All terms
How much and how fast a price moves, in both directions.
Volatility is not the same as risk, but in crypto they usually travel together. Assets here routinely move ten percent in a day and fifty percent in a month.
High volatility means position sizing matters far more than entry timing. The same trade at a quarter of the size survives moves that would otherwise force you out.
If a 30 percent drop overnight would make you sell in a panic, your position is too large regardless of how good the idea is.
That volatility is the same as risk. It is the size of the moves. Risk is the chance of permanent loss, and an asset can be quiet all the way to zero while a volatile one recovers. They are correlated and they are not the same thing.
Common questions
Is high volatility good or bad?
Why is crypto more volatile than stocks?
Where this comes up on the site
The guides that actually use this word, rather than a list of everything we have written.
Where to go next
More trading terms
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