Learn

Crypto, explained plainly

Clear, jargon-free guides and a crypto glossary to help you make sense of the numbers on this site. No hype, no jargon for its own sake — and never investment advice.

Guides Step-by-step explainers on how markets, prices and the tools on this site actually work. Glossary Plain definitions for the crypto terms you meet across TheWeal. Fear & Greed The live crypto sentiment index, with a 30-day history and a guide to reading it.

Featured guide · Foundations Reading a Prediction Bear, base and bull across eight horizons — what each band means, what it does not, and how to use TheWeal's price scenarios sensibly. 5 min read

Browse guides by topic

Each guide is a self-contained explainer you can read in a few minutes. Filter by topic below, or choose “All” to skim every guide — they run from foundations through to the specific metrics you will see on our data pages.

All Foundations Crypto Charts & Technicals Strategy & Risk

Reading a Prediction Bear, base and bull across eight horizons — what each band means, what it does not, and how to use TheWeal's price scenarios sensibly. 5 min read Bitcoin 101: What It Is and How It Works The founding coin, explained from first principles — supply, mining, wallets and why anyone cares. 8 min read Price Chart Basics: Candlesticks, Volume and Ranges Open, high, low and close; what a candlestick shows; why volume matters; and how to read a crypto price chart without being misled. 7 min read Crypto Wallets Explained Hot vs cold, custodial vs self-custody — what a crypto wallet actually holds and what you need to keep safe. 7 min read What Is DeFi? Decentralised Finance, Explained Lending, borrowing and trading without a bank — how decentralised finance works, what it can do, and what can go wrong. 8 min read What Is Staking? Locking coins to secure a network and earn rewards — how staking works, what you give up, and how to avoid common mistakes. 6 min read What Are Stablecoins? Crypto that tries to hold a steady value — how the peg works, what backs it, and why stablecoins sometimes break. 6 min read What Is an NFT? Non-fungible tokens decoded — what blockchain ownership actually means, what it does not, and why the market boomed and crashed. 7 min read Crypto Taxes: The Basics Most countries treat crypto gains as taxable. Here is what typically triggers a tax event and why keeping records matters. 6 min read How to Buy Cryptocurrency: A Beginner's Walkthrough From choosing an exchange to moving coins to a wallet — the steps, the costs and the security checks that matter before you spend a dollar. 8 min read Understanding Blockchain Transaction Fees Why sending crypto costs money, how fees are priced, and how to avoid overpaying or getting stuck. 6 min read How to Read a Cryptocurrency Market Cap Why a low coin price is not "cheap", and how market cap, circulating supply and fully-diluted valuation fit together. 6 min read Reading a Price Chart: Candlesticks, Volume & Ranges Open, high, low and close; what a candlestick shows; why volume matters; and how to read a range. 7 min read Dollar-Cost Averaging, Explained Investing a fixed amount on a fixed schedule — how it works, what it does and does not solve, and a worked example. 6 min read Position Sizing & Risk Management Basics The single idea behind surviving volatile markets: decide how much you can lose before you decide how much to buy. 7 min read

Browse the glossary by category

The glossary defines every term you meet across the site, sorted into eight topics. Jump straight to a category below, or open the full A–Z list.

Foundations 5 terms Crypto 75 terms Valuation & Metrics 5 terms Charts & Technicals 4 terms Strategy & Risk 6 terms Market Mechanics 5 terms

How to use the Learn hub

The Learn section is designed to work hand-in-hand with the live data and tools on the rest of the site. A path that works well:

Start with a concept. Read a guide such as market capitalisation to understand what a number actually represents.
Look up the terms. Hit an unfamiliar word? The glossary defines it in a sentence or two.
See it live. Apply the idea against real figures on the markets page or a coin.
Run your own numbers. Test a scenario with a free calculator — the outputs are illustrative, never a forecast.

Year 0$1,000

Year 10$2,159

Year 20$4,661

Year 30$10,063

Illustrative only — not live market data. A one-off $1,000 compounding at a hypothetical 8% a year. It is a worked example to show how compounding behaves, not a forecast or a promised return. Try your own inputs in the compound interest calculator.

Start with the idea, then look at the data

TheWeal exists to put live crypto data in one place. But a number only means something once you understand what it represents. A coin priced at a fraction of a cent is not automatically "cheap"; a token with a huge market cap is not automatically safe. The guides here unpack the concepts behind the figures — market capitalisation, how to read a chart — so the live data on our markets page and coin pages becomes genuinely useful rather than just colourful.

We cover crypto in depth, from first principles to protocol internals. The market moves fast and is full of confident-sounding noise — different tokens, different mechanics, different risks — and a reader who understands how it actually works is far better placed than one who only follows the price.

None of this is personalised advice. Everything in the Learn section is general education, written to be accurate and honest about what is uncertain. When you are ready to act on a decision, the responsibility — and the research — is yours. Read our full disclaimer for the detail, and see where our numbers come from.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Learn section free to read?

Yes. Every guide and the full glossary are free, with no account or sign-up — just like our live prices and calculators.

Do the guides give investment advice?

No. Everything here is general education that explains how markets and metrics work. It is never a recommendation to buy or sell, and never personalised advice — see our disclaimer.

Do I need a finance background to start?

Not at all. The same ideas — value, risk, market size — appear throughout crypto, so each guide builds on the last.

How up to date are the guides?

The guides explain evergreen concepts rather than live prices, so they age slowly. The live figures they help you read are refreshed continuously and documented in our methodology.