Recently, I’ve seen a lot of beginners asking about all kinds of terms in the crypto world, so I gathered some common concepts—especially the meaning of crypto currency locking, which many people don’t understand.

Let’s start with the most basic. Fiat currency is money issued by a country—for example, RMB and the US dollar—backed by government credit. Token (token) is different: it’s a proof of rights on the blockchain, representing a kind of digital right, not currency. Tokens have three core elements: first, they must be digital-form proof of rights; second, their authenticity and privacy are protected using cryptography; and finally, they must be able to move and be verified on the network.

When it comes to operations, opening a position (building a position) means starting to buy or sell a certain amount of digital currency. “All-in” means putting all your principal into it—this is a phrase we often hear in the community. An air drop is a marketing tactic used by a project team: they distribute tokens for free to investors and community members so everyone can learn about the project. “Candy” is similar—it refers to digital coins that the project team gives out for free during the ICO period, used to generate hype.

Now let’s focus on the meaning of crypto currency locking. Locking generally means that after you trade perpetual contracts (buy/sell contracts), if the market moves against your position, you open a new position in the opposite direction to hedge the risk. It’s also called hedging, locking, or locking a position. Some people dress it up as “butterfly double flying,” but in essence it uses an opposite position to lock in losses or protect profits.

There’s also private placement—an important way for project teams to raise funds, where investors can participate early in the project. “Price break” (broken issuance) means the coin price falls below the issuance price, which is especially common in bear markets.

Regarding trading tools, a candlestick chart (K-line/candle chart) is the most basic tool for market watching. It is drawn based on the opening price, highest price, lowest price, and closing price. “Moving bricks” is an arbitrage strategy: you buy coins on a low-price platform, transfer them to a high-price platform, and sell them to profit from the price difference.

ICO stands for Initial Coin Offering. It comes from the concept of an IPO: project teams use their own issued virtual currency to exchange for circulating currency to raise funds. Hedging means making trades in the opposite direction at roughly the same size to offset risk. A position is your holding direction: buying is long (bullish), and selling is short (bearish).

Good news refers to news that is favorable to the coin price—for example, mainstream media attention or a technical breakthrough. Bad news is news that causes the coin price to fall. Trading volume reflects how active the market is. A rebound is a short-term rise after a drop, with a magnitude smaller than the drop. Consolidation is a sideways range where the price doesn’t fluctuate much. A pullback is a temporary dip within an upward trend. Leveraged trading means using a small amount of capital to make multiple amplified investments, so both gains and losses are magnified.

These terms are very common in the crypto world, especially risk-management tools like crypto currency locking. Beginners should understand them thoroughly. It’s recommended that everyone check the real-time market on Gate and combine these concepts to better understand how the market works.