Terms

Hedge (Bitcoin): A hedge is an investment to reduce the risk of adverse price movements in an asset. Normally, a hedge consists of taking an offsetting position in a related futures contract market.     

Position: A position is the amount of a security, commodity or currency which is owned by an individual, dealer, institution, or other fiscal entity. A short (or short position) is selling first and then buying later. The trader's expectation is that the price will drop. A long (or long position) is the buying of a currency with the expectation that the asset will rise in value.

Hedging: It involves the use of more than one concurrent bet in opposite directions in an attempt to limit the risk of serious investment loss. Each transaction involves two competing types of trades: betting short versus betting long. Hedging is not the pursuit of risk-free trades. Instead, it is an attempt to reduce known risks while trading. Options contracts, forward contracts, swaps and derivatives are all used by traders to purchase opposite positions in the market. By betting against both upward and downward movement, the hedger can ensure a certain amount of reduced gain or loss on a trade.

Bullish (Bitcoin): If investors expect upward price movement in the market, the sentiment is said to be bullish. 

Bearish (Bitcoin): On the contrary, if the market sentiment is bearish, most investors expect downward price movement.

Bull Market: A bull market is the condition of a financial market in which prices are rising or are expected to rise. Supply and demand for digital currencies will seesaw: supply will be weak while demand will be strong. Investors will be eager to buy digital currencies, while few will be willing to sell. In a bull market, investors are more willing to take part in the (stock) market in order to gain profits.     

Bear Market: A bear market is a general decline in the financial market over a period of time. During bear market periods, investing can be risky even for the most seasoned of investors. A bear market is a period marked with falling currency prices. In a bear market, investor confidence is extremely low. Many investors opt to sell off their digital currencies during a bear market for fear of further losses, thus fueling a vicious cycle of negativity. 

Volume: In capital markets, volume, or trading volume, is the amount (total number) of a digital currency that was traded during a given period of time.    

Up Volume:  Up volume generally refers to an increase in the volume of shares traded in either a market or security that leads to an increase in value.   

Bear Market Rally: A bear market rally is a period during which digital currency prices increase despite the fact that the market on a whole has been on a downward swing. Bear market rallies typically begin suddenly and are often short-lived.

Consolidation: Consolidation is neither continuing nor reversing a larger price trend. Consolidated digital currencies typically trade within limited price ranges and offer relatively few trading opportunities until another pattern emerges.      

Open Position: An open position in investing is any trade, established or entered, that has yet to be closed with an opposing trade. An open position can exist following a buy, a long position or a sell or a short position. In any case, the position remains open until an opposing trade takes place.     

Close Position: Closing a position refers to executing a digital currency transaction that is the exact opposite of an open position, thereby nullifying it and eliminating the initial exposure. Closing a long position entails selling it while closing a short position would involve buying it back.    

Callback: Callback is a period during which the digital currency prices decrease despite the fact that the market on a whole has been on a upward swing. It is short-lived.

Retail Investor:  A retail investor is an individual who purchases digital currencies for his or her own personal account rather than for an organization.     

Miss Market Rally: After the investors were bearish on the market and sold Bitcoin, the price went up, or failed to buy Bitcoins in time, and thus failed to make a profit.  

In the Tank: In the tank can be used to describe a digital currency that has seen a sharp decline over a short period of time.

Permabull: A permabull is somebody who is always upbeat about the future direction of the markets and economy. "Perma" – permanent; "bull" - somebody who believes that the markets are destined to rise. A permabull will spin any piece of news, good or bad, into a positive development.

Permabear:   A permabear is somebody who is always negative about the future direction of the markets and economy in general, no matter what. "Perma" – permanent; "bear" - someone who believes in a falling stock market, or "bear" market. 

Cut Loss: Taking corrective action before your losses worsen. After longing Bitcoin, the price fell, and the investor sold the Bitcoin at a low price (loss) in order to avoid further losses; or after shorting Bitcoin, the price rose, and the investor had to close the position at a high price, resulting in loss by the price difference.

Bull/Bear Trap:  A bull trap occurs when traders take a long position and then have price reverse and move lower very sharply. A Bear Trap can prompt a trader to take a short position. When this phenomenon occurs, however, the value of the asset stays flat or begins to recover. 

Arbitrage: It is the practice of taking the advantage of a price difference between different exchanges. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoins are bought and sold on many different exchanges and sometimes at many different prices, it should be possible to buy relatively undervalued Bitcoins and sell them at exchanges where they are relatively overvalued.  

Leverage:  It gives traders an option to trade larger amounts even with small capital. This strategy may increase the potential return or the loss.   

Forced Liquidation: Forced selling can occur within an investor’s margin account if the investor fails to bring her/his account above the minimum requirements after being issued a margin call. Forced liquidations generally occur after warnings have been issued by the exchange, regarding the under-margin situation of an account. Should the account holder choose not to meet the margin requirements, the exchange has the legal recourse.    

Settlement: A forward contract at expiration can be settled in one of two ways: physical delivery and cash settlement. Physical delivery refers to an option or futures contract that requires the actual underlying asset to be delivered on the specified delivery date, rather than being traded out with offsetting contracts. Cash settlement refers to an option or futures contract that requires the counterparties to the contract to net out the cash difference in the value of their positions. The appropriate party receives the cash difference.