Whitepaper
A project's official document describing its technology, goals, token economics, and team. It is the first thing worth reading before investing in a new project.
See also
Airdrop
A free distribution of tokens by a project, usually for marketing purposes or to reward early users. Be cautious: phishing schemes are often disguised as airdrops.
ICO
Initial Coin Offering — a fundraising method where a project sells its tokens to investors, broadly analogous to an IPO on the stock market.
IDO
Initial DEX Offering — a token launch that takes place directly on a decentralized exchange, without a centralized intermediary.
Tokenomics
A token's economic model: total supply, distribution between the team and investors, and mechanisms for burning or minting new tokens.
Slippage
The difference between the expected price of a trade and the price at which it is actually executed, typically caused by low liquidity or high market volatility.
Order book
A list of all open buy and sell orders for an asset on an exchange, sorted by price. It shows real-time supply and demand.