[Glossary] Portfolio Management & Yield Terms

CryptoKas

Below is a detailed glossary of terms you’ll encounter in Portfolio Management & Yield discussions. Definitions are practical and precise—ideal for optimizing your asset mix and income strategies.

Portfolio Basics

Portfolio: Your collection of coins and tokens across all accounts and wallets.
Asset Allocation: How you split your capital among different assets (e.g., 50% BTC, 30% ETH, 20% stablecoins).
Diversification: Spreading risk by holding various uncorrelated assets instead of “putting all your eggs in one basket.”
Exposure: The total amount of capital at risk in a particular asset or strategy.

Performance Metrics

ROI (Return on Investment): Percentage gain or loss relative to the amount you invested.
CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate): The yearly growth rate of your portfolio over a multi-year period, accounting for compounding.
Sharpe Ratio: Return per unit of volatility; higher values indicate better risk-adjusted performance.
Sortino Ratio: Similar to Sharpe but only penalizes downside swings, focusing on harmful volatility.
Max Drawdown: The largest peak-to-trough drop in your portfolio value; measures worst-case loss.

Rebalancing

Rebalancing: Adjusting your holdings to restore your target asset allocation (e.g., selling some gains in one coin to buy another).
Threshold: A set deviation (e.g., ±5%) from your target weights that triggers a rebalance.
Schedule: How often you rebalance—time-based (monthly, quarterly) or threshold-based (when weights drift beyond limits).

Yield & Staking

APY (Annual Percentage Yield): The effective annual rate of return accounting for compounding interest or rewards.
APR (Annual Percentage Rate): The simple annual rate of return without compounding.
Staking Yield: Rewards earned by locking tokens in a proof-of-stake network or protocol.
Farming Yield: Returns generated by providing liquidity to DeFi pools (often paid in governance tokens).
Compounding: Reinvesting earned yield back into the strategy to earn “interest on interest.”

🧪 DeFi Vaults & Protocols

Liquidity Pool: A smart contract that holds two or more tokens, enabling swaps and earning fees.
Vault: A strategy contract that automatically deposits, compounds, and rebalances your liquidity for optimal yield.
Impermanent Loss: Temporary loss in dollar value when providing liquidity, compared to simply holding tokens, caused by price divergence.
Auto-Compounder: A vault that reinvests earned rewards back into the pool to maximize APY.
Vault Token: A receipt token representing your share of a vault’s underlying assets.

Tools & Platforms

Portfolio Tracker: An app or dashboard that aggregates balances, P&L, and yield across wallets and exchanges.
Yield Dashboard: Specialized tool displaying APYs, APRs, and historical returns for various protocols.
Tax Reporting Tool: Software that calculates realized gains/losses and generates tax-compliant reports for yield activities.

️ Risks & Fees

Smart-Contract Risk: Possibility of bugs or exploits in protocol code that could lead to loss of funds.
Withdrawal Risk: Delays or restrictions on pulling assets out of a protocol, especially in high-demand periods.
Performance Fee: A percentage cut taken by some vaults or yield aggregators on the profits they generate.
Protocol Governance Risk: Changes in rules or tokenomics via governance votes that could affect yields or capital.

Pin this thread as your go-to reference. If there are any missing terms or you’d like real-world examples added, drop a comment below!*