The (Animal) Crypto Glossary

Bull and bear

You probably noticed that, until recently, we were in the middle of a bear run, or bear market — an expression borrowed from traditional finance meaning the market is trending down. The adjective « bearish » is also used. A bear market is a period during which a market’s trend is downward for a prolonged time. It can last several months or even several years, which is why it is a moment many investors dread.

Conversely, to describe a rising market, we use the adjective « bullish, » or the expressions « bull run » and « bull market. »

But why do we talk about bears and bulls to describe market trends? Several theories exist. The main one is a metaphor referring to how they attack: bears, when they attack, rise on their hind legs and swipe downward, while bulls attack with an upward thrust of their horns.

Bear market or bull market? To find out, we use the 200-day moving average (MA200), an indicator that takes the average price of Bitcoin over the last 200 days. If the price falls below this indicator, the market is bearish; if it rises above it, we can say we are dealing with a bull market.

As for investors, they are called « bulls » when they buy expecting the market to rise, and « bears » when they sell their assets because they think the market will fall.

Under the ocean…

In the vast ocean that is the Bitcoin network, here are the names given to holders based on the volume they hold, in increasing order:

• 🦐 Shrimps: as you might guess, the smallest holders — those with less than 1 BTC.
• 🦀 Crabs: hold between 1 and 10 BTC.
• 🐙 Octopuses: hold between 10 and 50 BTC.
• 🐟 Fish: have between 50 and 100 BTC in their wallet.
• 🐬 Dolphins: have between 100 and 500 BTC.
• 🐳 Whales: as the name suggests, the largest bitcoin holders, with more than 1,000 bitcoins to their name.

Want to learn more about the vocabulary specific to the world of crypto? Check out our crypto mining glossary.