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
A completed, independently verified timestamp can support a bound on the existence of the exact covered bytes. The documented VR2 preimage is VR2|salt|family|ticker|direction|grade|entry|signal_time. Stop and target are outside that digest. Preserve encoding, separators and original formatting. Pending submission is not completed Bitcoin attestation; a bound after the outcome does not establish pre-outcome publication. A proof is not an exchange fill, subscriber delivery record, full-population audit or custody guarantee.
OpenTimestamps
A protocol for timestamp attestations. A completed independently verified proof supports a bound on the existence of covered bytes. Pending submissions and unmatched payloads do not establish the same conclusion.
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
A source-specific decision label. The retained historical definition uses A-D bands, but calibration, model identity and forward evidence must be inspected. The label is not an account sizing instruction.
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 positive-outcome share of a defined population under a stated classification rule. Open, cancelled, zero and missing cases affect interpretation. A win rate alone does not establish positive net economic contribution.
Execution, contract and evidence vocabulary
- Quote asset
- The unit used to express the price and contribution. Keep conversion and collateral separate.
- Contract multiplier
- The amount represented by one contract. It cannot be inferred from a ticker or leverage label.
- Funding debit or credit
- A signed account item under the particular derivative specification and holding path.
- Partial fill
- An accepted order quantity may differ from actually executed quantity. Retain each fill and remaining state.
- Idempotency
- A duplicate message needs identity and reconciliation so it is not assumed to be another intended order.
- Population coverage
- The relationship between expected original setups and the records actually available, including unresolved cases.
- Proof of reserves
- An asset-verification statement with its own scope, not automatically a solvency audit or trading-performance record.
- Renewal commitment
- The selected current recurring or prepaid charge, distinct from a monthly-equivalent comparison.
- Repainting
- Historical and realtime behaviour can differ under a script's rules; retain actual forward receipts.
- Paper record
- A simulation under declared assumptions, not evidence of actual account fills or profitability.