Crypto terms, explained plainly
124 short definitions and a handful of guides. Every term links to the coins and charts where you will meet it, and the ones the model actually uses say so.
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B
- Bid–ask spreadTrading
The gap between the highest buy order and the lowest sell order: a cost you pay to trade now.
F
- Funding rateTrading
The periodic payment between long and short perpetual traders that keeps the contract near spot.
L
- LeverageTrading
Using borrowed exposure so a small price move produces a large gain or loss.
- Limit orderTrading
An order that only executes at your price or better, and can sit unfilled.
- LiquidationTrading
Forced closing of a leveraged position when its margin falls below the maintenance level.
- LiquidityTrading
How easily you can buy or sell without moving the price: depth, spread and turnover together.
M
- MarginTrading
The collateral you post to hold a leveraged position, and what a liquidation consumes.
- Market orderTrading
An order that executes immediately at the best available price, consuming the book.
O
- Open interestTrading
The total value of futures positions currently open, a measure of how much leverage is in play.
- Order bookTrading
The standing bids and asks at each price on an exchange, and the size waiting there.
P
- Perpetual futuresTrading
A derivative that tracks an asset with no expiry, held open by periodic funding payments.
S
- Short squeezeTrading
A rapid rise forced by shorts buying back, which can feed on itself in thin markets.
- SlippageTrading
The difference between the price you expected and the price you got, from moving the book yourself.
T
- Trading volumeTrading
The value traded over a period, usually 24 hours; a measure of interest and turnover.