Glossary

Algorithm

A defined sequence of steps for solving a problem. In coverage of platforms it usually means the ranking system deciding what a user sees.

Altcoin

Any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin. The label spans serious infrastructure projects and outright jokes, so it says nothing about quality on its own.

Antitrust

Competition law: the rules preventing firms from abusing market dominance or merging their way out of competition. Called competition law outside the United States.

API

An application programming interface: a defined way for one piece of software to ask another for data or an action. Most integrations between services run over one.

Artificial intelligence

Software that performs tasks normally associated with human judgement, such as recognising images or writing text. The current wave is built on statistical models trained on very large…

Bear market

A fall of 20% or more from a recent peak, held long enough to look like a trend rather than a dip.

Bid-ask spread

The gap between the highest price a buyer will pay and the lowest a seller will accept. A wide spread is a cost of trading and a sign…

Bill

A proposed law, still going through the legislature. It is not law until it has passed every required stage and received formal assent.

Bipartisan

Supported by members of opposing parties. It describes the pattern of support for a measure, not its merits.

Bitcoin

The first widely used cryptocurrency, launched in 2009. Its supply is capped by its own software at 21 million coins, which is why supporters describe it as scarce…

Blockchain

A shared ledger of transactions maintained by many computers at once rather than by a single institution. Records are grouped into blocks and chained together cryptographically, so altering…

Bond

A loan to a government or company that pays interest and returns the principal at maturity. Government bond yields are the reference point most other borrowing costs are…

Bull market

A sustained period of rising prices and confident sentiment. The common threshold is a rise of 20% or more from a recent low.

Byline

The line naming who wrote a piece. It signals responsibility for the reporting as much as authorship of the words.

Ceasefire

An agreement to stop fighting, which may be temporary, local or conditional. It is a pause in hostilities rather than a settlement of the dispute.

Central bank

The institution that sets a currency's interest rates and oversees the banking system, such as the Federal Reserve, the ECB or the Bank of England.

Circuit breaker

An automatic pause in trading triggered by a sharp move. The aim is to let information spread and stop a panic from feeding on itself.

Cloud computing

Renting computing power and storage from a provider rather than running your own servers. It converts a capital cost into an operating one, and a dependency.

Coalition government

A government formed by two or more parties because no single party holds a majority. Policy is set by negotiated agreement between them.

Cold storage

Keeping private keys on a device that never touches the internet. It defends against remote theft at the cost of convenience, which is why exchanges hold most customer…

Conflict of interest

A personal or financial stake that could reasonably be seen to compromise coverage. The usual remedies are disclosure or reassignment.

Correction

A fall of roughly 10% from a recent high. Corrections are common and often brief, which is what distinguishes them from bear markets.

Custody

Who actually holds the keys. Self-custody means you do; a custodian means a regulated firm does, which shifts the risk from your own security practices to theirs.

Data breach

An incident in which personal or confidential data is accessed without authorisation. Most jurisdictions require disclosure within a set window once a breach is confirmed.

DeFi

Decentralised finance: lending, trading and derivatives run by smart contracts rather than by a bank or broker. Users keep custody of their assets, and also keep the risk.

Deflation

A sustained fall in the general price level. It sounds welcome but tends to delay spending and raise the real burden of debt, which is why policymakers treat…

Dividend

A share of profit paid out to shareholders, usually quarterly. Cutting one is a strong signal about a company's expectations, which is why cuts move share prices sharply.

Dollar-cost averaging

Investing a fixed amount at regular intervals regardless of price. It removes the need to time the market and smooths the average price paid, at the cost of…

Earnings

A company's profit over a reporting period. Share prices usually respond less to the number itself than to how it compares with what analysts expected.

Editorial

An unsigned piece stating the publication's own institutional position, distinct from both news reporting and outside opinion.

Embargo

An agreement not to publish information before a stated time, so outlets can prepare coverage of a report or announcement in advance.

Encryption

Encoding data so only someone with the right key can read it. End-to-end encryption means the service carrying the message cannot read it either.

ETF

An exchange-traded fund: a basket of assets that trades on an exchange like a single share. Most track an index, which keeps costs low compared with picking holdings…

Ethereum

A blockchain designed to run programs, not just move money. Most stablecoins, DeFi protocols and NFTs launched on Ethereum or on a network compatible with it.

See also Smart contract

Executive order

A directive issued by a head of government to the executive branch. It can be reversed by a successor and can be challenged in court, so it is…

Fact-checking

Verifying claims against primary sources before publication, and sometimes as a standalone piece assessing a public claim.

Filibuster

A procedural tactic used to delay or block a vote by extending debate. Overcoming one usually requires a supermajority.

Fiscal policy

What a government does with taxation and spending, as distinct from monetary policy, which is set by the central bank.

Futures contract

An agreement to buy or sell an asset at a set price on a set date. Used to hedge real exposure and to speculate, often with heavy leverage.

Gas fee

The charge paid to have a transaction processed on a blockchain. Fees rise with congestion, which is why the same transfer can cost cents one day and a…

GDP

Gross domestic product: the total value of goods and services an economy produces. It measures activity, not wellbeing or how the proceeds are shared.

GPU

A graphics processing unit: a chip built to run many calculations in parallel. Originally for rendering images, now the workhorse of AI training.

Hallucination

When an AI model states something false with the same confidence as something true. It is a property of how these models work, not a bug that has…

Halving

A scheduled event in Bitcoin, roughly every four years, that cuts the reward paid to miners in half. It slows the rate of new supply, and is watched…

Impeachment

A formal charge brought by a legislature against a public official. It is an accusation that opens a trial, not a removal in itself.

Index

A measure of a slice of the market, such as the S&P 500 or the FTSE 100. Indices are benchmarks rather than investments, though funds are built to…

Inflation

The rate at which prices rise across an economy, reducing what a unit of currency buys. Central banks in most developed economies target around 2% a year.

Interest rate

The price of borrowing money. When a central bank moves its policy rate, mortgages, business loans and savings returns follow, though rarely at the same speed.

Inverted pyramid

Structuring a story with the most important information first and the least important last, so it stays coherent wherever a reader stops.

IPO

An initial public offering: the first sale of a company's shares to public investors. It raises capital and creates an exit for early backers and staff.

Judicial review

A court examining whether a government decision was lawful. It tests the legality of how a decision was made rather than whether it was wise.

Large language model

A model trained on vast amounts of text to predict what comes next, which turns out to produce fluent writing, translation and summarisation. Fluency is not accuracy, and…

Lede

The opening sentence or paragraph, carrying the most newsworthy fact. A buried lede is a story whose real news sits several paragraphs too far down.

Legislation

Law made by a parliament or congress, as opposed to rules written by regulators or judgements handed down by courts.

Leverage

Using borrowed money to increase exposure. It multiplies gains and losses equally, and forced selling by leveraged holders is what turns ordinary declines into sharp ones.

Liquidity

How easily an asset can be bought or sold without moving its price. Thin liquidity is why a modest order can shift the market in a small-cap stock…

Lobbying

Seeking to influence legislation or regulation on behalf of an interest. Most jurisdictions require lobbyists to register and disclose who is paying them.

Machine learning

Building software that improves at a task by finding patterns in data rather than by being given explicit rules.

Margin call

A demand to add funds when a leveraged position moves against you. Fail to meet it and the position is closed for you, at whatever the price happens…

Market capitalisation

Share price multiplied by shares outstanding: what the market says a company is worth in total. It is a valuation, not a measure of cash on hand.

Memecoin

A token whose value rests on attention and community rather than on any product or cash flow. Prices move on social momentum, and most eventually go to near…

Merger and acquisition

One company combining with or buying another. Deals of any size usually need clearance from competition regulators before they can close.

Mining

Competing to add the next block to a proof-of-work blockchain by burning computing power on a cryptographic puzzle. The winner collects newly issued coins plus fees.

See also Proof of work

NFT

A token recording ownership of a specific item rather than an interchangeable unit. What the holder actually owns depends entirely on the terms attached, which are often narrower…

Off the record

Information given on the understanding it will not be published, used to help a reporter understand a story rather than to fill it. Terms must be agreed before…

On background

Information that may be published but not attributed by name, usually described instead by role, such as "a person familiar with the negotiations".

On the record

Everything a source says may be published and attributed to them by name. This is the default any reporter should be working from unless another basis was agreed…

Op-ed

An opinion piece by someone outside the newsroom, published under their own name. It carries the author's view and not the publication's.

Open source

Software published under a licence that lets anyone inspect, modify and redistribute it. In AI the label is contested, since some "open" models release weights without the training…

Paywall

A restriction limiting articles to paying subscribers. A metered paywall allows a set number of free articles before it applies.

Phishing

Tricking someone into handing over credentials or money by impersonating a trusted sender. Still the most common way large breaches begin.

Portfolio

The full collection of what an investor holds. Judging any single holding without reference to the portfolio around it usually misreads the risk being taken.

Primary source

Original material such as a filing, a transcript, a dataset or a first-hand account, as opposed to another outlet's report of it.

Private key

The secret number that authorises spending from a crypto address. Anyone who has it controls the funds, and there is no institution able to reverse a transfer or…

Proof of stake

A method of securing a blockchain in which validators lock up coins as collateral instead of burning electricity. Misbehaviour costs them part of that stake.

Proof of work

A method of securing a blockchain by requiring real computing effort to add blocks. It is deliberately expensive, which is both its security model and its main environmental…

Quantitative easing

A central bank creating money to buy bonds, pushing down longer-term interest rates when short-term rates are already near zero.

Quorum

The minimum number of members who must be present for a body to take a valid decision.

Ransomware

Malicious software that encrypts an organisation's files and demands payment to release them. Paying does not reliably restore data and funds the next attack.

Recession

A significant, broad decline in economic activity lasting more than a few months. The rough-and-ready definition is two consecutive quarters of falling output, though official bodies weigh employment…

Referendum

A direct public vote on a single question. Whether the result binds the government depends on the law under which it was held.

Regulator

A public body that writes and enforces detailed rules within an area the legislature has assigned it, such as a securities commission or a competition authority.

Revenue

Total income from sales, before any costs. A company can grow revenue for years while losing money, which is why revenue and profit are reported separately.

Right of reply

Giving the subject of a critical story a fair chance to respond before publication, and reflecting that response in the piece.

Sanctions

Restrictions imposed by one government on dealings with another state, entity or individual. They work through banks and intermediaries, which is why enforcement questions often land on financial…

Semiconductor

The chips that do the computing. A handful of firms dominate design and an even smaller number dominate manufacturing, which is why chips are now a geopolitical subject.

Short selling

Borrowing an asset, selling it, and hoping to buy it back cheaper. Losses are theoretically unlimited, since there is no ceiling on how high a price can go.

Smart contract

Code deployed to a blockchain that executes automatically when its conditions are met. It removes the need for a middleman to enforce an agreement, but a bug in…

Spot ETF

An exchange-traded fund that holds the asset itself rather than futures contracts on it. A spot crypto ETF lets an investor get exposure through a normal brokerage account…

See also ETF

Stablecoin

A token designed to hold a steady value, usually one US dollar, by holding reserves or by algorithm. Reserve quality is the thing to watch: a stablecoin is…

Standfirst

The short line under a headline that sets up the story. Called a dek in American newsrooms.

Supply chain

The chain of suppliers, factories and transport that turns raw materials into a delivered product. A blockage anywhere in it shows up as shortages and higher prices everywhere…

Tariff

A tax on imported goods. It is paid by the importer, not the exporting country, and is usually passed on in the price the buyer sees.

Tokenisation

Issuing a blockchain token that represents a claim on something off-chain, such as a bond, a fund share or property. The legal enforceability of that claim matters far…

Training data

The material a model learns from. Its gaps and biases carry through into the model's output, which is why provenance is a live legal and editorial question.

Two-factor authentication

Requiring a second proof of identity beyond a password, such as a code from an app or a hardware key. It blocks the great majority of account takeovers.

Valuation

An estimate of what a business is worth, usually derived from earnings, revenue or comparable companies. It is a judgement, and reasonable analysts often reach very different ones.

Venture capital

Money invested in early-stage companies in exchange for equity, on the expectation that most will fail and a few will more than cover the rest.

Volatility

How sharply a price moves over time, in either direction. High volatility means larger swings, not necessarily losses, though it raises the odds of being forced out at…

Wallet

Software or hardware that stores the private keys controlling your crypto. The coins live on the blockchain; the wallet holds the proof that they are yours.

Yield

The income an investment returns, expressed as a percentage of its price. Bond yields move inversely to bond prices, which is why falling yields mean a rally.