HODL means keeping your cryptocurrency through price swings instead of selling. It started as a typo of "hold" in a Bitcoin forum post dated 18 December 2013. Dictionary.com defines the verb as "to avoid selling (cryptocurrency, other digital assets, or stocks), especially over a long period of time," and records the word's first use in 2013. The expansion "Hold On for Dear Life" is a backronym that people added later. It was not part of the original post.
Where the word came from
On 18 December 2013 at 10:03 AM (forum time), a Bitcointalk user called GameKyuubi started a thread titled "I AM HODLING." The post opens with the writer admitting the title was misspelled: "I type d that tyitle twice because I knew it was wrong the first time. Still wrong. w/e." The writer also says they had been drinking whiskey. The post gives no price. It says only that bitcoin was falling and that the writer would not sell.
Contemporary reporting shows what that day was like. NPR, citing The Wall Street Journal, reported on 18 December 2013 that bitcoin "fell another 20 percent to $550.02" and was down more than 50% from its record high. The drop came "amid worries that China is moving to block the purchase and use of the currency by its citizens."
Other forum users picked up the misspelling, and "HODL" became the crypto community's shorthand for refusing to sell in a crash.
HODL, HODLer and related slang
- HODL (verb): to hold an asset instead of selling it, especially during a downturn.
- HODLer: someone who follows that approach.
- Diamond hands: community slang for holding through heavy losses. "Paper hands" means selling at the first drop.
- Bag-holding: keeping an asset that has collapsed only because you don't want to take the loss. The behaviour looks the same as HODLing, but the reasoning is different.
What the bitcoin record shows, and what it doesn't
Someone who bought around the price in that 2013 report and never sold would be well ahead today. CoinGecko lists bitcoin's all-time high at $126,080, set in early October 2025. That is roughly 229 times the $550.02 figure from December 2013.
That path also included deep falls, and one is happening now. On 25 October 2026, CoinGecko showed bitcoin at about $80,214, around 36% below its high. Holding means sitting through declines like this one, often for months or years, with no guarantee of when or whether the price recovers.
Three points to keep in mind about this record:
- It is one asset's record. Bitcoin's recovery after past crashes tells you nothing about any other token. Many small-cap tokens never got back to their old highs.
- Past performance does not predict future returns. A strategy that worked from 2013 to 2025 can still fail from here.
- The figures depend on the source. Price trackers report slightly different highs depending on which venues they include and which time zone they use.
The main risks of holding long term
Custody risk
You can hold an asset through every crash and still lose it if the platform holding it fails. In March 2024, the US Department of Justice announced that the founder of a large crypto exchange had been sentenced to 25 years in prison. US Attorney Damian Williams described the case as one of the largest financial frauds in history, with over $8 billion of customer money taken. For long holding periods, many holders keep assets in a self-custody wallet where they control the private keys. That shifts the risk to them: a lost seed phrase cannot be recovered.
Concentration and timing
Holding doesn't reduce volatility. It only means you don't react to it. If a large share of your savings sits in one volatile asset, a long drawdown can force you to sell at the worst time, for example to cover expenses.
Tax treatment
Holding period can change your tax bill. In the US, the IRS virtual currency FAQ says that a gain on virtual currency held for more than one year is long-term, and one held for one year or less is short-term. It also says that swapping one cryptocurrency for another is a taxable event. The IRS notes that these FAQs generally apply to transactions completed before 1 January 2025. Rules differ by country.
How far is a price from your reference point?
Enter a reference price, such as your entry price or the all-time high, and a later price to see the percentage change between them.
| Reference price (your entry price or a past high) | Later price to compare | Change from the reference price |
|---|---|---|
| 126,080 $ | 80,214 $ | -36.4 % |
| 550.02 $ | 126,080 $ | 22,822.8 % |
| 550.02 $ | 80,214 $ | 14,483.8 % |
- Both prices are your own inputs. The defaults and examples use only the bitcoin figures cited in the article: $550.02 (December 2013), $126,080 (October 2025 high) and about $80,214 (25 October 2026).
- A negative result is a fall below the reference price and a positive result is a gain. Price trackers report slightly different figures depending on the venues and time zone they use.
This only works out the percentage between two prices: it leaves out fees, tax and custody risk, and it cannot tell you whether or when a price will recover.
How long-term holders usually manage the approach
These are common practices, not recommendations.
- Know why you hold. Write down the reason. If the reason breaks (for example a security failure in the protocol or a change in how the asset works), that tells you more than a falling price does.
- Spread out purchases. Dollar-cost averaging means investing a fixed amount at regular intervals whatever the price. It doesn't guarantee a profit or protect against losses in a falling market.
- Control the keys or know who does. Decide between self-custody and a third party knowingly, and back up recovery phrases offline.
- Size the position to survive a deep drop. A useful test is whether you could live through a large fall without being forced to sell.
- Set exit conditions in advance. These can be a target allocation, a change in the reason you hold, or a personal need for the money, decided before emotions take over.
HODLing compared with active trading
| Holding | Active trading | |
|---|---|---|
| Time needed | Low once the position is set | High, needs constant monitoring |
| Number of taxable events | Fewer | Many (each crypto-to-crypto swap is taxable in the US) |
| Fees | Few transactions | Fees on every trade |
| Main risk | Long drawdowns, custody failure | Mistimed entries and exits, leverage losses |
Neither approach is safe. Holding swaps the risk of bad timing for the risk of sitting through a long decline.
Frequently asked questions
What does HODL stand for?
Originally nothing. It was a misspelling of "hold" in a 2013 forum post. "Hold On for Dear Life" was attached to it later as a backronym.
Is HODLing the same as buy-and-hold investing?
The idea is the same: buy and don't trade around price moves. The difference is the asset. Crypto has no earnings or dividends to anchor its value, and its price swings are much larger than most stocks'.
Who coined HODL?
The Bitcointalk user GameKyuubi, in the thread "I AM HODLING," posted on 18 December 2013.
What is the difference between HODLing and bag-holding?
A HODLer holds for a reason that still stands. A bag-holder holds because selling would mean admitting a loss.
Limitations: price figures come from CoinGecko on 25 October 2026 and contemporary 2013 reporting, and they vary by data source. This article is not investment advice.
