Crypto signal terms, defined
Plain definitions for the language used across this guide, written for a reader who already speaks crypto. Where a term has a test behind it, the entry points to the page that develops it.
Crypto signal provider
A service that publishes real-time trade calls - ticker, direction, entry, target and stop - for readers to act on themselves; this guide judges providers by how verifiable that published record is.
On-chain anchoring
Writing a hash of a call onto a public blockchain at publication, so the record is timestamped on a ledger anyone can read and cannot be altered after the fact. It is a verification method, not a statement about which instruments a model trades. See: written to a chain first.
OpenTimestamps
An open standard that records a SHA-256 hash on the Bitcoin blockchain, producing a receipt that proves a piece of data existed in exactly that form at a given time.
Track record
The full history of past calls, wins and losses together, which is only informative when the losing calls are left in and the count is shown. See: a re-runnable record.
Independent review
An examination of the underlying statements by a named third party with no commercial stake in the outcome; a platform leaderboard is not a review. See: how to verify a record.
Conviction grade
An A-to-D label marking how strong a call is relative to its own model's measured return distribution; there is no E grade. See: grades that are measured.
Drawdown
The deepest peak-to-trough fall over a period - a more honest read on risk than the headline return.
Mean reversion
Trading on a price that has stretched unusually far from a typical level and tends to snap back toward it; the four models apply that idea on different clocks.
Hit rate
The share of calls that closed profitably - trustworthy only when the total number of calls is shown beside it. See: why a hit rate needs a denominator.