Glossary
Limit Order
An order to buy or sell at a price you choose, not the current market price. It may never fill.
A limit order sets the price you are willing to trade at. If the market reaches it, the order fills; if it never does, the order simply sits open or expires.
This is why exchanges charge a lower maker fee for limit orders: your order rests on the book and adds liquidity, whereas a market order takes it. On high-volume trading that difference is often larger than any referral discount.
The cost of using limits is non-filling. A stop-loss that never triggers looks identical to a stop-loss that worked, so it needs to be checked rather than assumed.
Related terms
Airdrop
Free tokens distributed to wallet addresses, usually to reward early users of a protocol.
AMM
Automated Market Maker — a protocol that prices assets with a formula instead of an order book.
APR vs APY
APR is the yearly rate without compounding; APY includes compounding and is always higher.
ATH
All-Time High — the highest price an asset has ever traded at.
Bear Market
A prolonged decline, conventionally 20% or more from recent highs.
Bull Market
A prolonged rise driven by new demand, easy credit and rising confidence.