Bitcoin On-Chain Glossary
Plain-English definitions for the on-chain terms we use across the dashboard, alerts, and reports.
121 terms across 13 categories
Concepts (34)
- Address LabelA human-readable name attached to an on-chain address
- BacktestingTesting a strategy on past data to estimate how it would have performed
- Block HeightHow many blocks have been mined since the very first one (genesis)
- Change AddressAn address that receives the "change" from a Bitcoin transaction
- ClusterA group of addresses controlled by the same operator
- Coinbase TransactionFirst TX in every block — pays the block reward to the miner
- Cold WalletOffline-stored crypto wallet, slow to move but max-secure
- Common-Input HeuristicRule of thumb: addresses signing the same TX are likely same owner
- CSVComma-Separated Values — a plain-text spreadsheet, opens in Excel or pandas
- CustodianThird party holding crypto for institutions — Coinbase, Fireblocks, BitGo
- Dinari (dShares)Issuer of tokenized US stocks (dShares) on EVM chains like Base
- Dormant WalletAn address with no outgoing TX for many years — "sleeping coins"
- electrsOpen-source index of every Bitcoin address — powers our address lookup
- Entity LabelThe organisation behind a cluster (exchange, custodian, miner, etc.)
- FINMASwiss financial regulator — what we DON'T need a license from (information-only)
- HalvingBTC mining-reward cut in half every ~4 years (every 210,000 blocks)
- HMACCryptographic seal on a URL or message — proves it's authentic and unmodified
- Hot WalletOnline-connected wallet for fast operations, smaller balances
- Implied ProbabilityWhat a prediction-market price says about an event's odds (0–100%)
- MempoolWhere unconfirmed transactions wait before being added to a block
- MultisigAn address requiring multiple signatures to spend (e.g. 2-of-3 keys)
- OAuthWeb-standard for "Sign in with X" — no password sharing, no API-key copying
- On-ChainAnything recorded directly on the Bitcoin blockchain (the public ledger)
- OTC (Over-The-Counter)Off-exchange trade between two parties — invisible on standard order books
- Prediction MarketA market where traders trade event outcomes; prices = crowd odds
- Rate LimitHow many requests you can make per day or minute before you're throttled
- RBF (Replace-By-Fee)Bitcoin feature: replace a pending TX with a higher-fee version
- scriptPubKeyThe "lock" on a UTXO — defines how it can be spent
- SegWit / bech32Newer BTC address format (bc1...) — cheaper TXs, larger blocks
- StablecoinA crypto pegged 1:1 to a fiat currency (mostly USD). Largest: USDT, USDC.
- Tokenized StockA real company share (Tesla, Nvidia) issued as a token on a blockchain
- Underlying (RWA)The real-world asset a token represents (e.g. TSLA behind TSLAx)
- UTXOAn "unspent coin piece" — Bitcoin balance is the sum of all UTXOs
- xStocksBacked Finance's tokenized US stocks on Solana (TSLAx, NVDAx, …)
Metrics (19)
- Community SentimentAggregate retail-sentiment signal from social platforms
- Cumulative Net FlowRunning sum of net flows since a baseline date
- Exchange ReservesHow much BTC each exchange currently holds (rolling 30/90/365d)
- Exchange Whale RatioShare of exchange inflows coming from the ten largest deposits of the day
- Fee RateCost paid per virtual byte to confirm a transaction (sat/vB)
- Hash RateTotal computing power securing the Bitcoin network
- HODL WavesHow long whales have held their coins, grouped by age band
- Miner BalanceHow much BTC each mining pool currently holds in its known wallets
- Mining ConcentrationShare of blocks mined by top pools — concentration risk
- MVRVMarket value vs cost basis — how much an address is up (or down)
- Net FlowInflow minus outflow on exchanges over a time window
- Network DifficultyHow hard mining the next block is — auto-adjusts every 2016 blocks
- Realized CapTotal BTC supply valued at each coin's last-moved price
- SOPRSpent-Output Profit Ratio — were sold coins in profit or loss?
- Spike ScoreHow often this address's moves coincided with sharp price action
- UTXO AgeTime since a coin last moved on-chain, basis for HODL Waves
- Volume IndexHow active this address is vs. peer whales (0–10 scale)
- Volume Index CalibratedCalibrated 0–1 score with status (excluded/queued/active/de-ranked)
- Whale ScoreHow impactful this address typically is when it moves (0–10)
Ethereum (12)
- DeFi (Decentralized Finance)Permissionless financial services on smart-contract blockchains
- DEX (Decentralized Exchange)On-chain exchange: trade without custodian (Uniswap, Curve, etc.)
- ERC-20Standard for fungible tokens on Ethereum (USDT, USDC, LINK, etc.)
- ETH DominanceETH's share of total crypto market cap (%)
- Ethereum (ETH)Smart-contract blockchain — second-largest by market cap after BTC
- GasComputation fee paid in ETH for any Ethereum transaction
- GweiETH gas-price unit: 1 Gwei = 0.000000001 ETH
- Liquid StakingStake ETH and get a tradeable token (stETH, eETH) in return
- Proof of Stake (PoS)Consensus where stakers (not miners) validate blocks
- Smart ContractSelf-executing code deployed on a blockchain
- TVL (Total Value Locked)Total USD value deposited in DeFi protocols on a chain
- ValidatorNetwork node that proposes and validates Ethereum blocks
Trading & Pricing (9)
- 24h Post-ImpactBTC price change in the 24h after a whale TX (descriptive, not causal)
- AlphaReturns above a benchmark — the part not explained by just holding the market
- CompoundingReturns earning returns — gains stay in the pot and grow with the next round
- Orderbook DepthUSD value of buy/sell orders within ±1% or ±2% of mid-price (liquidity)
- Price WindowBTC price in the 4 hours before and after a TX (context snapshot)
- Realized PriceAverage BTC price paid when each coin was received (cost basis)
- SpotThe "right now" market — buy or sell BTC at today's price for immediate delivery
- TakerTrader who hits an existing orderbook offer — pays higher fee, gets instant fill
- Win RateShare of trades that closed in profit — useless without average win vs avg loss
Flow Types (7)
- Exchange-InternalBTC moving inside one exchange — hot↔cold operational sweep
- Exchange-to-ExchangeBTC moving between two exchanges — operational rebalancing, not demand
- From Exchange (Outflow)BTC moving off a trading venue (often after buying for self-custody)
- Self-SendSender = recipient — wallet rotating its own UTXOs (not a real flow)
- To Exchange (Inflow)BTC moving onto a trading venue (often before selling)
- Treasury Mint/BurnStablecoin issuer creating or destroying token supply on-chain
- Wallet-to-WalletBTC moving between non-exchange addresses — OTC or rebalancing
Tokenized Gold (7)
- Custody (Gold-Backing)Physical gold held in vault backing tokenized-gold tokens 1:1
- Flight to SafetyCapital rotation from risk-on (crypto, stocks) into gold/bonds/cash
- LBMA (London Bullion Market Association)Governing body for global gold + silver standards + benchmark pricing
- PAXG (Paxos Gold)Paxos-issued gold token, 1 PAXG = 1 troy ounce held in LBMA-vault
- RedemptionBurning tokenized-gold tokens to claim the physical gold or USD-equivalent
- XAU (Physical Gold)International ticker for physical gold (1 oz)
- XAUT (Tether Gold)Tether-issued gold token, 1 XAUT = 1 troy ounce of physical gold
Macro Indicators (5)
- BTC DominanceBTC market cap as % of total crypto market cap
- Fear & Greed Index0–100 sentiment score from alternative.me (volatility, momentum, social, etc.)
- Funding RateWhat perpetual-futures longs/shorts pay each other every 8 hours
- Pi Cycle Top111-day MA crosses above 350-day MA × 2 — historical cycle-top marker
- Stock-to-FlowExisting supply ÷ annual new issuance — scarcity model (PlanB)
Solana (5)
- Epoch (Solana)Solana time-unit: ~2 days, ~432,000 slots per epoch
- LamportSmallest SOL unit: 1 SOL = 1,000,000,000 lamports
- Proof of History (PoH)Solana's verifiable-clock mechanism for sub-second blocks
- Solana (SOL)High-throughput L1 blockchain — fast, cheap TXs, ~1s blocks
- SPL TokenSolana's standard for fungible tokens (analog to ERC-20)
Pricing Tiers (5)
- Academic TierFree Research API (12 months) for verified .edu / .ac.* / .uni-* emails
- Intelligence (Paid)Paid premium tier (49 CHF/mo) — same features as Trial, no expiry
- Intelligence TrialFree 30-day Intelligence tier — full features, no credit card
- ObserverFree tier with login — same data as anonymous, plus saved settings
- Research APIProgrammatic access tier (149 CHF/mo) — for analysts, journalists, devs
Whale Categories (5)
- DolphinAn address moving 100–499 BTC — mid-tier large holder
- FishAn address moving 10–99 BTC — large retail or small-business tier
- Mega WhaleA single move of 1,000 BTC or more — the largest tier we track
- PlanktonAn address moving less than 10 BTC — retail and payment tier
- WhaleAn address moving 500–999 BTC per transaction (large-holder tier)
Whale Intelligence (5)
- Intent ClassificationWhy a whale moved: sell-pressure, cold-storage, OTC settle, rotation
- Signal IntelligenceLayered analysis: raw TX → pattern → intent → market-impact
- WatchlistOur curated set of ~1.2M scored whale addresses
- Whale ClusterGroup of addresses provably controlled by same entity (Meiklejohn heuristic)
- Whale FingerprintBehavioral profile of a whale address: pattern, direction-bias, frequency
Platform Features (4)
- Address LookupLook up any BTC address — balance, UTXOs, recent activity, live
- Custom AlertsPersonal alert rules via Telegram /track — Premium feature
- MCP (Model Context Protocol)Open standard letting AI agents call SWI tools directly — no API glue needed
- Open Trading LedgerPublic CSV of every trade we've made, SHA256-verified
Stablecoins (4)
- Multi-Chain DeploymentSame token issued on multiple blockchains (e.g. USDT on ETH+Tron+SOL)
- Peg / DepegStablecoin's 1:1 fix to a target asset (usually USD) — and its breakage
- Tether TreasuryWallets where Tether issues (mints) and burns USDT supply
- USDT (Tether)Largest USD-pegged stablecoin — $150B+ supply across chains