HODL
A long-standing crypto community term for holding an asset through volatility rather than trading in and out, originating from a famous misspelling of 'hold.'
HODL is a long-standing piece of crypto community vocabulary describing the strategy of holding an asset through market volatility, rather than actively trading in and out based on short-term price movements. The term originated from a widely shared, famously misspelled 2013 online forum post titled "I AM HODLING," and has since been retroactively treated by some as a backronym for "Hold On for Dear Life," even though it began as an unintentional typo of "hold."
As an investment approach, HODLing reflects a conviction that short-term price swings are largely noise relative to an asset's long-term trajectory, and that attempting to actively trade around volatility more often destroys value than captures it, through poor timing, fees, and emotional decision-making. On-chain analysts also use the related concept of a HODL wave (see Kaavon's "HODL Wave" glossary definition) to study aggregate holder behavior across an entire network, distinguishing it from the original term's informal, individual-investor usage.
Examples
- An investor following a HODL strategy holds their position through sharp price swings, rather than attempting to sell during downturns and buy back in later.
- HODL originated from a misspelled 2013 forum post, and has since become one of the most widely recognized pieces of crypto community vocabulary.