Whale
An individual or entity that holds a very large amount of a particular cryptocurrency — enough that their trades can meaningfully move the market price. Whale activity is closely monitored by traders, as large buy or sell orders can signal market direction or trigger cascading liquidations.
“On-chain analysts track whale wallets holding thousands of Bitcoin. When a whale moves $500 million in BTC to an exchange, traders often interpret it as a potential sell signal.”
Market Capitalization
The total value of a cryptocurrency, calculated by multiplying the current price per coin by the circulating supply. Market cap is the primary metric for ranking cryptocurrencies by size and is used to categorize assets as large-cap (>$10B), mid-cap ($1B-$10B), or small-cap (<$1B).
Trading
The buying and selling of cryptocurrencies with the goal of generating profit from price movements. Crypto trading occurs on centralized exchanges (using order books), decentralized exchanges (using liquidity pools), and via derivatives platforms. Common strategies include spot trading (buying/selling actual assets), margin trading (using leverage), and derivatives trading (futures, perpetuals, options).
Address
A unique string of alphanumeric characters derived from a public key that serves as a destination for sending and receiving cryptocurrency. Addresses function similarly to bank account numbers but are pseudonymous rather than tied to a real-world identity.