Trading & Market Structure — Crypto Glossary
Crypto trading borrows most of its vocabulary from traditional markets — but the 24/7 schedule, fragmented liquidity across dozens of venues, and on-chain settlement layer change how familiar ideas actually play out. These terms cover order flow, risk management, and the market-structure concepts Stingray surfaces in alerts and dashboards.
Arbitrage Arbitrage is the practice of buying and selling the same asset at roughly the same time on different venues to capture a price gap. Bearish Bearish describes a view or market condition expecting prices to fall. Bullish Bullish describes a view, position, or market condition that expects prices to rise. Call Option A call option gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy an asset at a specified strike price before expiry. Candlestick A candlestick is a single bar on a price chart representing the open, high, low, and close prices for a given time interval. Funding Rate The funding rate is a periodic payment between long and short holders of a perpetual futures contract, designed to keep the perp's price anchored to spot. Futures Futures are contracts to buy or sell an asset at a future date for a price locked in today. Hedging Hedging is opening a position specifically to offset downside risk in another position. Leverage Leverage is using borrowed capital to amplify position size beyond your own collateral. Liquidation Liquidation is the forced closure of a leveraged position when its margin falls below the exchange's maintenance requirement. Long Position A long position profits when the asset's price rises. Margin Call A margin call is a demand from an exchange or lender to post additional collateral when a leveraged position's margin falls below the maintenance requirement. Margin Trading Margin trading is any trade funded in part with borrowed capital. Market Cap Market cap is the total value of an asset's circulating supply, calculated as current price × circulating supply. MEV MEV (maximal extractable value) is the profit a block producer can capture by reordering, inserting, or censoring transactions within a block. Open Interest Open interest is the total notional value of outstanding futures or options contracts — each long position has a matching short, and both count toward OI. Order Book An order book is the real-time list of buy (bid) and sell (ask) orders for an asset, grouped by price level. Put Option A put option gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to sell an asset at a specified strike price before expiry. Short Selling Short selling is a trade that profits when the asset's price falls. Slippage Slippage is the difference between the expected price of a trade and the price you actually get. Spot Trading Spot trading is the direct exchange of one asset for another at the current market price, with immediate settlement. Volatility Volatility measures how much an asset's price moves, typically annualized and expressed as a standard deviation.