There was a time when “mooning” meant baring your bare backside to someone or something you disapproved of. These days, if you’re looking for a mooning definition, you’re more likely to find answers pointing toward different cryptocurrencies.
So, just what does mooning mean in cryptocurrency? It has to do with lofty hopes and expectations. Read on to get a mooning definition and to find out what mooning has to do with cryptocurrency.
What Does “Mooning” Mean in Crypto?
Investors typically want to see their assets gain value — as much value as possible. Put another way, investors want to see their assets reach sky-high valuations so that they can earn the most money.
And what’s in the sky? The moon. So when it comes to crypto, “mooning” basically means that a cryptocurrency’s valuation is “going to the moon” — experiencing a significant spike in price and volume. If you were to look at crypto charts, it would appear that the mooning asset’s value has taken a sharp turn up and to the right.
Where Did Mooning Come From?
Mooning, as a term and concept, can be traced back to 2017, when Bitcoin first started accumulating massive amounts of value — that is, it went to the moon! Looking at Bitcoin price history for that year, one can see that it started out at less than $1,000, and ultimately peaked at just under $20,000. Bitcoin mooned that year (and as we now know, it would do so again).
Despite any original or subsequent mooning phenomena by Bitcoin or other types of cryptocurrencies, the fact remains that past performance is not an indicator of future results. Crypto remains an exceptionally volatile investment.
How Do Cryptocurrencies Gain Value?
Mooning can be great when you’re holding the right crypto. But how and why does one crypto gain value when another might lose value? That’s more or less dependent on the same forces that determine value in any other market: Supply and demand.
When there are more buyers (demand) for a certain cryptocurrency, holders (supply) can ask for a higher price on crypto exchanges. Supply and demand will also dictate prices and values on the stock market, houses, cars, NFTs — just about anything, really.
Examples of Cryptocurrencies “Mooning”
Depending on how you want to define the parameters of “mooning,” cryptocurrencies do it quite often. We already discussed Bitcoin’s mooning in 2017, for instance. But here are a couple of other examples:
• Dogecoin (DOGE) saw its price increase from around $0.01 in January 2021 to more than $0.70 in May 2021.
• Ethereum (ETH) “mooned” during 2021 as well, rising in value from less than $1,000 to nearly $5,000 between January and October 2021.
These examples are not indicators of any future success these or other crypto might see. It bears repeating that cryptocurrency is a very volatile asset.
The Takeaway
Mooning — in which the value of a cryptocurrency skyrockets “to the moon” — is just one phrase used in the crypto world by people in the know. After reading this article, you should have a full vocabulary of crypto slang at your disposal; no amount of crypto slang and jargon can stand in your way of understanding or getting involved in cryptocurrency.
Photo credit: iStock/Ridofranz
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