Whenever XYO posts on social media using any variation of the term HODL, we inevitably get people correcting the "misspelling" and asking why we didn't proof read. If this is you... welcome to crypto! We're glad you began your journey with XYO. Now let's talk some common crypto slang.
HODL (also hodler, hodling, etc.)
This began with a message board misspelling and simply became the norm, a signifier that the speaker knows crypto. As you may have guessed, it means "hold." Likewise, a hodler is a holder and hodling means holding. Specifically, holding onto a cryptocurrency for the long term, in the hope that it continues to accumulate value, rather than quickly selling and possibly missing out on greater returns. It's sometimes assigned the acronym "Hold On for Dear Life" but this was assigned to it after its inception.
FUD
This one really is an acronym; it stands for "Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt." FUD is generally seen as the opposite of valid criticism, more like harmful pessimism. It's often just the expression of hesitancy regarding cryptocurrency in general, or most often, a specific cryptocurrency. It can, however, represent a malignant intent to reduce a given crypto's value by sowing doubt via word of mouth.
Whale
This term is used in crypto in much the same way it is in gaming, investing, and gambling. It means someone with deep pockets, who owns a lot or has spent a lot on one specific thing. A whale will have an immense amount of crypto when compared to the average hodler.
Diamond Hands & Paper Hands
Someone with paper hands is someone who sells early instead of hodling. It usually means someone who sells too early, at the first sign of a dip or out of fear of financial risk, only to find the value of their former holdings continued to climb and they could have made much more if they'd waited to sell.
Someone with diamond hands is the opposite; a long term-hodler who can't be scared into selling their holdings by market fluctuations and who successfully waits for peak market price.
Moon
When the value of a cryptocurrency skyrockets sharply and quickly. It's most often used to indicate extreme, exponential growth that represents success for hodlers. It's very often used as a verb, so there are participle variations, such as mooning and mooned.
Pump & Dump
Often, though not always, used together. A cryptocurrency can pump or be pumped, and likewise can dump or be dumped. A pump is a rising price due to increased sales, or an intentional buy-up of the cryptocurrency available on the market to raise the price. A dump is the opposite, either a dropping price due to increased market supply, or an intentional sell-off of the crypto in question.
A pump and dump is a scam wherein a group of buyers intentionally inflates the price of a cryptocurrency by buying what's on the market, then immediately sells at the inflated price, causing the price to fall and leaving the buyers they sold to with a loss. (The people left with the devalued cryptocurrency are called bagholders.)
Check out this in-depth CNet article for more information.
Rug Pull
A cryptocurrency investment scheme in which the rug is pulled out from under buyers. This typically refers to a cryptocurrency that's created and pumped only for the founders to run off with the profits they made from selling to unfortunate buyers.
Here is a great article to help you learn more!
Bag
A crypto holding, usually of one specific cryptocurrency as part of a larger portfolio. A heavy bag is a relatively large amount of that crypto.
There's still so much more to learn. If you want to jump into a crypto community, check out our Telegram channel or our subreddit! Have a term you'd like to see on this list? Let us know in the comments below.