Crypto Jargon - what is HODL, ALTCOIN, WHALE?

In 2013 a message was posted on the Bitcoin Forum. It was meant to express a buy and hold strategy, a strategy that many see as superior to constant flipping as in daytrading.

The HOLD misspelt (allegedly after one too many drinks) and the typo resulting into HODL, now a doctrine of Bitcoin holders and one of the most famous crypto slang memes in coin investment culture.

All coins other than BITCOIN are referred to as ALTCOIN. These can include Lightcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and many more. Standing for an alternative to bitcoin, most based on blockchain technology and generally have less market cap than Bitcoin. Altcoins are often forks of Bitcoin and have suffered after the sell off the current ‘Airdrop’ (another jargon describing the distribution of tokens to addresses).

This meme is often used to describe the big money Bitcoin investors. Small traders are always on the lookout for whale buying or selling. Wrong judgment by ‘small fish’ could lead to heavy losses, so now whale detector algos are on the watch for whales. Bearwhales can be dangerous since they can cause a significant sell-off.