Tool · plain definitions
Beginner glossary
90 words, chosen by one rule: you will meet it on a screen or in a message while opening an account and making a first purchase. Nothing here is included because it sounds important.
3
- 3-D Secure
- The extra step where a card payment bounces you to your bank to approve it. If it times out, the payment fails even though nothing was wrong with the card. — Card deposits
A
- Address
- A long string of characters identifying a destination on a blockchain. Sending to a wrong but valid one loses the funds permanently, which is why you copy and paste rather than retype. — Withdrawals
- AML
- Anti-money-laundering: the body of regulation that requires platforms to know who their customers are and to report suspicious activity. It is the reason identity verification exists. — Verification
- Anti-phishing code
- A short phrase you set, which the exchange then includes in every genuine email it sends you. Any email without it is fake. One of the most useful settings almost nobody turns on. — Security settings
- Ask price
- The lowest price anyone is currently willing to sell at. When you buy at market, this is roughly what you pay. — Trading screen
- Authenticator app
- An app that generates rotating six-digit codes for two-factor authentication. Safer than SMS codes, which can be redirected by someone who takes over your phone number. — Security settings
- Available balance
- The part of your balance not reserved against an open order. Money committed to a resting limit order shows as unavailable, which looks alarming until you know why. — Wallet page
B
- Bank transfer
- Moving money from your bank account to the exchange. Usually free and slower than a card, unless your country has an instant payment system, in which case it is both free and fast. — Deposits
- Bid price
- The highest price anyone is currently willing to buy at. The gap between this and the ask is the spread. — Trading screen
- Block
- A batch of transactions added to a blockchain together. Bitcoin adds one roughly every ten minutes on average. — Withdrawal confirmations
- Blockchain
- The shared public record of who holds what, maintained by a network rather than a company. Buying on an exchange does not touch it; withdrawing does. — Everywhere, often loosely
- Block explorer
- A public website for looking up any transaction or address on a blockchain. Useful for watching a withdrawal confirm rather than refreshing a balance page. — After a withdrawal
- BTC
- The ticker symbol for bitcoin. A trading pair like BTC/USD means bitcoin priced in US dollars. — Trading pairs
C
- Cash advance
- How some card issuers classify a crypto purchase on a credit card: a separate fee, a higher interest rate, and no interest-free period. It does not appear on the exchange's screen. — Credit card statements
- Chargeback
- Disputing a card payment through your bank. Filing one against a legitimate crypto purchase usually fails and gets the exchange account closed, because crypto is treated as delivered goods. — Do not
- Cold storage
- Keeping the private key on a device that is not connected to the internet, typically a hardware wallet. The opposite of a hot wallet. — Self-custody
- Confirmation
- A block added to the chain after the block containing your transaction. More confirmations means the transaction is harder to reverse. Exchanges require a set number before crediting a deposit. — Deposits and withdrawals
- Convert
- A simplified interface for swapping one asset into another at a quoted all-in rate. Convenient, and generally more expensive than the trading screen because the markup sits inside the rate. — Buy screens
- Cost basis
- What you paid for an asset, in your own currency, at the moment you bought it. You need it to work out tax when you eventually sell, which is why writing it down on day one matters. — Your own records
- Custodial wallet
- A balance held for you by a company — an exchange account. You have a claim against them rather than the coins themselves. — Your exchange balance
D
- Deposit
- Money or crypto arriving on the platform. A currency deposit is not a purchase; the money simply sits there until you buy something. — Funding
- Deposit address
- The address the exchange gives you to receive crypto from elsewhere. Network-specific: sending over the wrong network commonly loses the funds. — Crypto deposits
- Deposit fee
- A charge for getting money onto the platform, decided by your funding route rather than by what you buy. Cards usually have one; bank transfers usually do not. — Deposit screen
- Dust
- A balance too small to be worth moving, because the network fee to send it would cost more than the balance itself. — Small leftovers
E
- Escrow
- A neutral holding of funds while two parties complete a peer-to-peer trade, released once both sides confirm. — P2P marketplaces
- Exchange
- A platform that matches buyers and sellers and, on the retail side, sells you crypto directly through a simplified interface. — The whole process
- Exchange rate
- The rate applied when one currency is converted into another. On a card payment, this may be your bank's rate rather than the exchange's, with a margin you never see quoted. — Cross-currency deposits
F
- Fiat
- Industry shorthand for ordinary government-issued money — dollars, euros, pounds. If a screen says “fiat deposit”, it means putting in normal money. — Deposit menus
- Fill
- The moment an order is matched and executed. A filled order cannot be cancelled; only an unfilled one can. — Order history
- Funding wallet
- A separate balance area on some platforms, used for deposits, withdrawals and peer-to-peer trading, distinct from the spot balance used for trading. A frequent cause of “where did my money go”. — Wallet page
G
- Gas fee
- The network fee on Ethereum and similar networks, paid to have a transaction processed. Rises when the network is busy. — Withdrawals on those networks
- GTC
- Good till cancelled: an order that rests in the book indefinitely until it fills or you cancel it. The alternative is an order with an expiry. — Limit order settings
H
- Hardware wallet
- A physical device that stores a private key offline and signs transactions without exposing the key. The standard answer for amounts you would be upset to lose. — Self-custody
- HODL
- Community slang for holding rather than selling, originating from a misspelling. You will see it constantly and it carries no information. — Forums and chats
- Hot wallet
- A wallet whose private key is on an internet-connected device — a phone app, a browser extension. Convenient, and a larger attack surface than cold storage. — Self-custody
I
- Instant buy
- The simplified one-click purchase widget. Quotes an all-in price rather than showing a fee, and generally costs more than the trading screen for the same purchase. — App home screen
K
- KYC
- Know your customer: the identity verification every regulated platform is required to perform. Document, selfie, sometimes an address. — Sign-up
L
- Ledger
- A record of balances and transactions. An exchange keeps its own internal ledger; a blockchain is a shared public one. Also a brand of hardware wallet, which causes endless confusion. — Both senses appear
- Limit order
- An instruction to buy only at your price or better. Fills only if the market reaches you, and usually attracts the lower maker fee if it rests in the book. — Trading screen
- Liquidity
- How much is available to trade at or near the current price. High liquidity means a normal-sized order does not move the price. — Order book depth
- Liveness check
- The part of verification that confirms a live person is present rather than a photograph, using movement prompts. It is what fails when someone photographs a photograph. — Verification
M
- Maker fee
- The lower fee tier, charged on orders that rest in the book and add liquidity. A limit order that does not fill immediately usually qualifies. — Fee schedule
- Market order
- An instruction to buy immediately at whatever the book offers. Certain to fill, uncertain in price, and charged the higher taker fee tier. — Trading screen
- Memo / tag
- An extra identifier required alongside the address on some networks. Omitting it can mean the deposit is not credited to your account even though it arrived. — Certain crypto deposits
- Mid-market price
- The midpoint between the best bid and the best ask — the price quoted by news sites and price trackers. It is not the price you get; the difference is the spread. — Price comparisons
- Minimum order
- The smallest order value a trading pair accepts, expressed in the quote currency. Separate from the minimum deposit and the minimum withdrawal. — Order screen
- MRZ
- The machine-readable zone: the two lines of characters at the bottom of a passport that verification systems read. Glare across it is the most common cause of an unreadable-document rejection. — Verification
N
- Network
- Which blockchain a transfer travels over. The same asset often exists on several, and choosing the wrong one on a withdrawal usually loses the funds permanently. — Withdrawal screen
- Network fee
- The cost of having a transaction processed by a blockchain, paid to the network rather than the exchange. Fixed per transaction rather than proportional, which is why it hurts small amounts. — Withdrawal screen
- Non-custodial
- A wallet where you hold the private key. Nobody can freeze it and nobody can help you recover it. — Self-custody
O
- Order book
- The live list of outstanding buy and sell orders with their prices and quantities. The two sides meet in the middle, and the gap between them is the spread. — Trading screen
- Order history
- The record of your filled and cancelled orders. Export it early — it is the raw material for your tax records and you lose access if the account closes. — Account menu
P
- P2P
- Peer-to-peer trading: buying directly from another user, usually with the platform holding funds in escrow. Common where bank access to exchanges is limited. — Deposit alternatives
- Passphrase
- An optional extra word added to a recovery phrase for additional security. Forgetting it loses the wallet as completely as losing the phrase itself. — Advanced self-custody
- Pending
- A transaction that has been submitted but not yet confirmed. Normal for minutes; worth investigating after hours. — Deposits and withdrawals
- PEP
- Politically exposed person: a category screened for during verification. A name resembling one on a list gets a case referred to human review, which is a legal requirement rather than an accusation. — Verification
- Private key
- The secret number that authorises spending from an address. Whoever knows it controls the coins. A wallet is software that stores and uses it. — Self-custody
- Proof of reserves
- A published attestation that a platform holds assets covering customer balances at a point in time. Reassuring, and not a guarantee — it says nothing about liabilities or about the days in between. — Exchange transparency pages
- Public key
- The counterpart to a private key, from which your address is derived. Safe to share; it is what receiving funds requires. — Background concept
Q
- Quote currency
- The second currency in a trading pair — the one prices are expressed in. In BTC/USD, the quote currency is USD, and minimum order values are set in it. — Trading pairs
R
- Recovery phrase
- Twelve or twenty-four ordinary words that encode a wallet's private key. Those words are the money. Anyone who reads them can take everything, and nobody legitimate will ever ask for them. — Self-custody
- Reference code
- The identifier the exchange asks you to include with a bank transfer so the deposit is matched to your account. Omitting it turns a same-day deposit into a support ticket. — Bank transfer deposits
- Referral code
- A code entered at sign-up that typically discounts your trading fees and credits the code owner with a share of the fees you pay. It can generally only be entered when the account is created. — Sign-up form
- Restricted account
- An account with some functions suspended, usually pending a compliance review. Frequently triggered by repeated failed verification attempts or by opening a second account. — Something to avoid
S
- Sanctions screening
- Checking your name against lists of sanctioned individuals and entities, required by law. Part of why verification sometimes goes to a human. — Verification
- Satoshi
- The smallest unit of bitcoin: one hundred-millionth of one. Named after the pseudonymous author of the original bitcoin paper. — Balances and fees
- Seed phrase
- Another name for a recovery phrase. Same thing, same warnings. — Self-custody
- Self-custody
- Holding your own private keys rather than leaving coins with a platform. No freezes and no recovery: both properties follow from the same design. — After a purchase
- Settlement
- The point at which a transfer is final and the money is genuinely available. Card payments settle quickly; bank transfers depend on the payment rail. — Deposits
- SIM swap
- An attack where someone persuades your mobile operator to move your number to their SIM, intercepting SMS codes. The reason authenticator apps are preferred over text messages. — Why 2FA method matters
- Slippage
- The difference between the price you expected and the price a market order actually filled at. Negligible on a liquid pair at small size; significant in thin markets. — Market orders
- Source of funds
- A question about where your money comes from, asked during verification or at a larger deposit. Answer accurately and unremarkably; it is a compliance requirement, not suspicion. — Verification
- Spot
- Buying the asset itself for immediate settlement, as opposed to derivatives. The spot balance is where an ordinary purchase lands. — Wallet sections
- Spread
- The gap between the buy and sell price. A real cost that never appears as a fee, and frequently the largest single cost for someone using a simplified buy widget. — Everywhere, invisibly
- Stablecoin
- A crypto asset designed to track an ordinary currency, usually the US dollar. Often the quote currency in trading pairs, so you may hold one without having chosen to. — Trading pairs
T
- Taker fee
- The higher fee tier, charged on orders that fill immediately against existing orders and remove liquidity. A market order is always a taker. — Fee schedule
- Ticker
- The short symbol for an asset — BTC, ETH. Different assets sometimes share similar tickers, which is worth a second look before ordering. — Everywhere
- Tier
- Your fee level, usually determined by trading volume. Headline fee rates apply to the lowest tier, which is where a first-time buyer is. — Fee schedule
- Time in force
- How long an order stays active: until cancelled, until a set time, or immediately-or-cancel. Relevant when placing a limit order you will not monitor. — Order settings
- Trading pair
- The two assets being exchanged, written as BASE/QUOTE. BTC/EUR means buying bitcoin with euros. — Trading screen
- Transaction ID
- The unique identifier of a blockchain transaction, also called a TXID or hash. Paste it into a block explorer to watch a withdrawal confirm. — After a withdrawal
- Two-factor authentication
- A second login step beyond your password, ideally a code from an authenticator app. The single most effective account protection available to you. — Security settings
U
- Unconfirmed
- A transaction broadcast to the network but not yet included in a block. Normal for a period that varies with how busy the network is. — Withdrawals
- Unrealised gain
- A change in value on something you still hold. It becomes realised, and in most places taxable, when you sell or convert. — Portfolio views
V
- Verification
- The identity check required before you can deposit or withdraw real money. Minutes when automated, days when a human reviews it. — Sign-up
- Volatility
- How much and how quickly a price moves. Bitcoin has repeatedly fallen by more than half from a previous high and stayed down for a year or more; that is ordinary rather than exceptional. — The risk you are taking
W
- Wallet
- Software or hardware that stores private keys and signs transactions. It does not hold coins — the blockchain records those. Exchanges also use the word for balance sections, which does not help. — Two different meanings
- Whitelist
- A list of pre-approved withdrawal addresses, usually with a delay before a new one becomes usable. That delay is the point: it is time to notice something wrong. — Security settings
- Withdrawal
- Moving funds off the platform — either money back to your bank, or crypto to an address you control. The crypto version is the irreversible one. — Wallet page
- Withdrawal minimum
- The smallest amount of crypto the platform will send, set so a withdrawal cannot cost more than it moves. Often several times higher than the minimum purchase. — Withdrawal screen
What was left out of this glossary, and why
The rule for inclusion
One test: will a first-time buyer meet this word on a screen, in an email, or in a rejection message? If yes, it is here. If it is a word people use to sound knowledgeable, it is not.
What is deliberately missing
Trading vocabulary you will not encounter: leverage, perpetuals, funding rates, liquidation, order types beyond market and limit. Protocol vocabulary you do not need: consensus mechanisms, halving, mining difficulty, layer twos. Investment slang: most of it carries no information and some of it is designed not to.
Two exceptions were made for words that carry no information but appear constantly — they are defined here specifically so you can recognise them as noise rather than as something you failed to understand.
Why each entry says where you see it
Because the hard part is rarely the definition. It is that a word appears in an unexpected place — “memo” on a deposit screen, “funding wallet” when you cannot find your money, “maker” on a fee schedule — and there is no indication of whether it matters. The location tag answers that.
Where the definitions come from
Written for this site from how these things behave in the interfaces and systems described, not adapted from another glossary. Where a term has two conflicting everyday meanings — wallet, ledger — both are given, because the ambiguity is itself the thing that confuses people.
If a word you needed is missing
Tell us which one, and where you saw it. A word that stopped a real person mid-process is exactly what belongs here, and the ones we would think of on our own are already in the list.