All terms
Holding through volatility instead of trading, from a famous 2013 typo.
In December 2013 a user on the Bitcointalk forum wrote a slightly drunk post titled I AM HODLING, meaning to type HOLDING. The misspelling was funnier than the original and it stuck permanently.
It has since been backronymed to Hold On for Dear Life. As a strategy it means ignoring short term price movement and keeping your position through drawdowns rather than trying to time exits and re entries.
HODLing works well in an asset with a long term uptrend and terribly in one that goes to zero. The strategy does not remove the need to judge what you are holding.
That HODL stands for hold on for dear life. It was a drunken typo on a forum in 2013 and the backronym came later. The idea outlived the joke, which is a fair summary of a lot of crypto culture.
Common questions
Where does HODL come from?
Is holding actually a good strategy?
Where to go next
More culture terms
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