Chains and layer 2s

Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, Sui and others are separate blockchains. Each keeps its own record, runs its own apps and charges its own transaction fees, paid in its native coin (ETH, SOL, BNB, SUI).

Base, Arbitrum and Optimism are "layer 2" networks. They process transactions more cheaply and then record the results on Ethereum. They use ETH for fees.

Tokens do not move between chains on their own. Moving them uses a bridge, which is a separate app with its own risks.

What the figures in your brief mean

Total value locked (TVL) is the value of assets deposited in a chain's DeFi apps, such as lending and trading apps. It rises and falls with both deposits and coin prices, so a price drop alone lowers it.

Exchange (DEX) volume is how much was traded on the chain's decentralized exchanges in the last day. Stablecoins are tokens meant to stay at about one U.S. dollar; the total on a chain shows how much dollar-like money is there.

These figures describe activity on a chain. They do not say whether a chain or any token on it is a good investment.

Spot tokens and perps

Buying a token "on spot" means you own it in a wallet on that chain. A perpetual future (perp) only tracks a coin's price, with no coin changing hands; see "Perpetual futures, explained" below.

Hyperliquid runs its own chain mostly for perps. Trading platforms such as GDEX let you trade spot tokens on several chains and perps on Hyperliquid.

What an NFT is

Most tokens are interchangeable: one ETH is the same as any other. An NFT (non-fungible token) is different: each one has its own ID and belongs to one wallet at a time. A collection is a set of NFTs made by the same creator, such as CryptoPunks or Pudgy Penguins.

Owning an NFT usually means owning the token, not the copyright to the image. What the owner may do with the art depends on the collection's own terms.

What a floor price is, and is not

The floor price is the lowest price any item in the collection is listed for right now. It is a quick way to see what the cheapest item costs.

It is not what every item is worth. Rarer items usually cost more, and many items would not sell at the floor at all. A few new listings or sales can move the floor a lot in a day.

Market cap for a collection is the floor price times the number of items. Because most items would not sell at the floor, it is a rough size, not a value anyone could collect.

Volume, holders and marketplace fees

24-hour volume is the value of the collection's NFTs sold in the last day. Holders is the number of different wallets that own at least one item; one person can have many wallets.

NFT marketplace fees on a chain show how busy NFT trading is there. NFT lending apps such as Blend and NFTfi let owners borrow against an NFT; if its price falls, the NFT can be taken to repay the loan.

What a perp is

A perpetual future lets you bet on a price going up (a long position) or down (a short position) without owning the coin. Unlike regular futures, it never expires, so a position can stay open as long as the account has enough collateral.

You put up collateral, called margin, usually in a stablecoin such as USDC. The platform tracks your position using a mark price, which is designed to follow the coin's price on major spot markets.

Leverage and liquidation

Leverage means controlling a larger position than your margin. At 10x leverage, $100 of margin controls a $1,000 position, so a 1% price move changes your account by about 10%.

If the price moves against you far enough that your margin can no longer cover the loss, the platform closes the position automatically. This is called liquidation, and you can lose the margin in that position. At high leverage, a small price move can trigger it.

Funding rate

To keep the perp's price close to the coin's price, traders pay each other a funding rate at regular intervals (hourly on Hyperliquid). When the rate is positive, long positions pay short positions; when it is negative, shorts pay longs.

Funding is paid or received for as long as a position is open, so it adds to or subtracts from results over time. The Daily Brief shows the current rate for the markets you follow.

Open interest and volume

Open interest is the total value of positions still open in a market. Volume is how much was traded in a period. Both describe activity; neither tells you where the price will go.

Reading an order book: spread and depth

An order book lists the resting orders to buy (bids) and sell (asks) at each price. The spread is the gap between the best bid and the best ask. A small spread means you lose little just by getting in and out.

Depth is how much is waiting to trade near the current price. The Daily Brief shows the dollar value of orders within 1% above and below the price. With thin depth, a large order moves the price against you (called slippage), and liquidations can cascade faster.

Order books change every second. The figures in your brief are a snapshot from the last refresh, not a live view.

How it works

You pick a wallet to follow. When that wallet buys or sells, the platform places a similar trade for you, sized by your settings (for example, a fixed amount per trade). Some platforms can copy perpetual futures positions as well as token trades.

Common settings include the amount per trade, whether to copy sells as well as buys, a take-profit (close when up by a set percent) and a stop-loss (close when down by a set percent). Some platforms also offer opposite copying, which takes the reverse side of each trade.

Leaderboards and past results

Platforms often rank wallets by profit, win rate or volume over a recent period. These are past results over a chosen window. They can change quickly and do not predict future results.

Your account and keys

To place trades automatically, the platform needs permission to act on your account, often through a wallet it manages for you or a session key you approve. Understand what the platform can do with that permission and how to revoke it.

Calls and puts

A call option gives the right to buy shares at the strike price. A put option gives the right to sell shares at the strike price. Each standard U.S. stock option covers 100 shares.

The buyer pays a price called the premium. If the option is not worth exercising by its expiration date, it expires worthless and the buyer loses the premium.

Selling options

The seller (writer) of an option receives the premium and takes on the obligation. Selling a call without owning the shares, or selling a put, can lead to losses much larger than the premium received.