back and they can make a profit from it. There’s also BTDF, but you can guess what the “f” in that stands for.
Overall, this is a popular strategy among many investors. But while returns can be good if the price increases, there’s also the risk of loss if it declines even more. Truly heartbreaking.
