A survival guide to understanding unhinged behavior on-chain
Crypto has its own language — part trading jargon, part meme, part survival mechanism. If you spend enough time on Crypto Twitter (CT), Discord, or DeFi Telegrams, you’ll start seeing the same words over and over: degen, WAGMI, ape in, rekt.
This crypto degen glossary breaks down the most common — and most confusing — crypto slang, DeFi terms, and CT phrases you’ll encounter on-chain. Whether you’re new to crypto or already deep in the trenches, understanding this language helps you follow conversations, spot narratives faster, and avoid becoming accidental exit liquidity.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, or trading advice. Always do your own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile and carry significant risk.
Airdrop Farmer
Someone who interacts with protocols not because they like them, but to qualify for future airdrops.
Often follows playbooks, completes specific onchain actions, and tracks eligibility criteria closely — without necessarily using multiple identities.
Alpha
Information believed to give a trading advantage.
“I have alpha.”
May be real. May be vibes. Often shared right before a chart dumps.
ALT (Altcoin)
Any cryptocurrency that is not Bitcoin. (Some interpretations of the term also exclude Ethereum from the altcoin category.)
Used broadly to describe everything from serious L1s to extremely questionable memecoins.
Ape In
To buy into a token without proper research, usually driven by hype or FOMO.
“I aped in at the top.”
A rite of passage for every degen.
Anon
Someone operating under a pseudonym, common and widely accepted in crypto.
Many respected founders, devs, and traders are anon — until they aren’t.
Arb (Arbitrage)
Profiting from price differences across markets or venues.
“Arbs already cleaned it up.”
Usually fast, competitive, and bot-dominated.
ATH / ATL
- ATH (All-Time High): The highest price an asset has ever reached.
- ATL (All-Time Low): The lowest price an asset has ever reached.
Often used for emotional damage or victory laps.
Bagholder
Someone left holding a token after hype fades and liquidity disappears.
“I’m stuck holding the bag.”
Usually learned the lesson the hard way.
Bearish
Belief that price will go down.
Often ignored during bull markets. Tragically validated later.
Bidless
An NFT or asset with no buyers at current prices.
“It’s bidless.”
Morale = zero.
Blue Chip (Crypto/NFT)
A project considered relatively safer due to reputation, longevity, or liquidity, mirroring the same expression in traditional finance.
In crypto, “blue chip” still means volatile — just less embarrassing.
Bot Farm
A coordinated network of bots used to farm airdrops, points, mints, or volume.
If rewards feel diluted, this is usually why.
Brainlet
Self-deprecating term used when making obviously bad decisions.
“I’m such a brainlet.”
Widely used ironically. Occasionally accurate.
Bullish
Belief that price will go up.
Can be based on fundamentals, narratives, or pure vibes.
Chad
A confident, high-conviction trader or builder — often ironic, sometimes deserved.
“Absolute chad behavior.”
Conviction Play
A trade or investment held despite volatility, based on strong belief rather than short-term price.
Can be genius or cope — depends on the outcome.
Cope
The mental gymnastics performed after a bad trade.
“It’s a long-term hold.” “This dip is healthy.”
Copium
Excessive rationalization after losses.
“This token is actually bullish and still has so much potential.”
Frequently paired with hopium.
CT (Crypto Twitter)
The unofficial town square of crypto — fast, chaotic, and wildly influential.
Narratives are born, destroyed, and reborn daily.
Dead Chain
A blockchain with low users, low activity, and low vibes.
Often declared dead multiple times before randomly reviving.
Dead Cat Bounce
A short-lived price bounce during a broader downtrend.
Looks like a recovery. Isn’t.
Death Cross
A bearish technical pattern where a short-term moving average crosses below a long-term one.
Usually cited right after the price has already dumped.
Death Spiral
When a token’s price falls, causing collateral liquidations, which push the price even lower.
Hard to stop once it starts.
Degen (Degenerate)
Someone who trades crypto with high risk, low patience, and questionable sleep habits.
Not always an insult — often a self-identifier.
Dev
Short for developer — someone building or maintaining a crypto project.
“The devs are cooking.”
Reputation matters more than titles.
Diamond Hands
The ability (or stubbornness) to hold through extreme volatility without selling.
Can lead to generational wealth… or permanent psychological damage.
Dumb Money
Capital perceived to be late, emotional, or poorly informed — often retail traders buying after a big move.
“Smart money sold into dumb money.”
Usually identified in hindsight.
DYOR
“Do Your Own Research.”
Often said after someone loses money following bad advice.
Enjoyoor / Apreciatoor
Someone who believes in a chain, ecosystem, or narrative regardless of price action.
“I’m just here for the tech.”
Exit Liquidity
When later buyers unknowingly become the people you sell to so you can exit profitably.
“Don’t be exit liquidity.”
If you hear this — you are already too late.
Fade
To intentionally not participate in a trade, mint, or narrative.
“I’m fading this.”
Can age brilliantly or painfully.
Farm & Dump
When users farm incentives (tokens, points, yield) and sell immediately, crushing price.
Protocols hate this. Degens expect it.
Flippening
The hypothetical moment when Ethereum surpasses Bitcoin in market cap.
Predicted every cycle. Still pending.
Floor Price
The lowest listed price of an NFT collection.
When the floor breaks, morale usually follows.
Flywheel
A self-reinforcing loop where incentives, usage, and price feed into each other positively.
If it breaks, see: Death Spiral.
FOMO
“Fear Of Missing Out.”
The emotional engine powering most bad entries.
Fork (Protocol Fork)
A copy-paste version of an existing DeFi protocol with minor tweaks and new incentives.
Innovation optional. Liquidity required.
Front Run
Placing a transaction ahead of another to profit from expected price movement.
Can be manual, bot-driven, or MEV-based.
Full Port
Putting 100% of your portfolio into a single asset or trade.
High conviction. Maximum stress.
GM
“Good Morning” — but in crypto, it signals belonging to the culture, not politeness.
Usually posted with optimism. Sometimes delusion.
Golden Cross
A bullish technical pattern where a short-term moving average crosses above a long-term one.
Often celebrated. Sometimes late.
Halving
A Bitcoin event where block rewards are cut in half, reducing new supply.
Historically bullish. Always heavily speculated on.
Health Factor
A metric showing how close a leveraged position is to liquidation.
Below 1 = start panicking.
HODL
Originally a typo for “hold.” Now means holding through volatility (or Hold On for Dear Life), no matter what.
A philosophy, not just a strategy.
Hopium
Unrealistic optimism fueled by selective data and vibes.
“Just one more catalyst.”
Illiquid
An asset that cannot be sold easily without slippage.
NFT holders know this pain intimately.
Insiders
Individuals or entities with non-public information or preferential access to a project — such as early investors, team members, or partners.
“Insiders are unloading.”
Often blamed for sell-offs. Sometimes correctly.
IYKYK
“If You Know, You Know.”
Used to signal insider knowledge or shared context — without explaining anything.
JPEGs
Used dismissively to refer to NFTs.
“Just buying JPEGs.”
Often said by people who later buy one.
Kimchi Premium
When crypto trades at a higher price on Korean exchanges due to local demand and capital controls.
Watched closely as a sentiment indicator.
LARP
“Live Action Role Play.”
Used to accuse someone of pretending to be a founder, insider, or expert.
“This guy is LARPing.”
Leverage
Borrowed capital used to increase exposure to a position.
Magnifies gains. Ends accounts.
Liquidity Pool (LP)
Where tokens are deposited to enable trading on decentralized exchanges.
Can earn fees — or suffer impermanent loss. Very degen behavior.
Liquidity Vampire
A new protocol that attracts users and capital away from existing ones by offering higher incentives.
Seen as clever or parasitic — depending on which side you’re on.
Market Maker
An entity providing continuous buy and sell liquidity for a token.
Keeps markets moving — and sometimes controls price more than anyone admits.
MEV (Maximal Extractable Value)
Profit extracted by reordering, inserting, or censoring transactions in a block.
Invisible tax. Deeply cursed.
MEV Sandwich
When a bot front-runs and back-runs your trade, extracting value from slippage.
You paid extra. The bot says thank you.
Mid
A project that is neither great nor terrible — just disappointing.
Perhaps the cruelest insult in crypto.
Moon / Wen Moon
A hopeful (often sarcastic) way of asking when price will go up significantly.
“Wen moon?”
Rarely answered. Frequently spammed.
Narra(tive)
Short for “narrative.”
Crypto often trades stories before fundamentals.
“This narra is heating up.”
Native Yield
Yield generated by the protocol itself (fees, usage), not inflationary rewards.
Harder to build. Much more respected.
NGMI
“Not Gonna Make It.”
The pessimistic counterpart to WAGMI — often said jokingly, sometimes brutally honestly.
Oracle
A system that feeds off-chain data (like asset prices) into smart contracts, enabling DeFi protocols to function.
If the oracle breaks, lags, or is manipulated, everything downstream can break too — making oracle design one of the most critical risks in DeFi.
Oracle Risk
The danger that incorrect price data breaks a protocol.
Usually discovered the hard way.
Overhang
Tokens expected to be sold soon (vesting, unlocks, insiders).
Creates psychological resistance for price.
Paper Hands
Someone who sells at the first sign of volatility.
Often used as an insult after a pump.
PFP
An NFT or image used as an online identity, especially on Crypto Twitter.
Often signals community membership, status, or belief in a project — sometimes worth more than the rest of the portfolio combined.
Ponzi
A scheme where returns to earlier participants are paid using funds from new entrants.
Overused accusation. Occasionally accurate.
Portfolio
The collection of all assets held by a trader or investor.
Often reviewed less than it should be.
Price Action (PA)
How an asset’s price moves on the chart, independent of news or fundamentals.
“Ignore the noise — watch the PA.”
A core focus for traders who rely on charts and momentum.
PvE Market
"Player vs Environment". A market environment where participants can grow together through adoption, usage, or organic demand.
More common in early-stage protocols, strong narratives, or ecosystem expansions.
“This feels like PvE, not PvP.”
PvP
“Player vs Player.”
Refers to zero-sum trading where one person’s profit is another’s loss.
Most memecoin trading is PvP.
PvP Market
A market environment where gains come at the direct expense of other participants.
Common in memecoins, low-liquidity tokens, and short-term speculation.
“This is pure PvP.”
Pump & Dump
A scheme where an asset is artificially pumped through hype or coordinated buying, then rapidly sold off by early participants.
Early entrants profit. Late buyers become exit liquidity. Illegal in traditional markets — common in low-liquidity crypto environments.
Rangebound
Price stuck moving sideways.
“This chart is rangebound.”
Traders bored. Volatility addicts unhappy.
Rekt
What happens when a trade goes catastrophically wrong.
“I got rekt.”
Can refer to finances, emotions, or both.
Resistance
A price level where selling pressure historically appears, capping upward movement.
“Needs to flip resistance to continue.”
Once broken, resistance often becomes support.
ROI (Return on Investment)
A measure of profit or loss relative to capital invested.
Used flexibly. Sometimes creatively.
Rotation
When capital moves from one sector to another (e.g., NFTs → AI → memecoins).
Miss the rotation and you chase the top.
Rug (Rug Pull)
When a project’s creators drain liquidity and disappear, leaving holders with worthless tokens.
The crypto equivalent of a trapdoor.
Send It
To buy aggressively or push price upward with confidence.
“This is going to send.”
Usually said right before volatility.
Shitcoin
A token with little to no fundamentals, often launched to capitalize on hype or memes.
Not all go to zero. Most do.
Slippage
The hidden cost of trading in low liquidity or volatile markets.
Not written anywhere. Always paid.
Smart Money
Investors believed to be well-informed, early, and strategic — VCs, insiders, or veteran traders.
If smart money is buying, degens usually follow.
Soft Rug
When a team doesn’t fully disappear but slowly abandons a project.
No announcement. Just silence.
Strong Hands
A more polite synonym for diamond hands — implies emotional resilience, not stubbornness.
Support
A price level where buying interest historically shows up, preventing further downside.
“If support breaks, it gets ugly.”
Often respected… until it isn’t.
Sybil
An attack or behavior where a single person controls multiple wallets or identities to game incentives like airdrops, governance votes, or rewards.
“This drop got Sybil’d.”
Common in airdrop farming, points metas, and any system where rewards scale per wallet instead of per human.
Taprooted / Up Only
Ironic phrases implying price is destined to go up.
Usually deployed right before a correction.
TVL (Total Value Locked)
The total capital deposited in a DeFi protocol.
Used as a growth metric — sometimes gamed.
Unlocks
Moments when previously locked tokens become transferable or sellable.
“Big unlock next week.”
Watched closely. Feared universally.
Vestings
Pre-scheduled releases of tokens to team members, investors, or contributors over time.
Creates predictable sell pressure — and anxiety.
Vibes-Based Investing
Making decisions based on sentiment, memes, and community energy, not spreadsheets.
Surprisingly effective at times. Dangerous always.
WAGMI
“We’re All Gonna Make It.”
An optimistic rallying cry expressing belief in a project, community, or the broader crypto space — sometimes sincere, sometimes pure cope.
Wash Trading
Artificially inflating volume by trading with yourself.
Common in low-liquidity NFTs and shitcoins.
Whale
An individual or entity holding a large amount of a token, capable of moving markets.
Price moves suddenly? Probably a whale.
Yield Aggregator
Protocols that automatically move funds to optimize returns.
Convenient. Adds another layer of smart-contract risk.
Yield Farmer
Someone who relentlessly moves capital to wherever yields are highest — usually right before they collapse.
High effort. High gas. Questionable returns.
YOLO
“You Only Live Once” — placing a high-risk, high-conviction bet, often with most or all of your capital.
Financially irresponsible. Culturally accepted.
Zaps
Tools that bundle multiple DeFi steps into a single transaction.
Saves time. Sometimes hides risk.
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