A Glossary of Common Crypto Terms: HODL, FUD, FOMO, and More

Venturing into the world of cryptocurrency can often feel like learning a new language. Online forums, social media, and news articles are filled with a unique slang of acronyms and technical terms that can leave newcomers feeling confused and excluded.

Understanding this jargon is essential for following conversations, conducting research, and navigating the ecosystem with greater confidence. To help you get up to speed, we’ve compiled a simple glossary of some of the most common terms you’ll encounter.

Think of this as your go-to dictionary for the language of crypto.

Market Sentiment & Community Slang

This section covers terms that describe the feelings and actions of market participants.

HODL

• Stands for: “Hold On for Dear Life.”
• Meaning: A long-term investment strategy that involves holding onto your cryptocurrency and resisting the urge to sell, regardless of price volatility. The term originated from a famous typo of the word “hold” on an early Bitcoin forum and has since become a core philosophy for many long-term believers in the technology.

FUD

• Stands for: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.
• Meaning: The strategic spread of negative information, rumors, or misleading news to create a sense of fear and drive down the price of an asset. FUD can be either intentional manipulation or the result of genuine concern.

FOMO

• Stands for: Fear Of Missing Out.
• Meaning: A powerful emotional urge to buy an asset when its price is rapidly increasing. Investors experiencing FOMO are afraid of missing out on potential profits, which often leads to impulsive and poorly-timed decisions, like buying at the peak of a price bubble.

DYOR

• Stands for: Do Your Own Research.
• Meaning: This is one of the most important principles in the crypto space. It is a strong piece of advice reminding individuals to thoroughly research a project’s technology, team, and goals before investing, rather than simply trusting the opinions or promotions of others online.

Shill

• Meaning: The act of enthusiastically and often deceptively promoting a particular cryptocurrency to create hype and attract new buyers, typically for personal gain. This is often done by influencers or project insiders who stand to profit if the price increases.

Whale

• Meaning: An individual or entity that owns a very large amount of a specific cryptocurrency. Because of the size of their holdings, a whale’s decision to buy or sell can have a significant impact on the market price, causing large price swings.

Diamond Hands / Paper Hands

• Meaning: A popular meme that describes two opposing investment mentalities. “Diamond hands” refers to someone who holds onto their assets through extreme price volatility, showing high-risk tolerance. “Paper hands” refers to someone who panics and sells their assets at the first sign of a price drop.

Essential Technical & Financial Terms

This section covers some of the fundamental vocabulary you’ll need.

Fiat

• Meaning: Government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical commodity like gold.
• Examples: The U.S. Dollar (USD), the Euro (EUR), and the Japanese Yen (JPY).

Altcoin

• Meaning: Any cryptocurrency that is not Bitcoin.
• Explanation: The term is a shorthand for “alternative coin.” Ethereum, Solana, and thousands of others are all considered altcoins.

ATH

• Stands for: All-Time High.
• Meaning: The absolute highest price that a cryptocurrency has ever reached in its history.

Gas Fees

• Meaning: The fee required to conduct a transaction or execute a smart contract on a blockchain network, most famously on Ethereum.
• Explanation: This fee is paid to the network’s miners or validators, who provide the computational power needed to process and secure the transaction.

Whitepaper

• Meaning: A detailed and authoritative report released by the creators of a cryptocurrency project.
• Explanation: It outlines the project’s purpose, technology, goals, and tokenomics. The whitepaper is the single most important document to read when conducting your own research (DYOR).

Market Cap (Market Capitalization)

• Meaning: The total market value of a cryptocurrency.
• Calculation: It is calculated by multiplying the current price of a single coin by the total number of coins in circulation (Current Price x Circulating Supply). It is a common metric used to gauge the relative size of a cryptocurrency.

Conclusion: Speak the Language of Crypto

The language of crypto can seem strange at first, but like any new language, you’ll pick it up quickly with a little practice. Understanding these common terms is a crucial step in moving from a passive observer to an informed participant. This glossary is a living document and a starting point. As you continue your journey, keep learning, stay curious, and you’ll be speaking the language of crypto with confidence in no time.