Glossary
Token-launch terms, plainly stated.
Short definitions for the language used across Portico profiles and guides.
- Bid–ask spread
- The difference between the highest current bid and the lowest current ask for an asset.
- CEX
- A centralized exchange operated by a company that manages the trading venue and its order book.
- Community management
- Ongoing moderation, support, programming and feedback work across a project’s community channels.
- DEX
- A decentralized exchange where trades are executed through on-chain protocols rather than a centralized operator.
- Due diligence
- A structured review of a partner’s identity, capabilities, incentives, controls, risks and terms before engagement.
- Influencer campaign
- A coordinated set of paid or supported creator activities built around a defined audience, message and action.
- KOL
- Key opinion leader: a creator or specialist whose audience follows their views in a particular market or topic.
- Liquidity
- The ability to buy or sell an asset without causing a large price movement.
- Market depth
- The quantity of orders available at different prices on each side of an order book.
- Market maker
- A firm or trading participant that continuously quotes buy and sell orders to support market liquidity.
- OTC
- Over-the-counter trading: a transaction arranged directly between parties rather than executed on a public order book.
- Retainer
- A recurring fee paid for an agreed scope of ongoing services.
- Slippage
- The difference between the expected execution price and the price at which a trade is completed.
- TGE
- Token generation event: the point at which a project creates and typically begins distributing its token.
- Token loan
- Tokens lent under agreed terms for a fixed period, often to provide market-making inventory.
- Treasury
- The assets and reserves controlled by a project, foundation or protocol for operations and long-term stewardship.
- Vesting
- A schedule that makes allocated tokens transferable or claimable over time or after defined conditions.
- Wash trading
- Trading designed to create a misleading appearance of activity without genuine market risk changing hands.