Glossary
Volatility
Volatility is a statistical measure of the dispersion of returns for a given security or market index. In most cases, the higher the volatility, the riskier the security. Volatility is often measured as either the standard deviation or variance between returns from that same security or market index. In the securities markets, volatility is often associated with big swings in either direction.
Volatility often refers to the amount of uncertainty or risk related to the size of changes in a security's value. A higher volatility means that a security's value can potentially be spread out over a larger range of values. This means that the price of the security can change dramatically over a short time period in either direction. A lower volatility means that a security's value does not fluctuate dramatically, and tends to be more steady.
Volume
The volume of trade measures the total number of shares or contracts transacted for specified security during a specified time period. It includes the total number of shares transacted between a buyer and seller during a transaction. When securities are more actively traded, their trade volume is high, and when securities are less actively traded, their trade volume is low.
Volume tells investors about the market's activity and liquidity. Higher trade volumes for specified security mean higher liquidity, better order execution, and a more active market for connecting a buyer and seller. When investors feel hesitant about the direction of the stock market, futures trading volume tends to increase, which often causes options and futures on specified securities to trade more actively.
Market Cap
The term market capitalization (or market cap) refers to a metric that measures the relative size of a cryptocurrency. It is calculated by multiplying the current market price of a particular coin or token with the total number of coins in circulation.
Market Cap = Current Price x Circulating Supply
For example, if each unit of a cryptocurrency is being traded at $10.00, and the circulating supply is equal to 50,000,000 coins, the market capitalization for this cryptocurrency would be $500,000,000.
While the market cap may offer some insights about the size and performance of a company or cryptocurrency project, it is important to note that it is not the same as money inflow. So, it does not represent how much money is in the market. This is a common misconception because the calculation of the market cap is directly dependent on price, but in fact, a relatively small variation in price may affect the market cap significantly.
Compound
Compounding is the process in which an asset's earnings, from either capital gains or interest, are reinvested to generate additional earnings over time. This growth, calculated using exponential functions, occurs because the investment will generate earnings from both its initial principal and the accumulated earnings from preceding periods. Compounding, therefore, differs from linear growth, where only the principal earns interest each period.
RSI
The relative strength index (RSI) is a momentum indicator used in technical analysis that measures the magnitude of recent price changes to evaluate overbought or oversold conditions in the price of a stock or other asset. The RSI is displayed as an oscillator and can have a reading from 0 to 100. Traditional interpretation and usage of the RSI are that values of 70 or above indicate that a security is becoming overbought or overvalued and may be primed for a trend reversal or corrective pullback in price. An RSI reading of 30 or below indicates an oversold or undervalued condition.
MACD
The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) oscillator is one of the most popular and widely used technical analysis indicators that traders and analysts use to gauge momentum in markets.
Traders and analysts use a variety of technical indicators to spot trends in the market, anticipate potential shifts in trading, and, ultimately to either trade successfully themselves or to offer advice to clients so that they may trade successfully. The Moving Average Convergence Divergence utilizes two different trend tracking indicators – moving averages – and creates a momentum oscillator from them by subtracting the moving average of the longer time period from the moving average of the shorter time period. In a sense, this makes the MACD a double-edged technical indicator in that it offers traders and analysts the ability to follow trends in the market, as well as to gauge the momentum of price changes.
The calculated moving averages will inevitably converge, cross over one another, and then proceed to diverge or move away from each other, making the MACD jump over and under the zero line as this happens. Traders are then able to watch for these signaling crossovers and divergences in order to help them spot changing market trends, either bullish or bearish.
Orderbook
The term order book refers to an electronic list of buy and sell orders for a specific security or financial instrument organized by price level. An order book lists the number of shares being bid on or offered at each price point, or market depth. It also identifies the market participants behind the buy and sells orders, though some choose to remain anonymous. These lists help traders and improve market transparency by providing valuable trading information.
Order books are used by almost every exchange to list the orders for different assets like stocks, bonds, and currencies—even cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. These orders can be both manual or electronic. Although they generally contain the same information, the setup may vary depending on the source. Buy and sell information may appear on the top and bottom, or on the left and right side of the screen; the order book is dynamic, meaning it's constantly updated in real-time throughout the day.
Exchange
A cryptocurrency exchange is any system that operates on the basis of trading cryptocurrencies with other assets. Like a traditional financial exchange, the cryptocurrency exchange's core operation is to allow for the buying and selling of these digital assets, as well as others.
A cryptocurrency exchange is also known as digital currency exchange (DCE).
To really understand cryptocurrency exchanges, think about the ways that these new types of exchanges are different from traditional financial exchanges. Cryptocurrencies are inherently unstable in terms of value and sourcing. Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have been associated with major disruptive events where bitcoin value changed dramatically over a short period of time, or where major exchanges went under due to theft, fraud, or other problems. In other ways, cryptocurrency exchanges work just like traditional exchanges. On many of these platforms, cryptocurrency buyers and sellers can make limit orders or market orders, and the brokering process works like it would for any other kind of asset. The cryptocurrency exchange helps with the transaction and collects the fees. The difference is the underlying asset – bitcoin or Ethereum or some other cryptocurrency that does not have the same valuation properties as a national currency.
Centralized and Decentralized Exchange
Centralized:
A centralized cryptocurrency exchange is a platform where you can buy or sell digital assets. Here, you have to trust a third party to monitor the transaction and secure the assets on behalf of the buyer and the seller. Their deals aren't tracked on the blockchain. Such exchanges require you to submit your personal information for verification. On the other hand, if you're a company, then you'd have to provide your corporate information to the exchange so it can verify your account. The more details you provide to these exchanges, the higher your withdrawal quota will increase. Verified users of these platforms can contact the support team of the exchange in case of any technical error or if they lose their password. In most cases, centralized crypto exchanges provide their users with flat pairs at stable prices. These exchanges are widely popular among cryptocurrency users, and you can easily find one of these platforms online. Some examples of centralized cryptocurrency exchanges include Binance, Coinbase, LocalBitcoins, and others.
Decentralized:
A DEx or a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange is similar to a centralized one, except it doesn't have a third party on which you can rely. All of the funds in this exchange remain stored on the blockchain. These platforms allow peer-to-peer (P2P) trading for which it uses assets, proxy tokens, or an escrow system, unlike the IOU-based system a centralized crypto exchange uses. In a DEx, the client (you) brings his/her cryptocurrency to the gate, which stores the same and gives the client proxy tokens in their place. The client can now use these tokens within the blockchain of this exchange. The real cryptocurrency present in the gates collateralizes these tokens.
You can order to sell your current tokens for another kind of token in exchange. Your order, its matching process, and all the consequent processes remain stored on the blockchain of the exchange, which is the first highlight of these places. When you receive any tokens through a transaction, you can convert them into real cryptocurrency as well.
Fiat currencies
A currency that has been established as a valid form of money, is typically supported by a government regulation that declares it to be legal tender. The term fiat comes from Latin and is a word used to describe a government decree, order, or resolution. By definition, fiat money is a currency that does not have any intrinsic value as it is not backed by a physical commodity and is usually made of worthless or low-value material (such as a small piece of paper). Even so, fiat money is widely accepted as a means of payment.
Besides government approval and regulation, the main reason why fiat money is considered valid and valuable in our society is due to a collective belief. In other words, the fiat value is highly dependent on a collective agreement that it has market value and may be used as a medium of exchange, with an intrinsic purchasing power. Thus, the acceptance of fiat money is strongly dependent on a government decree along with a social convention (and the expectation that it will keep its value in the future). If either the social belief or the government decree gets compromised, the real value of the currency, as a means of payment, is quickly and greatly reduced.
Coin
A Blockchain independent cryptocurrency or digital cash. The main role of a coin is to be a currency, often used to describe an asset in the markets.
Unlike cryptocurrency tokens, coins are not intended to serve utility functions - such as to represent votes within a community or to denote storage capacity on decentralized cloud storage. Instead, a coin operates on its own independent blockchain and acts like a native currency within a specific financial system. Accordingly, a coin is essentially used as a medium of exchange or store of value within a digital economic network. Most blockchains work as a decentralized, distributed ledger that tracks and verifies each transaction, and their native coins can only be transferred between participants of this particular network.
A coin, as a single unit of currency, can be traded for an agreed-upon value depending on current market conditions. Occasionally it can be exchanged for a different coin or token that belongs to another blockchain, either through a cryptocurrency exchange or through private transfers (like peer-to-peer and OTC trades). Decentralized exchanges and atomic swaps are also viable alternatives for coin and token trading.
Cryptocurrency
A digital or virtual currency that is secured by cryptography, which makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double-spend. Many cryptocurrencies are decentralized networks based on blockchain technology, generally issued by the same blockchain, making them immune to any third manipulation.
The first blockchain-based cryptocurrency was Bitcoin, which still remains the most popular and most valuable. Today, there are thousands of alternate cryptocurrencies with various functions and specifications. Some of these are clones or forks of Bitcoin, while others are new currencies that were built from scratch.
Market Pair
Is a combination of two cryptocurrencies.
The first currency is known as the Base currency and the second one is the Quote currency
Limit order
When you want to Buy or Sell an asset you will place a Limit Order, with an amount and a limit price.
The order will be placed in the Orderbook and it will be executed when the market price reaches your limit price.
Market order
Is a quick way to buy or sell at the current market price.
Unlike a Limit Order, a Market Order will be processed instantly, and it needs just the amount of coin you want to buy or sell.
Dust
Is a fractional value from a unit of a Cryptocurrency, so small that is impossible to trade with, this is the main reason why a lot of wallets are left with tiny amounts of cryptocurrencies.
Satoshi
Named after the famous creator of the protocol used in blockchains and Bitcoin, Satoshi is the smallest unit of Bitcoin. Like a pound is broken into pence and the dollar into cents, the BTC is broken into Satoshi.
Blockchain
Blockchain is a shared, immutable ledger that facilitates the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a business network, for both tangible and intangible assets.
Blockchain is ideal for delivering that information because it provides immediate, shared and completely transparent information stored on an immutable ledger that can be accessed only by network members.
Blockchains can be public or private.
Public Blockchains can be joined by anyone and are decentralized, which means the data cannot be modified or altered after the validation on the blockchain.
Private Blockchains are restricted and controlled by one or more entities, and they are making all the decisions
Smart Contract
A contract with all terms of an agreement between two subjects, that execute the transaction once all the conditions in the terms are met, all build in lines of code and stored in a blockchain.
Proof of Work (PoW)
The mechanism behind transaction validation, creation of a block, and the link between blocks in a blockchain, using computing power.
Higher the computing power, the higher the chance to get rewarded from the blockchain.
Proof of Stake (PoS)
The mechanism behind transaction validation, creation of a block, and the link between blocks in a blockchain, by staking coins.
Higher the amount of coin at stake, the higher the reward from the blockchain.
Dominance Index
A ratio between the market capitalization of one crypto and the total cryptos market capitalization. It can be calculated for each crypto in this way:
(Target Crypto MarketCap / Total Cryptos MarketCap) x 100