# Cronos Learn — full text > Full-text export of every published Cronos Learn article, for AI > crawlers/agents that want content directly. See https://cronos.com/llms.txt > for the linked index of the whole site. # Stocks explained: what they are and how to trade them https://cronos.com/learn/stocks-explained-how-to-trade-them Learn what stocks are, how stock markets work, and how to place your first trade. A plain guide for beginners. This guide covers everything you need to know about stocks. What they are, how markets work, the different types, and how to place your first trade. No experience required. ## What is stock trading? A stock is a small piece of ownership in a company. That piece is called a share. When you buy a stock, you become a part-owner of that business. How much you own depends on how many shares you hold. Stock trading is the act of buying and selling shares for profit. The price changes constantly as buyers and sellers react to new information. Fractional investing means you can put a smaller amount into a stock and get exposure in proportion to what you put in. ## How stock markets work Stock markets are organized exchanges where shares are bought and sold. The price at any moment reflects what buyers are willing to pay and what sellers will accept. The two largest stock exchanges in the world are the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq. Most of the world's most widely traded stocks are listed on one of these two exchanges. Traditional stock exchanges operate Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 4:00pm Eastern Time. Outside those hours, trading on traditional exchanges pauses. Stock exchange basics NYSE and Nasdaq together list the vast majority of publicly traded US companies. Most of the world's most traded stocks are listed on one of these two exchanges. ## Types of stocks Not all stocks behave the same way. They differ in risk, volatility, and how they return value to shareholders. Common stock is the most widely traded type. Blue chip stocks are shares in large, established companies with a long track record. Growth stocks are expected to grow faster than the market average. Preferred stock pays a fixed dividend and takes priority over common stock if a company is wound down. ETFs and index funds trade like stocks but track a basket of assets, giving broader exposure without picking individual companies. ## How to start investing You do not need a large sum of money to begin. Many platforms let you start with $1. Start with risk in mind Only invest what you can afford to lose. Stock prices go up and down, and money you may need in the short term should not be put at risk. --- # What is cryptocurrency? A beginner's guide https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-cryptocurrency Learn what cryptocurrency is, how to trade it, and how it compares to stocks. A plain guide for beginners. This guide covers everything you need to know about cryptocurrency and digital assets. What they are, how they work, how to trade them, and how they compare to traditional investments like stocks. ## What is a cryptocurrency? A cryptocurrency is a digital currency that operates on a decentralized network. It is not issued or controlled by any government or central bank. Bitcoin was the first, created in 2009. Unlike a stock, a cryptocurrency does not represent ownership in a company. Its price is determined by supply and demand. Cryptocurrencies exist on a blockchain, a decentralized record of transactions maintained across thousands of computers. Blockchain basics A blockchain is a decentralized record of transactions maintained across thousands of computers. No single person or company controls it. ## How do you trade cryptocurrency? Trading cryptocurrency works like trading stocks. You open an account, deposit funds, and place buy or sell orders. Most cryptocurrency markets are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are no market hours. When you place a trade, you choose a market order or a limit order. A market order fills immediately; a limit order fills only when the price reaches the level you set. Spot trading is the most common way to trade cryptocurrency. You buy the asset at its current price and own it outright. ## Crypto or stocks: what is the difference? Stocks and cryptocurrencies are both tradeable assets. They behave very differently. A stock represents ownership in a company. Its value is connected to that company's performance. A cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ethereum is not tied to any company. Its value comes from supply, demand, adoption, and market sentiment. Some traders hold both. Stocks give exposure to company performance. Cryptocurrencies give exposure to a market that never closes. ## Bitcoin vs Ethereum: what is the difference? Bitcoin and Ethereum are the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Both are built on blockchain technology. Bitcoin is designed as a store of value and a peer-to-peer payment system. Its supply is fixed at 21 million coins. Ethereum is a programmable blockchain that supports smart contracts and decentralized applications. Its supply is not fixed. For beginners, Bitcoin is usually the first asset people trade because of its name recognition. ## FAQ **What exactly is cryptocurrency in simple terms?** A cryptocurrency is a digital currency that no government or bank controls. It runs on a decentralized network maintained by many computers. **Does crypto turn into real money?** Yes. You can sell cryptocurrency on a trading platform and withdraw the proceeds to your bank account. **Can you make $1000 a month with crypto?** It is possible but not guaranteed. Crypto markets are volatile, so start with an amount you can afford to lose and focus on learning first. --- # A beginner's guide to buying power https://cronos.com/learn/beginner-guide-to-buying-power Learn what leverage is in trading, how buying power works, and how to manage the risks. Buying power is one of the most useful tools available to traders. It lets you trade larger positions than your deposit. This guide explains what leverage is, how buying power works on Ult, and how to manage the risks that come with it. ## What is buying power? Buying power is the total value of trades you can make with your account. If you deposit $100 and use 10x leverage, your buying power is $1,000. Profits and losses are calculated on the full $1,000, not just your $100. On Ult, the default is always 1x. You trade only what you deposit unless you choose to increase your buying power. Leverage increases your potential gains. It increases your potential losses by the same amount. ## How much buying power should you use? The right amount depends on your experience level and risk tolerance. For first-time traders, 1x or 2x is a sensible starting point. Lower buying power gives you more room to recover if a trade goes against you. As you get more comfortable, you can increase gradually. There is no benefit to maxing out your buying power early. Start low Start at 1x or 2x. Traders who manage risk well are the ones who stay in the market long enough to improve. ## How to manage risk Buying power amplifies both gains and losses. Risk management is how you control the downside. Only trade money you can afford to lose Leverage can accelerate losses quickly. This is not a warning to ignore. ## FAQ **How does trading leverage work?** Leverage lets you control a position larger than your deposit. Deposit $100 with 10x leverage and your trade has $1,000 in market exposure. **What leverage is good for $100?** Lower is safer when starting out. At 1x, $100 controls $100 in exposure. At 10x, it controls $1,000. **What does 20x leverage mean in trading?** A $100 deposit controls a $2,000 position. Ult offers up to 10x buying power on select assets. **Is leverage trading a good idea?** It depends on your experience and risk tolerance. Start at 1x and only increase when you are confident in your risk management. --- # Bitcoin ETF outflows explained https://cronos.com/learn/bitcoin-etf-outflows-explained Bitcoin ETF outflows make headlines every week. Here is what they are, how they work, and why they move the Bitcoin price. Bitcoin ETF outflows make financial headlines every week, but the phrase assumes you already know what an ETF is. This guide starts from the beginning: what a Bitcoin ETF is, how money flows in and out of it, and why those flows affect the price of Bitcoin. No experience required. ## What is a Bitcoin ETF? An ETF is an exchange-traded fund. It is a financial product that trades on a stock exchange, the same way a company's shares do. When you buy a share of an ETF, you are not buying the underlying asset directly. You are buying a fund that holds that asset on your behalf. A spot Bitcoin ETF holds actual Bitcoin. When you buy one share of the fund, the fund manager buys Bitcoin to back it. When you sell, the fund manager sells Bitcoin to pay you out. Your exposure to Bitcoin's price is real, but you never hold Bitcoin directly. Spot Bitcoin ETFs became available in the United States in January 2024. They are listed on major US stock exchanges and sold through traditional brokers. For many institutional investors, banks, and pension funds, this was the first time they could get Bitcoin exposure in a format their compliance rules allowed. Spot ETF vs futures ETF A spot ETF holds real Bitcoin. A futures ETF holds contracts that bet on Bitcoin's future price. Spot ETFs track Bitcoin's price more accurately because the fund owns the actual asset. Major spot Bitcoin ETFs are managed by firms like BlackRock (IBIT), Fidelity (FBTC), and ARK Invest (ARKB). Together, spot Bitcoin ETFs hold hundreds of billions of dollars in Bitcoin. ## What are ETF inflows and outflows? Every trading day, investors buy and sell shares of Bitcoin ETFs through their brokers. When more money flows in than flows out, that is called a net inflow. When more money exits than enters, that is called a net outflow. Inflows and outflows are published daily by ETF issuers and tracked by data providers. A typical day's flow data looks like this: "IBIT recorded $320 million in inflows. FBTC saw $85 million in outflows. Total net flow across all spot Bitcoin ETFs was +$235 million." When a Bitcoin ETF records a net inflow, the fund manager has to buy more Bitcoin to back the new shares. When it records a net outflow, the fund manager sells Bitcoin to return cash to investors. This is the direct link between ETF flow data and Bitcoin's price. Where to find daily flow data CoinGlass and Farside Investors publish free daily ETF flow tables. Both sites are bookmarkable and update each evening after US market close. ## Why do Bitcoin ETF outflows move the price? Bitcoin's price is determined by supply and demand on trading markets. When ETF managers sell Bitcoin to meet outflows, they add supply to the market. If that supply is large relative to demand, the price falls. When they buy Bitcoin to meet inflows, they add demand, which pushes the price up. The size of the effect depends on the volume of the flow relative to the total daily trading volume of Bitcoin. A $500 million outflow day has a different impact on a day where total Bitcoin volume is $20 billion than it does on a quiet weekend with $3 billion in volume. Flows are a signal, not a cause ETF outflows correlate with falling Bitcoin prices but they do not always cause them. Price can fall for many reasons, and outflows can follow sentiment shifts rather than cause them. Treat flow data as one signal among many. It is also worth noting that ETFs are not the only source of Bitcoin supply and demand. Long-term holders, miners, and over-the-counter trades all move price independently of ETF activity. Large institutional ETF flows tend to amplify price moves, not originate them. ## How to use ETF flow data Most ETF flow reports show a simple table: fund name, daily flow in US dollars, and cumulative total since launch. Learning to read this table is a useful skill for understanding Bitcoin price context. A single large outflow day from one fund is less meaningful than three to five consecutive outflow days across multiple funds. A broad, sustained outflow trend signals that institutional investors are reducing Bitcoin exposure. A broad inflow trend signals the opposite. ETFs are US-listed products Spot Bitcoin ETFs are currently listed on US stock exchanges and primarily accessible to US investors. Retail investors in most other countries cannot buy these ETFs directly. This does not stop global Bitcoin prices from responding to US ETF flows. Spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in January 2024 and quickly became the fastest-growing ETF category in history. By mid-2024, combined assets under management crossed $60 billion. The flow story since then has been a pattern of sustained inflows during Bitcoin price rallies and sharp outflows during corrections. The May to June 2026 period saw approximately $7 billion in net outflows as Bitcoin pulled back from its highs. Outflow periods like this often generate alarming headlines, but they are a normal part of how institutional capital moves in and out of any asset class. For a beginner, the most important takeaway is this: ETF flow data is one window into how large institutional investors are positioned. It is useful context for understanding why Bitcoin's price is moving on a particular day, but it does not tell you where the price will go next. ## FAQ **What is a Bitcoin ETF in simple terms?** A Bitcoin ETF is a fund that holds real Bitcoin and trades on a stock exchange. When you buy a share of the fund, you get exposure to Bitcoin's price without buying or holding Bitcoin yourself. The fund manager handles the custody. **Why do Bitcoin ETF outflows push the price down?** When investors sell their ETF shares, the fund manager sells Bitcoin to return their cash. This adds Bitcoin supply to the market. More supply with the same or lower demand pushes the price down. The effect is larger when outflows are sustained over several days or span multiple funds at once. **Can I buy a spot Bitcoin ETF outside the US?** Spot Bitcoin ETFs are currently listed on US stock exchanges. Access for non-US retail investors depends on your country's brokerage rules. Most retail investors outside the US cannot buy these ETFs directly, though some international brokers offer access with restrictions. **Is watching ETF flows the same as following the Bitcoin price?** No. ETF flows are one input into Bitcoin's price, not the whole picture. Miner activity, long-term holder behaviour, over-the-counter trades, and broader market sentiment all affect price independently. ETF flow data gives you institutional context, not a complete picture. --- # What is margin trading, and how does leverage work? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-margin-trading Margin trading uses borrowed funds to increase your buying power. Here is how leverage works, what a margin call is, and the risks to understand first. Margin trading means using borrowed funds to open a larger position than your own money alone would allow. This guide explains what leverage and buying power are, how a margin call and liquidation work, and whether you can lose more than you put in. No experience required. ## What is margin trading? Margin trading is trading with borrowed money to increase the size of your position. Instead of buying an asset with only the cash you have, you put in a portion and borrow the rest, which gives you more buying power. Buying power is simply how much you can trade with in total. If you add your own funds to borrowed funds, your buying power is larger than your cash balance. Leverage is the multiplier that describes this. Trading with 2x leverage means your buying power is twice your own money; 10x means ten times. Here is a plain example. Say you have $100.00 and use 10x buying power. You can now open a position worth $1,000.00. You control a much bigger trade than your cash alone would allow, because $900.00 of it is borrowed. Leverage cuts both ways. The same multiplier that increases your potential gain increases your potential loss by exactly the same amount. It is not free money. ## Amplified gains and losses The core thing to understand about leverage is that it works in both directions, equally. Take the $100.00 at 10x buying power, controlling a $1,000.00 position. If the asset rises 5%, that position gains $50.00, which is a 50% return on your own $100.00. The multiplier made a small move much bigger. Now flip it. If the asset falls 5% instead, the position loses $50.00, which is 50% of your money gone from a 5% move. A 10% drop would wipe out your entire $100.00. Without leverage, that same 10% drop would have cost you just $10.00. That is the trade-off in one sentence: leverage amplifies your gain and your loss by the same factor. The bigger the multiplier, the smaller the price move it takes to hurt you. A small move can erase your funds. At 10x, a 10% move against you can wipe out your entire deposit. The higher the leverage, the less room for error you have. ## Margin calls and liquidation When a leveraged trade moves against you, two things can happen: a margin call and liquidation. A margin call is a warning. Because part of your position is borrowed, the platform requires you to keep a minimum amount of your own funds backing the trade. If losses push you below that minimum, you get a margin call: add more funds or reduce the position, or the platform will step in. Liquidation is what happens if you do not. The platform automatically closes your position to recover the funds it lent you. In fast-moving crypto markets, liquidation can happen very quickly, sometimes within minutes, because prices move around the clock. Many new traders are surprised by how fast it can occur. Here is the sequence in order. Know your liquidation level first. Before opening a leveraged trade, check the price at which you would be liquidated. If that level is close to the current price, the trade has little room to breathe. ## Margin trading vs buying outright Before using leverage, it helps to compare it to the simpler alternative: buying an asset outright, also called spot trading. When you buy outright, you own the asset with your own money. If it falls 50%, you lose 50%, but the position is yours to hold and it cannot be liquidated. Your maximum loss is what you put in, and no more. With margin, you are borrowing, so the position can be closed against your will and losses are amplified. On many products your loss is capped at your deposit, but some leveraged products can lose more than you put in, so always check the specific rules of the platform you use. People sometimes ask whether leverage is just gambling. It is not the same thing. Gambling is a fixed-odds bet on an outcome you do not control. Leverage is amplified exposure to an asset you already have a view on, with defined mechanics like margin calls and liquidation levels. That said, high leverage with no risk management can produce gambling-like outcomes, which is why understanding it first matters. ## FAQ **Can I lose more than I invest with margin trading?** It depends on the product. On many platforms your loss is capped at the funds you deposited, because the position is liquidated before it goes further. Some leveraged products can lose more than your deposit, so always check the specific rules before you trade. **What does 10x leverage mean?** It means your buying power is ten times your own money. With $100.00 and 10x, you can open a $1,000.00 position. A 10% move in your favour doubles your money, and a 10% move against you wipes it out. The multiplier applies to both gains and losses. **What is a margin call?** A margin call is a warning that your losses have pushed the funds backing your position below the required minimum. You then need to add funds or reduce the position. If you do not, the platform will liquidate the trade to recover what it lent you. **Is margin trading the same as gambling?** No. Gambling is a fixed-odds bet on an outcome you do not control. Margin trading is amplified exposure to an asset, with defined mechanics like liquidation levels. High leverage without risk management can still produce large, fast losses, which is why understanding it first is important. --- # What is a margin call, and how do you avoid one? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-a-margin-call A margin call is a warning that your leveraged trade is losing too much. Here is how one works, what triggers it, and how to avoid getting one. A margin call is a warning that a leveraged trade has lost too much value, and you need to add funds or the platform will close the position for you. This guide explains what triggers a margin call, how it differs from liquidation, and the practical ways to avoid one. No experience required. ## What is a margin call? A margin call is the moment your trading platform tells you that a leveraged position has lost too much, and you need to top up your funds or it will step in. When you trade with leverage, part of your position is borrowed. The platform lets you borrow on the condition that you keep a minimum amount of your own money backing the trade. That minimum is called the maintenance margin. As long as your funds stay above it, the trade runs normally. When losses drag you below it, the platform issues a margin call. Think of it as a line in the sand. Your own money in the trade is the cushion protecting the borrowed part. A margin call fires the moment that cushion gets too thin. A margin call is a warning, not the end It is the platform asking you to act. You still have a choice at that point: add funds, reduce the position, or let it be closed. ## What triggers a margin call A margin call is triggered by one thing: your losses pushing your own funds below the maintenance margin. Leverage is what makes that happen fast. Here is a plain example. Say you have $100.00 and use 10x buying power, opening a $1,000.00 position. Of that, $900.00 is borrowed and $100.00 is yours. Because leverage multiplies every move, a small drop in the asset becomes a large drop in your own money. If the asset falls 5%, the position loses $50.00, which is half of your $100.00 gone. If it falls 10%, your entire $100.00 is wiped out. Somewhere along that slide, before your money hits zero, the platform draws its maintenance line and issues the call. The higher your leverage, the closer that line sits to your starting point, and the smaller the move needed to reach it. Leverage shrinks your margin for error At 10x, a 10% move against you can erase your whole deposit. The more you borrow, the less the price has to move before a call. ## Margin call vs liquidation A margin call and a liquidation are two points on the same path, and it helps to know the difference. A margin call comes first. It is the warning stage, where you still have room to act. You can add funds to rebuild your cushion, or close part of the position to reduce how much you have borrowed. Either move can pull you back above the maintenance line and keep the trade alive. Liquidation is what happens if you do nothing and losses keep growing. The platform closes your position automatically to recover the money it lent you. In crypto markets, which trade around the clock, this can happen quickly, sometimes within minutes, because prices never stop moving. Many new traders are surprised by how fast the gap between a call and a liquidation can close. Whether you can lose more than you deposited depends on the product. On many platforms your loss is capped at the funds you put in, because the position is closed before it goes further. Some leveraged products can lose more than your deposit, so always check the specific rules of the platform you use before you trade. ## How to avoid a margin call You cannot remove the risk of a margin call while using leverage, but you can give yourself far more room to avoid one. These are habits, not guarantees. The simplest lever is leverage itself. Lower multipliers, like 2x or 3x, leave much more distance between your entry and the maintenance line, so an ordinary price swing will not trigger a call. Maximum leverage does the opposite: it puts the line right next to you. A stop-loss order is your second tool. It closes a trade automatically at a price you choose, on your terms, before the platform reaches its own liquidation trigger. Setting one means you decide where the trade ends rather than the market deciding for you. The rest is buffer and attention. Leaving some funds unused in your account gives you something to absorb a call with, instead of scrambling. And because leveraged positions move faster than plain ones, checking them regularly matters: a trade that looked safe at open can reach the line within hours. Know your liquidation level first Before opening a leveraged trade, find the price at which you would be liquidated. If it sits close to the current price, the trade has little room to breathe. ## FAQ **What triggers a margin call?** Losses that push your own funds below the platform's maintenance margin. The borrowed part of your position stays fixed, so losses eat into your money first. Once your equity falls under the required minimum, the call fires. **What is the difference between a margin call and liquidation?** A margin call is a warning that still lets you act by adding funds or reducing the position. Liquidation is when the platform closes the trade automatically to recover what it lent, and it happens if you do not resolve the call in time. **How do I avoid a margin call?** Use lower leverage so an ordinary price move does not reach the maintenance line, set a stop-loss to exit on your own terms, keep some unused funds as a buffer, and check leveraged positions often because they move quickly. **Can I lose more than I deposited from a margin call?** It depends on the product. On many platforms your loss is capped at your deposit because the position is closed before it goes further. Some leveraged products can lose more than you put in, so check the specific rules before you trade. --- # What is an ETF, and how does it work? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-an-etf An ETF is a basket of investments you can buy as a single share. Here is how ETFs work, how they differ from stocks and funds, and the fees to watch. An ETF, or exchange-traded fund, is a basket of investments that you can buy and sell as a single share. This guide covers how ETFs work, how they differ from individual stocks and mutual funds, what an expense ratio is, and the main risks. No experience required. ## What is an ETF? An ETF is a fund that holds a collection of assets, such as dozens or hundreds of stocks, and trades on an exchange like a single stock. When you buy one share of an ETF, you get a small slice of everything inside it. Think of it as a ready-made basket. Instead of buying shares in fifty companies one by one, you buy one ETF share and own a tiny piece of all fifty at once. That is called diversification, and it is the main reason ETFs are popular with new investors. ETFs can hold more than just stocks. Some hold bonds, some hold gold or other commodities, and some now hold crypto. Whatever is inside, the ETF share tracks the combined value of those holdings and moves up and down with them. One share, many companies. A single ETF share can give you exposure to hundreds of companies at once. That spread is what makes ETFs a common starting point for new investors. ## ETF vs stock vs mutual fund The easiest way to understand an ETF is to compare it to the two things people confuse it with. A stock is a share in one company. If that company does well, your share rises; if it struggles, your share falls. All your risk sits with that single business. An ETF spreads your money across many companies, so one failure hurts less. The trade-off is that a single winning stock can rise far more than a diversified basket. A mutual fund is also a basket of assets, so people mix the two up. The key differences: an ETF trades throughout the day at a live price, while a mutual fund is priced only once, after the market closes. ETFs usually cost less to own, and most ETF money still sits in funds that simply track an index rather than being actively managed by a person picking investments. ETF is not the same as index fund. Many ETFs track an index, but not all index funds are ETFs. The difference is how they trade: ETFs trade live during the day like a stock, traditional index funds do not. ## Types of ETFs and their costs ETFs come in several flavours, and the type tells you what is inside. Index ETFs track a broad market, such as the largest companies in a country. Sector ETFs focus on one area like technology or healthcare. Bond ETFs hold government or company debt. Commodity ETFs track things like gold. Thematic ETFs follow a trend such as clean energy or artificial intelligence. Crypto ETFs hold or track cryptocurrencies, giving stock-style exposure to assets like Bitcoin. Every ETF charges an annual fee called the expense ratio, shown as a percentage. A low-cost index ETF might charge around 0.03% to 0.20% a year, while a specialised or actively managed one can charge 0.50% or more. It sounds tiny, but on money held for many years, a higher expense ratio quietly eats into your returns. An ETF can still lose value. Diversification lowers the risk of a single company sinking you, but it does not remove market risk. If the whole market falls, your ETF falls with it. ## Buying your first ETF Buying an ETF works the same way as buying a stock. You open an account with a broker or investing app, add funds, search for the ETF, and place an order. Many platforms let you buy a fractional share, so you can start with a small amount rather than the full price of one share. Before you buy, do two quick checks. Read what the ETF holds so you know what you are actually getting, and look at the expense ratio so you know the annual cost. Those two numbers tell you most of what matters. If the ETF pays dividends, which are cash payments passed on from the companies it holds, you will usually receive them as cash or have the option to reinvest them automatically. Not every ETF pays dividends, so check if that matters to you. ## FAQ **What is the difference between an ETF and a stock?** A stock is a share in one company. An ETF is a basket of many assets bought as a single share. The ETF spreads your money across many holdings, so one company doing badly has less impact than it would if you owned only that stock. **Are ETFs safe for beginners?** ETFs are widely used by beginners because diversification lowers single-company risk. They are not risk-free, though. An ETF still rises and falls with the market, and you can lose money. ETFs are not bank deposits and carry no such guarantee. **What is an expense ratio?** The expense ratio is the annual fee an ETF charges, shown as a percentage of what you have invested. A broad index ETF might charge around 0.03% to 0.20% a year. Over long periods, a lower expense ratio leaves more of the return with you. **Do ETFs pay dividends?** Some do. If the companies inside an ETF pay dividends, the ETF usually passes that cash on to you, either as a payment or an option to reinvest automatically. Not every ETF pays dividends, so check the specific fund. --- # What is an online broker, and do you need one to invest? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-an-online-broker An online broker is the app or platform you use to buy and sell investments. Here is what a broker does, how it makes money, and how to choose one. An online broker is the platform you use to buy and sell investments like stocks. This guide covers what a broker actually does, why you cannot trade on an exchange without one, how "free" brokers make money, and how to choose one. No experience required. ## What is an online broker? An online broker is a licensed company that lets you buy and sell investments through an app or website. When you tap "buy" on a stock, the broker takes your order and gets it filled on your behalf. You are the investor, the broker is the middleman that connects you to the market. If you have used an investing app, you have used a broker. The app is not a separate portal to some other company, the app is the broker. That trips up a lot of new investors, so it is worth saying plainly: the platform you sign up with is the broker itself. Brokers exist because you cannot walk onto a stock exchange and trade directly. Exchanges only deal with licensed members. The broker is your licensed access point, holding your account and routing your orders to where they get filled. Here is what happens when you place a buy order through a broker. The app is the broker. When you use an investing app, that app is your broker. You are not signing up for a gateway to a separate company, you are signing up with the broker directly. ## Broker vs exchange This is the difference that confuses almost everyone at the start, so here it is clearly. An exchange is the marketplace. The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq are exchanges. They are where buyers and sellers actually meet and where prices are set. You, as an individual, cannot open an account directly with an exchange. A broker is your way in. You open an account with the broker, add money, and place orders. The broker is a licensed member of the exchange, so it can send your order to the marketplace and bring back the result. Think of the exchange as the wholesale market and the broker as the shop that lets you actually buy. This is also why "broker" and "exchange" get used loosely in crypto. Some crypto platforms are true exchanges with an order book, some are brokers that sell to you directly at a quoted price, and many apps blend both. The label matters less than understanding who you are trading with and what you pay. You cannot skip the broker. There is no way for an everyday investor to trade directly on a stock exchange. A licensed broker is always involved, even when the app makes it invisible. ## How brokers make money and stay safe Most brokers now advertise commission-free trading on stocks. That raises a fair question: if trades are free, how does the broker make money? There are a few common answers. In the US, some brokers earn from payment for order flow, where they route your order to a firm that pays them a small fee for it. That practice is banned or restricted in places like the UK, the EU, and Canada, so brokers there lean more on the other methods. Those include earning interest on the cash sitting in your account, charging interest on money you borrow to trade, and selling premium subscription tiers with extra features. None of that is hidden or sinister, but it does mean "free" is rarely completely free. It pays to know where the costs actually sit. Read the full fee schedule. Commission-free usually refers to stock trades only. Look for currency conversion fees, inactivity fees, and withdrawal fees before you commit. Safety is the other thing to understand. In many countries, brokerage accounts carry investor protection that covers your assets up to a limit if the broker fails. This is not the same as insurance against losing money on your investments, it protects you if the company itself collapses, not if your stock goes down. Rules differ by country, so check what protection applies where you live. ## How to choose an online broker Once you understand what a broker is, choosing one is straightforward. Run through these checks. First, regulation. Confirm the broker is licensed to operate in your country and that your account carries local investor protection. Second, available markets. Check that it offers what you want to trade, whether that is US stocks, local stocks, crypto, or several asset classes in one place. Third, fees. Look past "commission-free" to the currency conversion, withdrawal, and inactivity fees that add up over time. Fourth, minimums. Some brokers require a minimum deposit, others let you start with a few dollars through fractional shares. Fifth, country support. Availability varies a lot by region, so make sure the broker actually serves your country before you get attached to it. ## FAQ **Do I need a broker to buy stocks?** Yes. Everyday investors cannot trade directly on a stock exchange. A licensed broker always handles the trade, even when an app makes the process feel direct and instant. **What is the difference between a broker and an exchange?** An exchange is the marketplace where buyers and sellers meet and prices are set, like the New York Stock Exchange. A broker is the licensed company that gives you access to that marketplace. You open an account with a broker, not with an exchange. **How do commission-free brokers make money?** They earn in several ways: interest on your uninvested cash, interest on money you borrow to trade, and premium subscription features. In the US, many also use payment for order flow, though that practice is banned or restricted in the UK, EU, and Canada. Commission-free usually applies to stock trades, so other fees may still exist. **Is my money safe with an online broker?** Many countries offer investor protection that covers your assets up to a limit if the broker fails. This does not protect you from investment losses, only from the broker collapsing. Check the specific protection that applies in your country. --- # What is a crypto exchange, and how do you choose one? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-a-crypto-exchange A crypto exchange is where you buy and sell crypto. Here is how exchanges work, the CEX and DEX difference, the fees, and what to check before you sign up. A crypto exchange is the place where you buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies. This guide covers what an exchange actually does with your money, the difference between centralised and decentralised exchanges, the fees you will really pay, and the five things to check before you open an account. No experience required. ## What is a crypto exchange? A crypto exchange is a platform that matches people who want to buy crypto with people who want to sell it. You deposit money, place an order, and the exchange finds the other side of that trade. In that sense it works like a marketplace, with the exchange sitting in the middle to make sure both sides get what they agreed to. Most people start on a centralised exchange, run by a company. You create an account, verify your identity, add funds, and trade through the company's app or website. The company holds your crypto for you and keeps a record of what you own. The price you see is set by supply and demand. When more people want to buy than sell, the price rises. When more want to sell, it falls. The exchange does not set the price itself, it simply shows you where buyers and sellers currently meet. An exchange is not a bank. Money on an exchange is not protected the way bank deposits often are. The exchange holds your crypto to let you trade, not to keep it safe long term. ## Centralised vs decentralised exchanges There are two main types of crypto exchange, and the difference comes down to who holds your money. A centralised exchange, sometimes called a CEX, is run by a company. It holds your funds, matches your trades, and requires identity verification when you sign up. It feels familiar because it works like most other apps: a login, a balance, and a buy button. This is where almost every beginner starts. A decentralised exchange, or DEX, has no company in the middle. It runs on smart contracts, which are pieces of code on a blockchain that execute trades automatically. You connect your own wallet and trade directly from it, so you keep control of your funds the whole time. There is no sign-up and no identity check. The trade-off is complexity. On a DEX you pay network fees, often called gas, and on some blockchains those fees can be higher than the trade itself when the network is busy. You also need to already own crypto in a wallet to use one, which is why beginners rarely start there. You do not need a DEX yet. If you are buying your first crypto, a centralised exchange is the simpler starting point. Decentralised exchanges are worth learning later, once you understand wallets. Here is what actually happens when you place a buy order on a centralised exchange. ## Custody, fees, and safety The single most important idea on any exchange is custody, which means who controls your crypto. On a custodial exchange, the company holds the private keys that control your funds. You see a balance in the app, but the exchange is the one technically holding the coins. That is convenient, and it means the company can help if you lose your password. It also means you are trusting that company to stay solvent and secure. The phrase "not your keys, not your coins" points at exactly this: if you do not hold the keys, you are relying on someone else. A non-custodial setup, which is how DEXs and personal wallets work, puts the keys in your hands. You have full control, and nobody can freeze or lose your funds for you. The flip side is that there is no reset button. If you lose your keys, the funds are gone. Fees are the other thing beginners underestimate. Most exchanges charge a trading fee on each buy and sell, often around 0.1% to 0.6% on the standard trading interface. Simple one-tap buy buttons usually cost more, because they add a spread, which is a gap between the buy and sell price that acts as a hidden fee. Withdrawing crypto to your own wallet can carry a separate network fee too. Check the total cost, not the headline. A "zero commission" buy can still cost you through the spread. Compare the price you pay to buy against the price to sell right after, that gap is the real fee. For long-term holdings, many people move their crypto off the exchange into a personal wallet once they have bought it. Keeping large amounts on an exchange for years exposes you to the risk that the company is hacked or fails. ## How to choose an exchange Choosing an exchange comes down to five checks. Run through them before you deposit any money. First, regulation. Check whether the exchange is licensed or registered to operate in your country. A regulated platform has rules to follow and someone to answer to. Second, security history. Look for cold storage (keeping most funds offline), two-factor authentication, and a clean track record with no major unresolved breaches. Third, fees. Read the fee page, not the marketing page. Look at trading fees, spreads, and withdrawal fees together. Fourth, supported assets and regions. Make sure the exchange lists the assets you want and actually serves your country, since availability varies a lot. Fifth, ease of use. If the app confuses you, you are more likely to make a costly mistake. A clean, simple interface matters more than an advanced one you will never use. ## FAQ **Is my money safe on a crypto exchange?** Your crypto is only as safe as the exchange holding it. Reputable, regulated exchanges use cold storage and security controls, but no exchange is risk-free. For long-term holdings, many people move funds to a personal wallet rather than leaving them on an exchange. **What is the difference between a CEX and a DEX?** A centralised exchange (CEX) is run by a company that holds your funds and requires identity verification. A decentralised exchange (DEX) runs on smart contracts, has no company in the middle, and lets you trade directly from your own wallet. Beginners almost always start with a CEX because it is simpler. **How much are crypto exchange fees?** Standard trading fees usually fall around 0.1% to 0.6% per trade. Simple one-tap buy buttons tend to cost more because they add a spread on top, and withdrawing to your own wallet can carry a network fee. Always compare the full cost, not just the advertised commission. **Do I need to verify my identity to use a crypto exchange?** On most centralised exchanges, yes. Identity verification, often called KYC, is a legal requirement in many countries. Decentralised exchanges do not require it, but they are harder for beginners to use and need an existing crypto wallet. --- # How to start investing with $100 https://cronos.com/learn/how-to-start-investing-with-100 You do not need thousands to start investing. Learn how to put $100 to work in stocks and digital assets today. You do not need thousands to start investing. $100 is enough to build a real position in stocks or digital assets. This guide shows you exactly how to put that money to work. ## What can you do with $100? $100 buys you a fraction of almost any stock. Apple, Tesla, Nvidia. You do not need to buy a whole share. Fractional investing means any amount gets you a real position in the market. Here is what $100 looks like in practice: The amount you start with matters less than the habit of starting. Time in the market consistently beats waiting for the perfect moment to buy. A $100 position placed today has more value than a $500 position placed years from now. $100 in SPY gives you exposure to 500 of the largest US companies at once. $100 in Apple is a real position in one of the world's most widely traded stocks. $100 in Bitcoin tracks the price of the world's largest digital asset. ## How to invest $100: step by step You do not need thousands to start investing. $100 is enough to build a real position in stocks or digital assets. This guide shows you exactly how to put that money to work. ## Should you put it all in one stock? Spreading $100 across two or three positions helps reduce your risk. If one stock drops sharply, your other positions are not affected. A simple starting split: This is not financial advice. It is a framework for thinking about diversification when you are starting out. The exact split is less important than the principle: do not put everything in one place. $50 in an ETF like SPY or QQQ $25 in a stock you follow closely $25 in a digital asset like Bitcoin or Ethereum Tip Spreading across 3 positions reduces the damage any single stock drop can do to your overall balance. ## What about buying power? Some platforms let you trade with more than your deposit. On Ult, $100 can trade like $200 or more depending on your buying power setting. This increases your potential gains. It also increases your potential losses by the same amount. If you are just starting out, keep buying power low. Trade with what you deposit until you understand how leverage works. --- # Types of stocks: what are the differences? https://cronos.com/learn/types-of-stocks Stocks come in different types. Growth stocks, value stocks, common shares, preferred shares. Learn what each one is and how they behave. Not all stocks are the same. Different types behave differently and suit different trading strategies. This guide breaks down the main categories so you know what you are trading. ## What are the main types of stocks? The most common distinction is between common stock and preferred stock. Most retail traders trade common stock. Common stockholders own a share of the company. They can vote on company decisions. They receive dividends if the company pays them. Preferred stockholders get priority over common stockholders when dividends are paid. They typically do not have voting rights. Preferred stock behaves more like a bond than a traditional share. Most stocks available on retail trading apps are common stock. Preferred stock is less liquid and less commonly offered to individual traders. ## What is the difference between growth stocks and value stocks? Growth stocks are shares in companies expected to grow faster than the average market. They often reinvest profits rather than paying dividends. Technology companies are typical growth stocks. Nvidia, Meta, and Tesla are examples. Their prices can move sharply on earnings reports or product announcements. Value stocks are shares that appear underpriced relative to what the company is actually worth. Traders buy them expecting the price to close the gap over time. Growth stocks tend to be more volatile. Value stocks tend to move within a smaller range. Both can fall sharply in a broad market sell-off. ## What type of stock is best for beginners? For most beginners, large-cap common stocks are the most straightforward starting point. They trade at high volume, are covered extensively by analysts, and tend to behave more predictably than smaller companies. Blue-chip stocks are large, well-established companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet. These stocks are popular among first-time traders. They do not move as sharply as smaller companies, which makes them easier to manage while learning. Growth stocks offer larger potential gains but also larger swings. They suit traders who are comfortable with more volatility and willing to hold through sharp moves. Penny stocks and highly speculative assets are not suitable for beginners. Low trading volumes and unpredictable price moves make them difficult to manage without experience. --- # What are blue-chip stocks? https://cronos.com/learn/what-are-blue-chip-stocks Blue-chip stocks are shares of large, well-established companies. Learn what makes a stock blue-chip, which ones are most traded, and how they behave. Blue-chip stocks are shares of large, well-established companies with long operating histories. They are widely recognized, highly liquid, and among the most actively traded names in the market. This guide explains what makes a stock blue-chip and which ones traders focus on most. ## What is a blue-chip stock? A blue-chip stock is a share of a large, well-established company. These companies have decades of history, large market capitalizations, and strong name recognition. The term comes from poker. Blue chips have the highest value at the table. In markets, the name describes companies seen as large and well-resourced. Blue-chip companies can still fall in value. Large companies drop sharply on earnings misses, bad news, or broad market sell-offs. Size does not mean safety. What distinguishes them is liquidity. Blue-chip stocks have large trading volumes. You can enter and exit positions quickly without moving the price. ## What are the top 5 blue-chip stocks? The most widely traded blue-chip stocks are Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Nvidia. All five have market caps above $1 trillion. Apple (AAPL) makes iPhones, computers, and services. It is one of the most recognized brands in the world. It trades on the NASDAQ. Microsoft (MSFT) sells enterprise software, cloud services, and productivity tools. It is consistently one of the most actively traded large-cap stocks. Amazon (AMZN) leads in e-commerce and cloud computing. It is heavily traded by both institutional and retail traders. Alphabet (GOOGL) is the parent company of Google. Most of its revenue comes from advertising. It is one of the largest companies by market cap. Nvidia (NVDA) makes semiconductor chips used in AI, gaming, and data centers. It has been one of the most volatile large-cap stocks in recent years. ## Are blue-chip stocks good for active trading? Blue-chip stocks are popular with active traders because of their liquidity. Large trading volumes mean orders fill quickly at predictable prices. They also produce meaningful price movements. A 3% move on a $200 stock is a $6 change per share. That is enough to build a trade strategy around. Earnings reports, product announcements, and broader market events can all trigger sharp short-term moves. Traders often look for these setups in well-known names. Because blue-chip stocks are widely followed, news moves quickly. A missed earnings estimate can push a stock down in seconds. Knowing the earnings calendar is useful when trading these names. --- # What is a stock exchange? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-a-stock-exchange A stock exchange is where buyers and sellers trade shares of public companies. Learn how exchanges work and what the major ones are. A stock exchange is the marketplace where shares of public companies are listed and traded. It sets the rules, matches buyers with sellers, and records every transaction. This guide explains how exchanges work and what the main ones are. ## What is a stock exchange in simple words? A stock exchange is an organized marketplace where shares are bought and sold. Companies list their shares on an exchange when they go public. When a company lists on an exchange, its shares become available to anyone with a trading account. Buyers and sellers transact through brokers or trading apps. The exchange matches buyers with sellers. If you want to buy 10 shares of Apple, the exchange finds a seller at the agreed price. The trade happens in milliseconds. Exchanges also set listing requirements. Companies must meet financial and transparency standards to be listed. This gives traders a baseline level of information about each company. ## What are the 3 US stock exchanges? The US has several stock exchanges, but two dominate: the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ. Together they list the vast majority of publicly traded US companies. NYSE American (formerly AMEX) is a smaller exchange, also owned by NYSE Group, focused on mid-size companies and ETFs. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the largest by total market capitalization. It lists many of the biggest US companies. It has operated since 1792. NASDAQ is the second largest US exchange. It is known for technology stocks. Meta, Alphabet, Nvidia, Netflix, and Microsoft all trade on NASDAQ. NYSE American is smaller. It lists mid-size companies and a range of ETFs. It handles lower trading volumes than the NYSE and NASDAQ. Traditional exchange trading runs Monday to Friday. US markets are open from 9:30am to 4:00pm Eastern Time. Most price movement and volume happens during these hours. Note NYSE and NASDAQ together list the vast majority of publicly traded US companies. Traditional exchange trading runs Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 4:00pm Eastern Time. ## Can you trade stocks outside exchange hours? Traditional stock exchanges have fixed hours. Pre-market and after-hours sessions exist, but volume is lower and prices can be less predictable. Tokenized stocks work differently. They trade on digital asset platforms and are not bound by exchange hours. You can trade them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Crypto markets never close. Platforms that offer both digital assets and tokenized stocks allow trading at any time, including weekends and public holidays. --- # What is a stock buyback? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-a-stock-buyback A stock buyback is when a company uses its cash to repurchase its own shares. Learn how buybacks work and what they mean for stock prices. A stock buyback is when a company uses its own cash to repurchase its shares from the open market. It reduces the number of shares in circulation. This guide explains why companies do it and what it means for traders. ## Why do companies buy back their own stock? Companies buy back shares for several reasons. The most common is that management believes the stock is undervalued. Repurchasing shares at a lower price benefits remaining shareholders. Buybacks are also a way to return cash to shareholders. Instead of paying a dividend, a company reduces its share count. This increases earnings per share for those who hold. Some companies buy back shares to offset dilution from stock-based employee compensation. When employees receive shares as pay, the total count rises. Buybacks counteract this. Buybacks can also signal confidence. A company that commits cash to repurchase its own shares is saying it has no better use for that money. Markets often read this positively. ## Is a stock buyback a good thing? Generally, yes. A buyback signals that a company believes its stock is undervalued. It is a way of returning cash to shareholders. When a company repurchases shares, the total number of outstanding shares decreases. Each remaining share represents a slightly larger ownership stake. Buybacks are typically seen as a positive signal. They suggest the company has strong cash flow and confidence in its own prospects. Not all buybacks are positive signals. A company that borrows money to buy back shares while its business is struggling may be masking deeper problems. ## How does a stock buyback work? A company announces a buyback program. It states how much it plans to spend and over what time period. The company then purchases its own shares on the open market at current prices. This happens gradually over weeks or months. Repurchased shares are either cancelled or held as treasury stock. Cancelled shares permanently reduce the total share count. Fewer shares outstanding means earnings are divided across a smaller number of shares. Earnings per share increases even if the company's total profits stay the same. Note When shares are cancelled, earnings are divided across fewer shares. Earnings per share rises even if total profit stays the same. ## Do I have to sell my shares in a buyback? Buybacks happen on the open market. The company buys from whoever is willing to sell at the market price. You choose whether to participate. If you hold shares and do not sell, you benefit indirectly. Your shares represent a slightly larger ownership stake after the buyback reduces the total count. The exception is a tender offer. In a tender offer, a company directly asks shareholders to sell at a specific price. Even then, participation is your choice. ## What happens to stock prices after a buyback? Stock prices often rise after a buyback announcement. Markets tend to read it as a positive signal from company management. The actual price impact depends on broader market conditions. A buyback in a rising market may have limited additional effect. A buyback during a sell-off can help slow a decline. Over time, consistent buybacks tend to support stock prices. Fewer shares means each one captures a larger share of the company's future value. For active traders, buyback announcements are worth watching. They can create short-term momentum and shift sentiment around a stock quickly. --- # Market order vs limit order: which one should you use? https://cronos.com/learn/market-order-vs-limit-order A market order fills immediately at the current price. A limit order fills only at your chosen price. Learn which to use and when. When you place a trade, you choose how you want it to fill. A market order fills immediately at whatever the current price is. A limit order fills only when the price reaches a level you set. Understanding both gives you more control over how you trade. ## What is a market order? A market order tells the platform to buy or sell immediately at the best available price. It fills within seconds in most cases. Market orders are the simplest order type. You decide to buy or sell. The platform finds the best available counterparty and executes the trade. The main risk with market orders is slippage. In fast-moving markets, the price can shift between when you place the order and when it fills. On highly liquid assets like Bitcoin, Apple, or Nvidia, slippage is typically very small. On lower-volume assets, slippage can be more significant. ## What is a limit order? A limit order lets you set the exact price at which you want to buy or sell. The order only executes if the market reaches that price. If Bitcoin is trading at $82,000 and you want to buy at $80,000, you set a limit order at $80,000. The order waits. If Bitcoin drops to that level, your order fills. Limit orders give you price control. You will not pay more than your set price to buy, or receive less than your set price to sell. The trade-off is execution. If the price never reaches your limit, the order does not fill. You may miss the trade entirely. ## Which is better: market order or limit order? Market and limit orders serve different purposes and suit different situations. Market orders are useful when timing matters more than price. You want in or out immediately and accept the current price to make that happen. Limit orders are useful when price matters more than timing. You are willing to wait for a specific entry or exit level, knowing the trade may not fill. Many traders use both. They use limit orders to enter at a preferred price and market orders to exit quickly when needed. Tip When starting out, use limit orders to enter at a preferred price and market orders to exit quickly when needed. ## What are the 4 types of market orders? Beyond market and limit orders, most platforms offer stop orders, stop-limit orders, and trailing stops. A stop order triggers a market order when the price reaches a set level. Traders use stop orders to exit a position automatically if a trade moves against them. A stop-limit order combines a stop trigger with a limit price. When the stop triggers, a limit order is placed at your set price. This gives you more control on the exit. A trailing stop moves with the price. If you set a trailing stop 5% below the current price, it moves up as the price rises. If the price then falls 5%, the stop triggers. For most traders, market orders and limit orders cover the majority of use cases. The additional order types become useful as you develop more specific strategies. --- # Bitcoin vs Ethereum: which should you trade? https://cronos.com/learn/bitcoin-vs-ethereum Bitcoin and Ethereum are the two largest digital assets. Learn how they differ in purpose, price behavior, and what makes each one unique. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the two largest digital assets by market cap. Both run on blockchain technology. They were built for different purposes and behave differently as trading assets. This guide explains the key differences. ## Bitcoin vs Ethereum Bitcoin was launched in 2009 by an anonymous creator known as Satoshi Nakamoto. It was the first cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is designed as a store of value and a peer-to-peer payment system. Many traders compare it to digital gold. Its value comes from its scarcity and the size of its network. Bitcoin is the most widely traded digital asset. It has the largest market capitalization. It tends to be the benchmark against which other digital assets are measured. Note Bitcoin has a fixed supply of 21 million coins. No more can ever be created. This is written into its code. Scarcity is one of the main arguments for its long-term value. ## What is Ethereum? Ethereum was launched in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin along with co-founders including Gavin Wood and Joseph Lubin. It is a programmable blockchain. Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum is not just a currency. It is a platform for building decentralized applications. Smart contracts run on Ethereum. These are self-executing agreements that run automatically when conditions are met. Ethereum's coin is called Ether (ETH). It is used to pay for transactions and operations on the Ethereum network. Ethereum does not have a fixed supply. More ETH can be issued over time, though the rate is controlled. ## Bitcoin vs Ethereum: key differences Bitcoin is the simpler asset. Its purpose is clear: a store of value with a fixed supply. It tends to be less volatile than Ethereum. Ethereum is more complex. Its price is influenced by demand for ETH as a currency and by activity on its network. More apps and more transactions mean more demand for ETH. Bitcoin has the larger market cap and greater name recognition. Ethereum has a wider range of use cases. In broad market trends, the two tend to move in the same direction. Bitcoin often moves first. Ethereum often follows with a larger percentage move. ## Which should you trade? Both are widely available and liquid. Either is a reasonable starting point for someone new to digital assets. Bitcoin is often the first choice because of its simpler story and wider recognition. It is easier to explain why Bitcoin has value than why Ethereum does. Ethereum appeals to traders who want exposure to the broader crypto ecosystem and higher potential volatility. Many traders hold both. They serve different roles and tend not to cancel each other out. --- # Crypto or stocks: what is the difference? https://cronos.com/learn/crypto-or-stocks Stocks offer exposure to company performance. Crypto offers 24/7 markets and higher volatility. Learn the key differences before you decide. Stocks and crypto are both tradeable assets. They behave very differently. This guide explains the key differences so you can decide which fits your trading goals. ## How stocks and crypto differ A stock represents ownership in a company. Its price is connected to that company's performance. Strong earnings push prices up. Poor results push them down. A cryptocurrency is a digital asset that exists on a blockchain. It is not tied to any company. Its price is driven by supply, demand, adoption, and market sentiment. Stocks trade on regulated exchanges during fixed market hours. US exchanges operate Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 4:00pm Eastern Time. Crypto markets never close. They operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Prices can move at any time. ## Is it better to invest in stocks or crypto? Neither is better. They suit different trading styles and risk profiles. Stocks tend to be less volatile. Large, established companies move within a smaller range. They are subject to regulation and oversight. Crypto tends to be more volatile. Prices can move 10% or more in a single day. That volatility creates more opportunity for short-term traders. It also creates more risk. Some traders hold both. Stocks give exposure to company performance. Crypto gives exposure to a market that never closes and has the potential to behave differently from traditional investments. The right choice depends on your risk tolerance, how actively you want to trade, and how much time you have to monitor positions. ## Can I make $100 a day from crypto? It is possible. It is not guaranteed and it is not common for beginners. Making consistent daily returns requires an understanding of price movements, risk management, and market timing. These take time to develop. A more useful starting point is to focus on not losing money. Traders who manage risk well and avoid large losses are the ones who stay in the market long enough to improve. Start with a small amount. Learn how assets move. Increase position sizes only when you are consistently making informed decisions. --- # What is spot trading? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-spot-trading Spot trading means buying or selling an asset at its current market price for immediate delivery. Here is how it works. Spot trading is the most straightforward way to trade any asset. You buy at the current price, you own the asset, and you sell when you choose. This guide explains how it works and what to watch out for. ## What is spot trading? Spot trading means buying or selling an asset at its current market price. The transaction settles immediately or within a very short time. When you buy an asset on spot, you own it outright. If you buy $100 of Bitcoin at the spot price, you hold $100 worth of Bitcoin. If the price rises, your position is worth more. If it falls, it is worth less. Spot trading applies to both stocks and crypto. Most beginner trades are spot trades. It is the simplest form of trading Spot price is the current market price of an asset at any given moment. It changes constantly based on the balance of buyers and sellers. ## Is spot trading good for beginners? Spot trading is the best starting point for most beginners. You own the asset directly. You can only lose what you put in. There is no leverage, no margin, and no complex mechanics to understand. The risk is straightforward: the asset can fall in value. That is the only downside. Compare that to leveraged trading, where losses can exceed your deposit. Learning to trade spot well builds the foundation for more advanced strategies later. Understand how prices move and how to time entries and exits before adding leverage. Tip Learn to trade spot well before adding buying power. Understanding how prices move is the foundation for more advanced strategies. ## What is an example of a spot trade? You open your trading app and see Bitcoin trading at $80,000. You buy $100 worth. That is a spot trade. You now own $100 worth of Bitcoin at that price. A week later, Bitcoin is trading at $88,000. Your $100 position is now worth $110. You sell and receive $110. If Bitcoin had fallen to $72,000 instead, your position would be worth $90. You can hold and wait for a recovery, or sell and take the loss. ## What are the risks of spot trading? The main risk is price movement. Any asset can fall in value. Digital assets in particular can fall sharply and quickly. Liquidity is another risk. On low-volume assets, you may not be able to sell at the price you want. Stick to widely traded assets when starting out. Emotional decision-making is the most common mistake. Selling in panic when a price drops leads to poor outcomes. Set a plan before you enter a trade and stick to it. --- # What is buying power in trading? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-buying-power Understand how buying power expands position size and how to use it responsibly. Buying power is how much you can trade with your account. On some platforms, it equals your deposit. On others, the platform extends your buying power beyond what you put in. This guide explains how it works. ## What is the meaning of buying power? Buying power is the total value of positions you can open at any given time. It determines the maximum size of your trades. If your account holds $100 and your buying power is $100, you trade only what you deposited. That is 1x buying power. Some platforms offer multiplied buying power. If you have $100 and your buying power is $200, you are trading with 2x. The extra $100 is provided by the platform. This is leverage. On Ult, you can set your buying power multiplier. You control how much amplification you apply to your trades. ## How does buying power affect your trades? Higher buying power means you can open larger positions with the same deposit. A 10% price move on a $200 position is a $20 gain or loss. At 1x, on a $100 position, the same 10% move is only $10. The multiplier scales the outcome up or down proportionally. This works in both directions. Higher buying power amplifies gains and losses equally. A 10% adverse move at 2x results in a 20% loss on your deposit. Most platforms cap losses at your deposit. You will not owe more than what you put in. But a leveraged position can still lose its full value quickly. ## How do you increase your buying power? On Ult, you adjust your buying power by changing your multiplier. The choice is yours. A higher multiplier is not always better. It increases potential gains and potential losses by the same amount. New traders are better off starting at 1x. Trade only what you deposit until you have a clear sense of how assets move. Increase only when you are confident. Do not raise your multiplier after a losing trade. Using higher buying power to recover losses quickly is one of the fastest ways to deplete a trading account. --- # How to manage risk in trading https://cronos.com/learn/how-to-manage-risk-in-trading Learn position sizing, stop-losses, and rules that protect your account. Every trade carries risk. Risk management is how you control how much you can lose. Traders who manage risk well are the ones who stay in the market long enough to improve. This guide covers the key principles. ## What is risk management in trading? Risk management is the set of rules you follow to limit losses. It is not about avoiding risk. It is about controlling how much risk you take on any given trade. Without a risk management approach, one bad trade can wipe out the gains from many good ones. With it, you could protect your capital and keep yourself in the market. Two key tools are position sizing and stop-losses. Both put a cap on how much you can lose on a single trade. Risk management matters most when you are new to trading. Early losses are common. Keeping them small lets you stay active while you develop your approach. ## How do you manage risk when trading? The first step is to decide your maximum loss before you enter a trade. A common starting point is to risk no more than 1% to 2% of your account on any single trade. If your account balance is $500, a 2% limit means your maximum loss per trade is $10. That keeps any single trade from doing significant damage. Set a stop-loss before you open the position. A stop-loss closes your trade automatically if the price falls to a level you set. It removes the need to make decisions under pressure. Do not add to a losing trade in hopes of a recovery. Adding to a losing position amplifies the loss if the trade continues to move against you. ## What is the 1% rule in trading? The 1% rule means you never risk more than 1% of your total account balance on a single trade. On a $1,000 account, 1% is $10. That is your maximum acceptable loss per trade. If your stop-loss would result in a bigger loss, resize the position or skip the trade. The 1% rule helps you survive a losing streak. If you lose 10 trades in a row, you have only lost 10% of your account. That is recoverable. Many traders use a range of 1% to 2%. Above 2% per trade, a bad run of losses starts to do serious damage to your account balance. Tip If you lose 10 trades in a row at 1%, you have lost 10% of your account. That is recoverable. Above 2% per trade, a bad run starts to do serious damage. --- # How do tokenized stocks work? https://cronos.com/learn/how-do-tokenized-stocks-work Tokenized stocks are digital tokens backed by real shares. Learn how minting, custody, and on-chain ownership work, and what you actually own. A tokenized stock is a digital token that tracks the price of a real company's shares. Each token is typically backed by actual shares held by a regulated custodian, or by a financial contract that mirrors the price. This article explains how the mechanics work, what you actually own when you buy a tokenized stock, and what to check before getting started. ## How do tokenized stocks work? To issue tokenized stocks, a financial institution buys shares on a traditional stock exchange and deposits them with a licensed custodian. The custodian holds the real shares in reserve. The institution then issues an equivalent number of tokens on a blockchain, each representing a claim on one share or a fraction of one. The token price tracks the underlying share price in real time. If the company's shares rise 5%, the token rises by the same amount. When you buy a tokenized stock, the transaction is recorded on-chain and you hold the token. The custodian continues to hold the actual share on your behalf. When you sell, your token is retired and the custodian sells or transfers the underlying share on the traditional market. This process of creating tokens backed by real assets is called asset-backed tokenization. Not every platform uses this model. Some issue synthetic tokens that track a stock's price through a financial contract, without holding the underlying shares. These synthetics give you exposure to price movement but do not represent a claim on any real shares. Custodied vs. synthetic tokens Custodied tokens are backed by real shares held in reserve. Synthetic tokens track a price through a contract, with no underlying shares held. The two models carry different risk profiles, so check which your platform uses. ## What do you actually own with a tokenized stock? The answer depends on the platform and the type of token it issues. With a custodied token, you hold a digital claim on real shares held by a third-party custodian. You do not hold the shares directly in a brokerage account registered in your name, but the shares exist and your token represents a legal claim on them. Voting rights and dividends depend on the platform. Most platforms do not pass on voting rights. Some pass through dividends as cash, others reinvest them or do not pass them on. With a synthetic token, you hold a financial instrument that tracks the price of a stock, not a claim on any underlying shares. The economics follow the stock price, but the ownership structure is fundamentally different from holding custodied shares. The type of company also matters. Tokenized public company stocks, such as tokens tracking listed companies like Apple or Nvidia, track shares that trade on a regulated exchange with transparent, real-time pricing. Tokenized private company stocks, such as tokens tracking SpaceX or OpenAI, rely on secondary market valuations, which are updated less frequently and with less certainty. Private company tokens carry extra uncertainty Private company shares are illiquid and not publicly traded. Their valuation depends on secondary market estimates, which update less frequently than exchange prices. ## What to know before buying a tokenized stock Tokenized stocks carry the same market risk as ordinary shares. If the underlying company falls in value, your token falls with it. They also carry platform risk that ordinary shares do not. If the issuer encounters problems or closes, your ability to recover your position depends on how the custody model is structured. For custodied tokens, the shares are held by a third-party custodian separate from the platform. Whether that relationship survives a platform closure depends on the legal structure, so read the platform's terms and custody documentation before buying. Regulatory requirements vary by region. In the European Union, platforms issuing tokenized securities must comply with applicable securities regulations alongside the MiCA digital assets framework. In the United States, tokenized securities fall under SEC oversight. Some offerings, particularly tokenized private company stocks, require accredited investor status. Check what is available and permitted in your country. Liquidity is worth checking even for tokens that track publicly listed companies. The token itself may have lower trading volume than the underlying share, which means spreads can be wider and exiting a position can take longer. ## FAQ **Do you get dividends from tokenized stocks?** It depends on the platform. Some platforms that issue custodied tokens pass through dividends as cash when the underlying company pays one. Others reinvest dividends or do not pass them on at all. Check the platform's terms before assuming dividend access. **Are tokenized stocks regulated?** Regulatory status varies by region and platform. In the EU, tokenized securities must comply with securities laws and the MiCA framework. In the US, they fall under SEC oversight. Always check whether the platform you use is licensed to operate in your country. **What happens to my tokens if the platform shuts down?** For custodied tokenized stocks, the underlying shares are held by a third-party custodian separate from the platform. Whether that custody arrangement survives a platform closure depends on the legal structure of the product. Read the platform's terms and custody documentation to understand how your assets are protected. --- # What are real-world assets (RWA) in crypto? https://cronos.com/learn/what-are-real-world-assets Real-world assets (RWA) in crypto are tokenized versions of bonds, real estate, and similar assets. Learn how they work and what to check before buying. Real-world assets (RWA) in crypto are digital tokens backed by physical or traditional financial assets that exist off-chain, such as government bonds, real estate, or private credit. Each token represents ownership of, or a claim on, the underlying asset. This article explains how RWA tokenization works, what you actually hold when you buy an RWA token, and what to check before getting involved. ## What are real-world assets (RWA) in crypto? Real-world assets in crypto are digital tokens that represent a claim on a physical or traditional financial asset. Common examples include government treasury bills, money market funds, corporate bonds, real estate, and private credit — issued as tokens on a blockchain. The key distinction between RWAs and most crypto tokens is where their value comes from. An RWA token's value is tied to an off-chain asset, not to blockchain activity or token supply dynamics. If the underlying asset pays interest, the token holder receives a proportional return. If the asset falls in value, the token falls with it. RWA tokenization has attracted major institutional participants. BlackRock's BUIDL fund, a tokenized treasury product on Ethereum, crossed $1 billion in assets under management in 2024. Franklin Templeton and JPMorgan have both issued tokenized fund products. The Boston Consulting Group projects the tokenized asset market could reach $16 trillion by 2030. Not all tokens labelled "RWA" work the same way. Some represent direct asset ownership. Others represent a yield-bearing claim on a pooled fund. Some are governance tokens for protocols that deal in RWAs, which is a different thing entirely: the governance token gives you voting rights over the protocol, not exposure to the underlying assets it manages. RWA tokens vs. governance tokens A protocol like Ondo Finance issues both USDY, a yield-bearing token backed by US treasuries, and ONDO, a governance token for the protocol. These are different products. Buying ONDO does not give you exposure to treasury yield. ## How does RWA tokenization work? Tokenization converts a traditional asset into a blockchain token through a structured process involving asset custody, a legal wrapper, and a token issuance mechanism. The issuer first acquires the underlying asset, such as US Treasury bills, and holds it inside a legal entity or special-purpose vehicle. The issuer then creates tokens on a blockchain, each representing a proportional claim on the assets held. Token holders receive returns proportional to their holdings, distributed on-chain. When a token holder wants to exit, they submit a redemption request, the issuer sells or redeems the underlying asset, and the proceeds are returned. Price oracles connect the off-chain asset value to the on-chain token. An oracle feeds real-time valuation data to the blockchain so the token price reflects what the underlying asset is currently worth. The integrity of this price feed is critical: if the oracle fails or is manipulated, the token price decouples from the actual asset value. Access is not open to everyone Most RWA token products require KYC verification and whitelist approval before you can buy. Some are further restricted to accredited investors or users in specific jurisdictions. Check eligibility on the issuing platform before assuming you can participate. ## What to know before buying RWA tokens RWA tokens carry both the market risk of the underlying asset and the additional risks of the blockchain and issuer layer. These risks stack on top of each other rather than cancel out. Issuer risk means your returns depend on the issuer managing the underlying assets correctly and remaining solvent. If the issuer defaults, the assets held in the special-purpose vehicle may be recoverable through legal process, but the outcome is not guaranteed and the process can be slow. Regulatory status varies significantly by jurisdiction. In the EU, tokenized securities fall under existing securities laws alongside the MiCA digital assets framework. In the US, the SEC treats most tokenized securities as regulated securities, with availability to retail investors depending on the specific product. Check what is accessible and legally available in your country. Smart contract risk is a layer that traditional asset ownership does not carry. The token issuance and redemption process runs on code. Bugs or exploits in the smart contract can affect access to funds. Look for products that have been independently audited and have a clear incident response process. ## FAQ **What is the difference between an RWA token and a DeFi governance token?** An RWA token is backed by an off-chain asset such as a treasury bond or real estate, and its value comes from that underlying asset. A governance token gives you voting rights over a protocol that works with RWAs, but does not give you exposure to the assets themselves. The two types serve different purposes and carry different risk profiles. Always check which type a token is before buying. **Do I need KYC to buy RWA tokens?** Most RWA token products require KYC verification and whitelist approval before you can purchase. Some products are further restricted to accredited investors or users in specific jurisdictions. Check the eligibility requirements on the issuing platform before attempting to buy. **What are some examples of real-world assets in crypto?** Common examples include tokenized US Treasury bills such as BlackRock BUIDL and Ondo Finance USDY, tokenized money market funds such as Franklin Templeton's OnChain US Government Money Fund, tokenized real estate, and tokenized private credit. By assets under management, tokenized government securities are the largest category. --- # What is a stablecoin and what does reserve backing mean? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-stablecoin-reserve-backing Stablecoins are crypto tokens pegged to a stable value. Learn how reserve backing works and what to check before using one. Stablecoins are cryptocurrency tokens designed to maintain a fixed value, typically pegged 1:1 to the US dollar. Reserve backing is the mechanism behind that peg: the actual assets held to support each token in circulation. This article explains how stablecoins work, what reserve backing means in practice, and what to verify before using one. ## What is a stablecoin? A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency token designed to hold a constant price, most often equal to one US dollar. Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, whose prices shift with market demand, a stablecoin targets a fixed value. The most widely used stablecoins are USDT (Tether), USDC (Circle), and DAI. USDT and USDC are fiat-backed, meaning each token is meant to be supported by cash or cash-equivalent reserves held by the issuer. DAI uses a different approach: it is issued against crypto deposits worth more than the tokens created, rather than fiat currency (traditional currency like the US dollar) held by a central issuer. Stablecoins are used across the crypto ecosystem for trading, cross-border transfers, earning yield in decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms, and settling payments without converting back to fiat. On centralised exchanges, stablecoin pairs let traders move between volatile assets without leaving crypto. A third category exists: algorithmic stablecoins. These use automated mechanisms, such as creating and destroying tokens in response to demand, to try to hold a peg. They do not rely on asset reserves the same way fiat-backed stablecoins do. Algorithmic stablecoins carry extra risk In 2022, the TerraUSD (UST) algorithmic stablecoin lost its peg and collapsed to near zero within days. Unlike reserve-backed stablecoins, algorithmic designs have no underlying assets to fall back on if the mechanism breaks down. ## How does reserve backing work? Reserve backing means the issuer holds real assets equal in value to the tokens it has issued. For a fiat-backed stablecoin like USDC, Circle holds US dollars, Treasury bills, or other short-term instruments in regulated financial institutions. When you buy 100 USDC, the issuer is meant to hold $100.00 in reserve. When you redeem it, those reserves fund the payout. The peg holds as long as the reserves are real, sufficient, and accessible. The quality and transparency of those reserves vary across issuers. Some hold purely cash and short-term government securities. Others have historically held a mix including commercial paper (short-term corporate debt) and other instruments that carry more credit risk. This distinction matters when conditions tighten. Attestations are regular statements from an accounting firm confirming that reserves exist at a point in time. A full audit is a more rigorous review of how those reserves are held and whether the accounting is accurate. Most stablecoin issuers publish attestations. Full audits are less common. Attestation vs. audit An attestation confirms reserves exist at a point in time. An audit verifies how the numbers were calculated. They are not the same level of assurance. ## What to check before using a stablecoin Not every stablecoin carries the same risk. A few things to look at before using one. Reserve transparency: Does the issuer publish regular reserve reports? Are they attested by a recognised accounting firm? How often are they published? USDC publishes monthly attestations. USDT has faced scrutiny over the composition of its reserves and has improved disclosure over time. Asset quality: Cash is the safest reserve asset. Short-term US Treasury bills are close behind. Commercial paper, corporate bonds, and loans introduce credit risk. Check the reserve composition before assuming a stablecoin is fully backed by cash. Redeemability: Can you redeem the stablecoin directly with the issuer for fiat currency? USDC allows direct redemption through Circle's platform. Many retail users interact with stablecoins only through exchanges, which adds a layer between the holder and the issuer. Know the path your redemption actually takes. Regulatory status: Fiat-backed stablecoins issued by regulated entities in the US, EU, or UK operate under growing regulatory frameworks. Stablecoins issued outside regulated jurisdictions carry more issuer-specific risk. ## FAQ **Are all stablecoins backed the same way?** No. Fiat-backed stablecoins like USDC and USDT hold cash or cash-equivalent assets. Crypto-backed stablecoins like DAI are issued against crypto deposits worth more than the tokens created. Algorithmic stablecoins use code-driven mechanisms and hold no direct reserves. Each type carries a different risk profile. **What happens if a stablecoin loses its peg?** A stablecoin loses its peg when confidence in the backing breaks down, reserves are insufficient, or a stabilisation mechanism fails. Prices fall sharply and redemptions often stop or become delayed. The 2022 UST collapse is the most cited example, though it was algorithmic rather than reserve-backed. **Do stablecoins pay interest?** Stablecoins themselves do not pay interest. Crypto lending platforms that lend your stablecoins to borrowers, or protocols that deploy them into liquidity strategies, pay a yield. That yield comes from the activity the stablecoins are used in, not from the token itself. --- # What is the Crypto Clarity Act? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-crypto-clarity-act The Crypto Clarity Act is US legislation that defines whether crypto assets are securities or commodities. Learn what it means for crypto holders. The Crypto Clarity Act is a piece of US legislation designed to establish clear rules for how digital assets are classified and regulated. It determines which crypto assets fall under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and which fall under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). This article explains what the act proposes, how it affects people who hold crypto, and what to track as it develops. ## What is the Crypto Clarity Act? The Crypto Clarity Act is US federal legislation designed to resolve a long-standing regulatory dispute between two agencies: the SEC and the CFTC. The central question the act addresses is whether a crypto asset is a security or a commodity. Securities are regulated by the SEC and include instruments like stocks and bonds. Commodities are regulated by the CFTC and include assets like oil, gold, and, under existing law, Bitcoin and Ethereum. For years, many crypto tokens sat in an undefined space between the two, creating legal uncertainty for exchanges, issuers, and users. The act proposes a classification framework built around decentralisation. A token issued by a sufficiently decentralised blockchain network would be classified as a digital commodity under CFTC oversight. Tokens issued in connection with investment in a centralised project would remain securities under SEC jurisdiction. The act also creates disclosure requirements for token issuers who want their assets treated as digital commodities. This is US regulation The Crypto Clarity Act applies to US markets and entities. Crypto holders outside the United States are not directly subject to it, though US regulatory decisions influence global market structure and exchange listing practices. ## How does it affect crypto holders? For most retail holders, the direct impact of the Crypto Clarity Act depends on where their exchange operates and which assets it lists. US-based crypto exchanges currently navigate legal uncertainty around which tokens they can list. The SEC has taken enforcement actions against exchanges for listing tokens it considers unregistered securities. The Crypto Clarity Act would give exchanges a clearer compliance path: tokens meeting the decentralisation threshold go to CFTC-regulated spot markets, and the rest remain under SEC rules. A clearer framework gives exchanges a stronger basis for listing or delisting specific assets. For holders, this translates to two practical effects. First, assets confirmed as digital commodities face less regulatory removal risk on US exchanges. Second, assets that remain classified as securities face stricter listing requirements, reducing their availability on some platforms. Neither outcome is a reason to buy or sell based on regulatory classification alone. Tax treatment is separate The Crypto Clarity Act does not change how crypto gains are taxed. Tax treatment in the US is governed by IRS rules, which treat most crypto sales as taxable events regardless of whether the asset is classified as a commodity or a security. ## What to watch as the law develops The Crypto Clarity Act has been introduced and revised across multiple sessions of Congress. Passing requires agreement between both chambers, and the final text that becomes law will differ from earlier versions. The clearest signal of where things stand is exchange behavior, not legislative news. US exchanges respond to regulatory signals before laws are finalised. If a major US exchange adds or removes a significant token category, it often reflects how that platform is reading the current and expected legal environment. Court outcomes in SEC and CFTC enforcement cases against exchanges and token issuers also shape the regulatory boundary in practice, independently of what Congress passes. For users outside the United States, the EU's MiCA regulation, which came into effect in 2024, creates a comparable classification framework for European markets. Australia, Singapore, and other jurisdictions are developing their own frameworks. The regulatory environment for crypto users is shaped by local rules, not only US decisions. Check what applies in your country. ## FAQ **Has the Crypto Clarity Act been passed into law?** As of mid-2026, the Crypto Clarity Act has not been enacted as final law. Various versions have been introduced across several legislative sessions. The final text, timeline, and scope remain subject to the legislative process. Check current news sources for the latest status. **Does the act affect people outside the United States?** The act applies to US entities and markets. However, US regulatory decisions affect which tokens are listed on globally-used exchanges and how international platforms design their compliance. If you are outside the US, your local regulatory framework governs what you can access. **What is the difference between a security and a commodity in crypto?** A security represents an investment in a business with an expectation of profit from others' efforts, defined by the Howey Test in US law. A commodity is a fungible asset traded on its own market dynamics, like Bitcoin. Under the Clarity Act framework, the distinction for crypto turns largely on how decentralised the underlying network is. --- # Ult vs Robinhood Wallet: what is the difference? https://cronos.com/learn/cronos-app-vs-robinhood-wallet Robinhood Wallet is a self-custody app running on Robinhood Chain. Here is how it compares to Ult on custody, assets, and access. Robinhood launched its own blockchain, Robinhood Chain, on July 1, 2026, and its self-custody app, Robinhood Wallet, now runs on it. This guide explains how the two compare on what matters: who holds your assets, what you can trade, and where you can use it. ## Overview Robinhood Wallet is a self-custody app, which means you hold the private keys to your own assets. It is a separate app from the main Robinhood brokerage app. In it you can store, send, receive, and swap crypto, connect to decentralized apps, hold NFTs, and trade perpetual futures through a decentralized exchange called Lighter. Robinhood Chain is the blockchain, launched July 1, 2026, and Robinhood Wallet supports it natively. Chain is built on the Arbitrum technology stack and adds on-chain trading and lending. The Chain launch also brought stock tokens into Robinhood Wallet. According to Robinhood's own announcement, these stock tokens are tokenized debt securities that track a share's price. They do not give you ownership of the actual share. Ult is a mobile-first trading app that puts stocks, crypto, and prediction markets in one account. It is available in 183 countries, with up to 10x buying power.* Like Robinhood Wallet, it is non-custodial, so you hold your own assets rather than the platform holding them for you. Ult runs 24/7 with no closing bell, and uses a personalized For You feed that surfaces trades based on what you pay attention to. It is built for a global Gen Z audience, with a clean interface and no crypto jargon. Ult is built on the Cronos Network, supported by Crypto.com. ## How do the two compare? Both apps are self-custody, so on the core question of who holds your assets, they are aligned. The differences show up in scope. Ult is built around trading stocks, crypto, and prediction markets in one place across 183 countries. Robinhood Wallet is built around crypto self-custody across many networks, with stock tokens as the newer addition through Robinhood Chain. On the stock side, both use tokenized products rather than direct share ownership, so it helps to understand how tokenized stocks work before choosing either. Check availability in your country Robinhood stock tokens are available in 120+ countries but not in the US, and are restricted in Canada, the UK, Switzerland, and the UAE. Ult covers 183 countries with spot-only trading in the US. ## Which platform is right for you? Choose Robinhood Wallet if your main focus is crypto self-custody across many networks, you want to swap tokens and connect to decentralized apps, and you are interested in trading stock tokens on Robinhood Chain where they are available. It fits someone already in the crypto ecosystem who wants a multi-network wallet. Choose Ult if you want stocks, crypto, and prediction markets in one non-custodial account, with up to 10x buying power. Its 183-country reach, prediction markets, and For You feed are built for a global audience that wants every asset class in one place. Both apps are self-custody and both use tokenized products for stocks rather than handing you a traditional share certificate, so the decision comes down to asset range, network support, and where you live. If you are still weighing whether to focus on stocks or crypto in the first place, that is worth settling before you pick a platform. Buying power and product availability vary by jurisdiction. --- # What is Open USD, the stablecoin from the Visa, Mastercard and BlackRock consortium? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-open-usd Open USD is a new consortium stablecoin. Learn who is really behind it and how it compares to USDC. Open USD is a new stablecoin announced by a large group of finance and technology companies, and the headlines everywhere say it is "backed by Visa, Mastercard and BlackRock." This guide explains what Open USD actually is, what that backing claim really means, and how it compares to USDC, the stablecoin most people already know. ## What is Open USD? Open USD, ticker OUSD, is a stablecoin created by Open Standard, a consortium of more than 140 finance and technology companies. A stablecoin is a digital token designed to hold a steady value, usually one US dollar, so it can be used for payments and trading without the price swings of other crypto assets. Open USD is built to always be worth about $1.00. The important thing to know is that Open USD is not live yet. Open Standard announced it in mid-2026 and has said it will launch later in the year, starting on the Solana blockchain, with other networks planned afterward. Until it launches, there is no Open USD you can actually buy or hold. Because it is still being built, many of the details that matter most for a stablecoin are not public. Open Standard has not yet named the bank or fund manager that will hold the reserves, the firm that will audit those reserves, or the regulated company that will legally issue the token. That makes Open USD a promising announcement rather than a finished product for now. Not live yet Open USD was announced in 2026 and is expected to launch later that year. Details described here come from Open Standard's own announcements and may change before launch. ## Is Open USD really backed by Visa, Mastercard and BlackRock? Not in the way the headlines suggest. For a stablecoin, "backed by" normally means the reserves that stand behind the token, the cash and safe assets a holder can redeem their coin for. Open Standard has not named Visa, Mastercard or BlackRock as the manager or custodian of those reserves. What these three companies actually are is launch partners in the Open Standard consortium. Visa and Mastercard bring payment-network reach, the rails for spending Open USD widely. BlackRock is listed as a partner that lends asset-management and custody credibility. Those are commercial and strategic roles, not confirmed reserve backing. It is worth noting that BlackRock already manages the reserve fund behind USDC, so its presence in a partner list does not make Open USD the same as USDC. The accurate way to describe it is that Open USD comes from a consortium that includes Visa, Mastercard and BlackRock as launch partners. Until Open Standard names who holds and audits the reserves, no one can confirm what truly backs the token. Two different OUSD tokens Open USD shares its OUSD ticker with Origin Dollar, an older and unrelated stablecoin. Check the issuer before assuming you are looking at the same project. ## Open USD vs USDC USDC, issued by Circle, is one of the most established stablecoins and a useful benchmark for any newcomer. The clearest difference today is maturity: USDC has been live since 2018 and publishes regular reserve reports, while Open USD has not launched and has not yet disclosed its reserves or auditor. For someone comparing the two, the takeaway is simple. USDC is a working product with public reserve reporting you can check today. Open USD is an announcement from a well-known group of companies, and its most important safety details will only become clear when it launches. Neither of these facts is a recommendation to use one over the other, they are just what is known right now. ## FAQ **Is Open USD live yet?** No. Open Standard announced Open USD in 2026 and has said it will launch later that year, starting on the Solana blockchain. Until then there is no Open USD to buy or hold. **Is Open USD safe to use?** It is too early to say. The reserves, custodian and auditor behind Open USD have not been named, so the details that usually help you judge a stablecoin's safety are not yet public. USDC, by comparison, publishes monthly reserve attestations you can review today. --- # What is pre-market trading, and why can you only trade stocks during certain hours? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-pre-market-trading Pre-market trading lets you buy and sell stocks before the market officially opens. Here is how it works, the session times, and what to watch out for. Pre-market trading is the session that runs before a stock exchange opens for the day. This article explains what pre-market and after-hours sessions are, why stocks have fixed trading hours when crypto does not, and what to watch out for if you place an order outside regular market hours. ## What is pre-market trading? Pre-market trading is stock trading that happens before an exchange's official opening time. In the US, the NYSE and Nasdaq open at 9:30 AM Eastern Time. Pre-market runs from around 4:00 AM to 9:30 AM ET, with most activity picking up between 8:00 AM and 9:30 AM when more traders are online. Trading in these hours happens through electronic communication networks, or ECNs. ECNs match buyers and sellers directly without routing through the full exchange infrastructure. Most retail brokers give access to some portion of pre-market hours, though the exact window varies by platform. Pre-market prices reflect news that broke after the previous close: earnings reports, economic data releases, and events that happened overnight. That is why the price you see at 8:00 AM is often different from the closing price from the night before. After-hours trading is the mirror session on the other side of the day. It runs from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM ET, after the closing bell. ## Why do stocks have trading hours when crypto does not? Stock exchanges set fixed trading hours because they need enough buyers and sellers active at the same time to price assets fairly. When the market opens, all the overnight news gets processed simultaneously by thousands of participants. That simultaneous activity is what creates efficient pricing. Pre-market and after-hours sessions have far fewer participants. That creates two practical problems. First, the bid-ask spread widens: the gap between what buyers will pay and what sellers will accept grows because there is less competition on both sides. Second, prices can swing sharply on smaller amounts of trading volume, because a single large order has more influence when the pool of counterparties is thin. Crypto markets run 24/7 with continuous global liquidity, which is why you do not see a pre-market session on a crypto exchange. Stock exchanges were built around a system of market makers and specialists whose job is to ensure orderly pricing, and that system operates during a defined window. Nasdaq has announced plans to extend US equity trading toward 23 hours a day, which would significantly narrow the gap between stock and crypto market hours. That change is expected to roll out in 2026. ## What to know before trading pre-market Pre-market trading is not off limits to beginners, but a few things are worth understanding before you place an order outside regular hours. Most brokers restrict pre-market sessions to limit orders only. A limit order sets the maximum price you are willing to pay (or the minimum you will accept when selling). This is a practical safeguard: it protects you from filling at an unexpectedly bad price when spreads are wide and the order book is thin. Market orders, which fill at whatever price is currently available, are typically blocked during extended hours for exactly that reason. Pre-market prices do not guarantee the opening price. A stock trading at $50.00 in pre-market can open at $47.00 when regular hours begin. Extended-hours prices reflect a small subset of the day's participants and are not a reliable preview of where the full market will settle. Because pre-market volume is low, a single large order can move a stock's displayed price more than it would during regular hours. Check the volume before placing a trade. If it is very thin, your limit order may not fill at all, or may only fill partially. Check the order book before going in. Low pre-market volume means wider spreads and a higher chance of a partial fill. A quick look at the depth of the order book tells you what you are actually working with. ## FAQ **What time does pre-market trading start?** In the US, pre-market trading typically starts at 4:00 AM Eastern Time and runs until the market opens at 9:30 AM ET. Most retail brokers offer a shorter window, often starting at 7:00 AM or 8:00 AM. Check your broker's specific hours before placing an early order. **Why are pre-market prices different from the opening price?** Pre-market prices are set by a small number of buyers and sellers via ECNs, not the full exchange. When the market opens, far more participants join at once, which resets how the price is discovered. That flood of new orders often pushes the opening price away from where pre-market left it. **Can I trade stocks before the market opens?** Yes, if your broker supports extended-hours trading. Most platforms restrict pre-market orders to limit orders and limit which stocks you can trade outside regular hours. Check your broker's settings to see what access you have. --- # What is a token unlock, and why does the price sometimes drop? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-a-token-unlock A token unlock releases previously locked crypto into circulation on a set schedule. Here is why unlocks happen and why prices sometimes drop. A token unlock is when crypto that was locked and unavailable becomes free to move and trade, following a schedule set when the project launched. This article explains why tokens get locked in the first place, what happens on unlock day, and why the price sometimes drops but does not always. ## What is a token unlock? A token unlock is the scheduled release of crypto that was previously locked. When many new projects launch, they do not make every token available at once. A large share is locked for months or years, then released gradually over time. The clearest way to picture it is like employee shares at a company. A new hire might be promised shares, but they cannot sell them straight away. They earn the right to sell over time. Locked tokens work the same way, and the timetable for releasing them is called a vesting schedule. If you have ever seen a coin drop on a specific date for no obvious news reason, an unlock is often why. It is a planned event, written into the project from the start, not a surprise. An unlock is not a hack. A token unlock is a scheduled release written into the project at launch. It is not a hack, a rug pull, or a sign the project has failed. ## Why are tokens locked in the first place? Tokens get locked to stop everyone from selling at once. When a project launches, the team, early investors, and various funds all hold large amounts. If they could sell everything on day one, the price would collapse and long-term holders would be left exposed. Locking those tokens forces the insiders to stay committed. They only get access to their tokens slowly, which lines up their interests with the health of the project over time. Unlocks usually follow one of two patterns. A cliff means nothing unlocks for a set period, then a large chunk releases all at once. Linear vesting means tokens release in small, steady amounts, often monthly, over a long stretch. Many projects combine the two: a cliff first, then linear releases after. ## Why does the price sometimes drop? An unlock increases the number of tokens available to trade. Basic supply and demand says that if more tokens hit the market and demand stays the same, the price can fall. That is the fear that surrounds big unlock dates. But a drop is not guaranteed. The price only falls if the people receiving the tokens actually sell them. If they hold, the extra supply sits idle and little happens. Who is unlocking matters too: tokens going to a long-term ecosystem fund behave very differently from tokens going to early investors looking to take profit. Sometimes the price even moves before the unlock, as traders anticipate the event and adjust early. To judge an unlock, it helps to know two numbers. Circulating supply is how many tokens are tradable right now. Total supply is how many exist in total, including the locked ones still waiting to be released. A coin with a small circulating supply but a large total supply has a lot of future unlocks still to come. Check the unlock schedule first. Before buying a newer token, look up its vesting schedule on a token unlock tracker. It shows you how much supply is still waiting to be released. ## FAQ **Does a token unlock always make the price go down?** No. An unlock adds tradable supply, which can push the price down if recipients sell. But if they hold their tokens, little may happen. The price impact depends on whether the unlocked tokens are actually sold, and by whom. **What is the difference between a cliff and linear vesting?** A cliff locks tokens fully for a set period, then releases a large batch at once. Linear vesting releases tokens in small, steady amounts over time, often monthly. Many projects use a cliff first, followed by linear releases. **Where can I check when a token unlocks?** Several free token unlock trackers publish vesting schedules, showing upcoming release dates and how much supply is involved. Checking the schedule before buying a newer token tells you how much future supply is still locked. --- # Crypto marketplace vs exchange: what is the difference? https://cronos.com/learn/crypto-marketplace-vs-exchange Crypto marketplace and crypto exchange are often used to mean the same thing. Here is what each term really means and how the models differ. Crypto marketplace and crypto exchange are often used to mean the same thing, which is why the difference confuses so many people. This comparison explains what each term actually refers to, how the underlying models differ, and how to tell which one you are using. ## What "crypto marketplace" means "Crypto marketplace" is not a precise technical term. It gets used in three different ways, and knowing which one someone means clears up most of the confusion. The first use is a peer-to-peer marketplace. Here you browse listings from individual sellers, pick one, and trade directly with that person. The seller sets their own price and accepts payment methods a normal exchange would not, like a bank transfer or a local payment app. The platform holds the funds in escrow until both sides complete the deal. The second use is an NFT marketplace, where people buy and sell one-of-a-kind digital items rather than regular cryptocurrencies. That is a separate topic and works differently from trading fungible crypto. The third use is simply a friendlier word for "exchange." Many platforms call themselves a marketplace because it sounds more approachable than "exchange." In that case there is no real difference at all, it is just marketing language. Marketplace can mean three things. The word covers peer-to-peer trading, NFT platforms, and plain exchanges. When you see it, check which one is meant before assuming anything. ## What "crypto exchange" means A crypto exchange is a platform that matches buyers and sellers automatically using an order book. You place an order, and the exchange's system pairs it with someone on the other side at the current market price. You never deal with a specific person, the engine handles the match for you. This is the model most people use to buy crypto. Prices update live based on supply and demand, and trades happen in seconds. A centralised exchange run by a company is the most common starting point for beginners. There is also a third model worth knowing: a broker. With a broker, you buy from the platform itself at a price it quotes you, rather than being matched with another user. Many simple "buy crypto" buttons work this way behind the scenes, with the platform taking a small spread on the price. ## Which one is right for you? Choose a crypto exchange if you want the standard experience: fast trades, live market prices, and a simple app. This is what most people mean when they talk about buying crypto, and it is the easiest place to start. Choose a peer-to-peer marketplace if you need a payment method that regular exchanges do not support, or if exchange access is limited where you live. It takes more care, since you are trading with an individual, so stick to platforms with escrow and check the seller's history. If a platform calls itself a "marketplace" but works with a buy button and live prices, it is really an exchange or a broker with a softer name. In that case, ignore the label and focus on what matters: who you are trading with, what fees you pay, and who holds your funds. --- # What is the crypto fear and greed index, and how is it calculated? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-the-crypto-fear-and-greed-index The crypto fear and greed index scores market sentiment from 0 to 100. Here is what it measures, how it is calculated, and what it cannot tell you. The crypto fear and greed index turns market sentiment into a single number between 0 and 100. This guide covers what that number measures, how the score is put together, and what a fear or greed reading does and does not tell you. ## What is the crypto fear and greed index? The crypto fear and greed index is a daily sentiment score for the Bitcoin market, published by Alternative.me on a scale of 0 to 100. Low means traders are fearful, high means they are greedy, and every reading carries one of five labels: extreme fear, fear, neutral, greed, or extreme greed. Alternative.me publishes the labels but not the exact cut-offs between them. The readings themselves show where the lines sit. Across 3,130 daily readings from 1 February 2018 to 31 August 2026, anything at 25 or below has been labelled extreme fear, 26 to 46 fear, 47 to 54 neutral, 55 to 75 greed, and 76 or above extreme greed. Two things stand out in that history. The index has never printed below 5 or above 95, so the ends of the scale are theoretical rather than lived. And the middle of the range is where it spends most of its time: fear covers 29% of all days, greed 26%, extreme fear 24%, neutral 13%, and extreme greed just 9%. Those shares are rounded to the nearest point, so they total a little over 100. Adding the two fear bands together, the market this index describes has been frightened on slightly more than half of all the days it has measured. August 2026 shows how quickly the number travels. The index read 25 and extreme fear on 6 August, stayed in fear every day through 19 August, flipped to greed on 20 August, peaked at 74 on 25 August, and sat at 62 on 31 August, the day these readings were taken. ## How is the crypto fear and greed index calculated? The published methodology lists six inputs, each scored separately and then blended using fixed weights. Five of the six are currently active. Volatility accounts for 25% of the result and market momentum and volume for another 25%. Social media contributes 15%, surveys 15%, Bitcoin dominance 10%, and search trends the final 10%. Each input is a different angle on the same question. Volatility compares current price swings and drawdowns against their 30 and 90 day averages, so unusual turbulence registers as fear. Momentum and volume compare current buying against those same averages, so heavy buying into a rising market registers as greed. Social media tracks how much Bitcoin related posting is happening and how fast people engage with it. Dominance is Bitcoin's share of total crypto market value, which tends to rise when traders retreat from smaller coins. Search trends looks at the volume and wording of Bitcoin searches, where a surge in worried phrasing counts as fear. One of those six is not currently running. One input is switched off The surveys component, a weekly poll of traders, is marked "currently paused" by Alternative.me, which still lists it at 15%. It does not publish how that share is handled while the poll is off, so treat the weights above as the documented design rather than an exact recipe for today's reading. ## What does a fear or greed reading actually tell you? Most traders read the index as a contrarian gauge. The logic is the old market line about being fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful: extreme fear is taken to mean sellers have overshot, extreme greed that buyers have. That interpretation is the reason the number gets quoted at all. It is worth knowing what the score is built from before leaning on it. Volatility and momentum together make up half the weight, and both are calculated from price and volume. A large part of the index is therefore a restatement of what the price has just done, presented as a mood reading. When the index climbs, it climbs mostly because the price did. It describes the market it measures, and describing is not the same as pointing ahead of it. Where the reading earns real attention is what tends to build underneath it. Long stretches of greed are when leverage accumulates, because a rising price makes borrowed positions look cheap to carry. Crowded leverage is what turns an ordinary fall into a fast one: positions that cross their maintenance level get closed automatically, and each forced sale pushes the price toward the next one. Read that way, a greed reading is a prompt to check your own exposure and what a sharp move would do to it, not a prompt to trade. Sentiment is not a timing tool The index held extreme greed for 76 days straight from November 2020 to January 2021, and extreme fear for 74 days straight in mid 2022. It tells you what conditions look like now, never when they will change. ## FAQ **Is the crypto fear and greed index the same as the stock market one?** No. The stock market version, published by CNN, blends seven equally weighted indicators of stock market behaviour, among them options activity, junk bond demand, and the VIX volatility index. The crypto index uses entirely different inputs and weights them unequally. Both run from 0 to 100 and share a name, and that is where the overlap ends. **How often does the index update?** Once a day. Alternative.me has published a daily reading since 1 February 2018, with only two short gaps in more than eight years, so the index is a continuous daily series rather than a live ticker. **Does the index cover all cryptocurrencies?** It covers Bitcoin. Alternative.me states the index is Bitcoin focused for now, with separate indices for other coins planned. Because Bitcoin is the largest single share of crypto market value and other coins often follow its direction, the reading gets quoted as a whole market mood, but the inputs behind it are Bitcoin's. --- # What is a short squeeze, and how does it work? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-a-short-squeeze A short squeeze is when traders betting against an asset are forced to buy it back, pushing the price higher. Here is how the loop works, in plain terms. A short squeeze is a sharp price rise driven by traders who bet against an asset being forced to buy it back. This guide covers how short selling sets the trap, why the buying feeds on itself, and how the same loop now runs in crypto. ## What is a short squeeze? A short squeeze happens when the price of a heavily shorted asset rises far enough to force short sellers to close their positions, and closing those positions means buying, which pushes the price up further. To see why that matters, start with the short itself. A short seller borrows an asset, sells it immediately, and plans to buy it back later at a lower price to return it. The profit is the gap between the two prices. It is a bet on a fall, and it is the only common trade where the possible loss has no natural ceiling: an asset you bought can only fall to zero, but an asset you owe can rise without limit. That open-ended risk is what makes the squeeze possible. Shorts are held on borrowed terms and backed by margin, so as the price climbs, the loss grows and the collateral behind the position shrinks. At some point the broker or exchange demands more funds, and if the trader cannot or will not add them, the position gets closed. The closing order is a buy. The word for that is covering, and it is the whole mechanic. A short seller in trouble is a guaranteed future buyer, and everyone in the market knows it. ## How does a short squeeze work? The loop needs two things: a lot of shorts in one asset, and a push upward that starts them covering. The first ingredient is measured as short interest, the share of an asset's available supply that has been sold short. When that number is high, a large group of traders all need to buy the same thing eventually. The second ingredient is a catalyst, and it can be almost anything: an earnings surprise, a policy announcement, a wave of retail buying. What matters is not the size of the news but that it moves the price enough to put the first shorts underwater. From there it is self-feeding. Covering buys push the price up. The higher price puts the next tier of shorts past their margin limits, and they cover too, adding more buying. Each round makes the next one more likely, and the price can travel a long way from anything the underlying business would justify. GameStop in January 2021 is the clearest case on record. Short interest had been reported above 100% of the company's freely traded shares, meaning borrowed shares had been re-lent and shorted again, so more shares were owed than actually circulated. Coordinated retail buying supplied the catalyst, and by early February short interest had collapsed as sellers rushed to cover. A squeeze is not a signal Squeezes are identified clearly only after they end, and prices driven by forced buying tend to fall back once the covering is finished. High short interest tells you a squeeze is possible, never that one is coming. ## How do short squeezes happen in crypto? Crypto runs the same loop with different plumbing, and it runs faster. Instead of borrowing and selling actual shares, most crypto shorts are perpetual futures positions, which are contracts that track a price with no expiry date. The result is the same: a trader who profits when the price falls, backed by margin, with a level at which the exchange closes the position automatically. That automatic close is a liquidation, and like a stock short being covered, it executes as a market buy. The difference is speed and scale. Nothing waits for a broker to call anyone, the closes are triggered by code the moment a position crosses its line, and the market never shuts, so there is no overnight pause to break the chain. The rally of 19 and 20 August 2026 showed the full version: more than $3 billion in positions were closed across derivatives markets in 24 hours, with short positions making up the large majority, and reporting described the loop running for roughly 18 hours before it settled. The practical lesson works in both markets. A crowded short position is fragile in a way a normal position is not, because the exit is forced rather than chosen, and it arrives when the price is at its worst. ## FAQ **What causes a short squeeze?** Two things together. A large share of the asset has been sold short, and something pushes the price up enough to start forcing those positions closed. The covering buys then push the price higher and force the next group out, which is what turns an ordinary rise into a squeeze. **How long does a short squeeze last?** Only as long as there are shorts left to force out, which is usually days in stocks and can be hours in crypto. Once the covering is done, the forced buying stops and the price often gives back a large part of the move. **What is the difference between a short squeeze and a gamma squeeze?** A short squeeze is driven by short sellers buying back the asset. A gamma squeeze is driven by options dealers buying the asset to hedge call options they have sold. They frequently run at the same time, and the GameStop episode involved both. --- # Bull market vs bear market: what is the difference? https://cronos.com/learn/bull-market-vs-bear-market A bull market means rising prices, a bear market means falling. Learn where the terms come from and how each one is defined. A bull market and a bear market describe two opposite directions the same market can move in over time. This guide covers where the terms come from, how each one is identified, and why the label describes what already happened rather than what comes next. ## What is a bull market and what is a bear market? A bull market is a sustained period of rising prices across a market, and a bear market is a sustained period of falling prices across that same market. The terms describe the general direction of an entire market, such as a stock market or a crypto market, rather than the price of one company or one asset. A market earns either label only after the move has lasted for a while, not the moment prices first shift. The names come from how each animal attacks. A bull thrusts its horns upward, which is used as an image for prices pushing higher over time. A bear swipes its paw downward, which is used as an image for prices being pushed lower. The terms have been used in financial writing for a very long time, long before crypto markets existed, and they were later adopted by crypto commentary because the same up-and-down pattern shows up there too. Because a bull or bear market describes a whole market, it is usually identified by looking at a broad index rather than a single company's share price. A stock index tracks a basket of companies together, so a steady rise across that basket points to a bull market and a steady decline points to a bear market. A single stock can fall while the wider market is still in a bull phase, and it can rise while the wider market is in a bear phase. There is no single official rule for exactly when either one begins or ends, but a decline of roughly 20% from a recent high is a commonly cited rule of thumb for calling a bear market. A bull market has no equivalent fixed threshold and is generally recognised by a sustained climb over weeks or months. Either way, the label is applied looking backward at a move that has already happened. It describes what a market has done, not what it will do next. Labels describe the past, not the future A market is only called a bull or bear market once a sustained move has already taken hold. The name explains what happened, it is not a signal for what happens next. ## How does sentiment differ between a bull market and a bear market? Sentiment tends to run differently in each. A bull market is generally associated with optimism among market participants, more new buyers taking part, and prices climbing in a fairly steady way over an extended stretch. Trading activity in a bull market often builds gradually as more people join in. A bear market is generally associated with caution or pessimism, and it can include sharper swings in both directions even while the overall trend points down. A single bear market can contain days or weeks where prices bounce higher before continuing to fall. That volatility is part of why a bear market is usually harder to sit through than a bull market, even though both are simply periods defined by price direction. Neither label is permanent. A long bull market can include a short, sharp downturn without the whole trend being reclassified, just as a long bear market can include a short rally. Analysts sometimes use a separate term, such as a correction, for these shorter moves inside a bigger trend, which is one more reason the bull and bear labels are best read as a description of a broad, sustained direction rather than a day-to-day scorecard. ## Do bull and bear markets apply to crypto markets too? Bull and bear market language did not start with crypto, but it applies there in the same way. A crypto market can be described as a bull market during a sustained climb across major crypto assets, and as a bear market during a sustained decline, using the same broad, whole-market definition described above. Traditional stock markets and crypto markets are covered by the same two words because both move through extended up and down phases. Because the bull or bear label only gets applied once a move has already been sustained for a while, it is not a signal that tells anyone what to do next. Prices in either type of market can still move against expectations, and a bear market can turn or a bull market can stall without warning. That uncertainty is exactly why understanding how to manage risk matters in both kinds of markets, not just one. This is true across both stock and crypto markets. Whatever a market is currently labelled, prices can still move in ways that are hard to predict, which is why a plan for managing risk matters in a bull market and a bear market alike. ## FAQ **How long does a bull market or a bear market usually last?** There is no fixed length for either. A bull market can run for months or years, and the same range applies to bear markets. Because the label only gets applied once a move has already been sustained, how long a current move will run cannot be known while it is happening. **Is a 20% decline the official definition of a bear market?** No. It is a widely cited rule of thumb rather than an official rule, and different analysts sometimes use a different threshold or apply it to one sector rather than a whole market. The core definition is a sustained decline in prices, the percentage is just a common shorthand. **Do these terms only apply to the stock market?** No. Bull and bear market language is used to describe any market with widely tracked prices, including crypto markets, not just stocks. The same idea, a sustained rise or a sustained fall across a whole market, applies either way. --- # What is liquidation in crypto, and why does it happen? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-liquidation-in-crypto One liquidation can force thousands more. Here is how a liquidation cascade builds, why crypto amplifies it, and how traders get caught in one. Liquidation is when a trading platform closes your leveraged position for you, because your own funds backing the trade have run out. The part worth understanding is what happens next, when one forced close triggers the next and the market moves on its own momentum. ## What is liquidation in crypto? Liquidation is the forced closing of a leveraged position. The platform does it, not you, and it happens when the money you put up can no longer cover the losses on the trade. The reason comes down to whose money is at risk. When you trade with leverage, only part of the position is yours and the rest is borrowed. Losses come out of your share first, never the borrowed share, so the platform sets a floor called the maintenance margin. Fall below it and the platform closes the trade to recover what it lent, before the loss grows past what you put in. The price at which that happens is your liquidation price, and the more leverage you use, the closer it sits to where you opened. ## What is a liquidation cascade? A cascade is what happens when liquidations start triggering each other. One forced close pushes the price, the new price forces more positions to close, and the loop feeds itself until it runs out of positions to consume. The mechanism is simple once you see it. Closing a losing short means buying, and closing a losing long means selling. Those are real market orders hitting the order book, not paper adjustments. When a lot of them fire at once, they move the price in the same direction that caused them, which pushes the next group of positions past their own maintenance margin. Those close too, adding more orders, and the loop tightens. Two things make crypto amplify this. The market never closes, so there is no overnight pause to break a chain that has started, and the closes are triggered by code the instant a position crosses its line rather than by anyone making a phone call. A loop that would take days to work through a stock market can run in hours. The event of 19 and 20 August 2026 is the clearest recent example. More than $3 billion in positions were closed across crypto derivatives markets in 24 hours, reported as the eighth largest liquidation event on record. Short positions made up the large majority of it, because the price was rising and shorts were the side under pressure. Reporting described the loop running for roughly 18 hours before the market settled. A cascade does not care about your analysis During a cascade, prices move because positions are being force-closed, not because anything changed about the asset. A crowded, highly leveraged position can be closed out on that alone. ## How do you avoid getting caught in a cascade? A cascade is not a separate risk from liquidation. It is the situation in which an ordinary liquidation risk becomes far more likely to fire, so the things that protect you are about distance and about which side you are standing on. Distance comes from leverage. A cascade moves price further and faster than a normal session does, so the question is not whether your position survives a typical day but whether it survives an abnormal hour. At 2x or 3x, the price has a long way to travel before it reaches you. At high multiples, a cascade only has to twitch in your direction. The other half is crowding. Cascades run through whichever side of the market is most heavily positioned, because that is where the fuel is. When a lot of traders are leaning the same way and the price starts moving against them, their forced exits are what powers the loop. Being on the crowded side with thin margin is the specific combination that gets people closed out, which is why the August event took out shorts rather than longs. The practical version of both: find your liquidation price before you open anything, and compare it against how far the asset has moved in a bad week rather than an average one. Keep funds uncommitted so you can add margin instead of scrambling. And set a stop-loss, which exits at a price you chose rather than leaving the timing to a loop that is not looking at your position specifically. Compare against a bad week, not an average one If your liquidation price sits inside the range the asset covered during its worst recent stretch, the position is too large for the funds behind it. ## FAQ **How long does a liquidation cascade last?** Only as long as there are positions left to force out. Once the crowded side has been closed, the forced orders stop and the price often gives back part of the move. The August 2026 event ran for roughly 18 hours, which is long for crypto. **Why do liquidations happen faster in crypto than in stocks?** Crypto trades around the clock, so there is no market close to interrupt a chain reaction, and positions are closed automatically by code the moment they cross their level. High leverage is also widely available, which puts more positions within reach of a small move. **Can you lose more than you deposited if you get liquidated?** It depends on the product and the platform. Many close the position early enough that your loss is capped at what you put in, and some maintain insurance funds for the gap. Other leveraged products can go further, so check the rules of the specific platform before you trade. --- # Tokenized stocks vs ETFs: what is the difference? https://cronos.com/learn/tokenized-stocks-vs-etfs A tokenized stock tracks one company's share on a blockchain. An ETF holds many assets in one fund. Compare structure, hours, and access. A tokenized stock tracks one company's share on a blockchain. An ETF holds many assets in one fund. This guide compares how each is structured, when each settles, and how dividends work in practice. ## What is the difference between tokenized stocks and ETFs? A tokenized stock tracks the price of one company's share and exists as a token on a blockchain, so your position moves with a single business, like Apple or Nvidia. An ETF, short for exchange-traded fund, is a fund that holds many different assets bundled together, and buying one ETF share gives you a slice of everything inside it. That is the core difference: a tokenized stock is single-company exposure, an ETF is a diversified basket bought as one unit through a broker or exchange. Both let you buy in small amounts rather than needing the full price of a whole unit, so neither one requires a large sum to start. Where they differ is the system each one runs on. A tokenized stock is typically backed by a real share held with a custodian and settles on a blockchain. An ETF sits inside the traditional fund and exchange system, and its price reflects the combined value of everything the fund holds. Because of that, the choice between them usually comes down to the kind of exposure you want, not which one is the stronger product. Someone tracking how a specific company performs is looking for something different than someone spreading money across many holdings at once. The rest of this guide walks through how each is built, when each settles, and how dividends work in practice. ## How are tokenized stocks and ETFs structured, and who holds what? With a tokenized stock, a licensed custodian typically holds the real underlying share, and the token you hold in your wallet stands in for that holding, tracking its price. With an ETF, a fund manager holds the full basket of underlying assets, and what you own is a registered share of the fund itself, held through a broker. Trading hours and settlement follow the same split. A tokenized stock trades on a blockchain, so it can typically settle outside standard exchange hours, including nights and weekends. An ETF trades on a stock exchange and is priced live only during that exchange's market hours, the same as an ordinary stock. Same fractional idea, different plumbing. Both usually let you buy a small slice instead of a whole unit, but a tokenized stock settles on a blockchain while an ETF settles through the traditional exchange system. ## Dividends, distributions, and which goal each suits Dividends and distributions are handled differently on each side. When the company behind a tokenized stock pays a dividend, that value is typically reflected in the token itself rather than sent to you as a separate cash payment, and the exact method depends on the platform. When an ETF's underlying holdings pay a dividend, the fund usually passes that cash on to you directly, or lets you reinvest it automatically. The goal each one suits comes down to how concentrated or spread out you want your exposure to be. A tokenized stock fits a direct view on one company's performance, alongside the round-the-clock settlement that comes with being on a blockchain. An ETF fits spreading that same amount of money across many companies or asset types in a single purchase. Neither is investment advice, and neither is the inherently stronger starting point, they simply answer different questions. Both can sit in the same broader plan without one replacing the need for the other. Someone building a position around a specific company is solving a different problem than someone looking for broad market exposure, and the two instruments are built for those two different problems. ## FAQ **Is a tokenized stock the same as an ETF?** No. A tokenized stock tracks the price of one company's share, while an ETF is a fund that holds many different assets bundled into a single share. They give different kinds of exposure, one company versus a basket of many. **Do tokenized stocks pay dividends the way ETFs do?** The mechanics differ. When an ETF's underlying holdings pay a dividend, the fund usually passes that cash on to you or lets you reinvest it. When the company behind a tokenized stock pays a dividend, that value is typically reflected in the token itself rather than sent to you as a separate cash payment, and the exact method depends on the platform. **Can you trade a tokenized stock outside normal market hours the way an ETF requires?** Generally yes. A tokenized stock settles on a blockchain, so it can typically be traded outside standard exchange hours, including nights and weekends. An ETF trades on a stock exchange and is priced live only during that exchange's market hours. --- # What is a meme stock, and why do they move so fast? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-a-meme-stock A meme stock rises on attention rather than results. Here is what makes one, the mechanics that move it, and what a token named after one actually is. A meme stock is a company whose share price is driven by collective attention rather than by anything in its accounts. The name is unserious. The mechanics are not, and they are worth understanding whether or not you ever intend to trade one. ## What is a meme stock? A meme stock is a listed company whose price moves mainly because a large number of retail traders decide, more or less at once, to buy it. Coordination happens in public, on social platforms, and the story travels faster than any analysis of the business. What makes the category distinct is the gap between price and fundamentals. In a normal repricing, a share moves because something changed: earnings, guidance, a contract, a rate decision. In a meme stock episode, the business is often unchanged or getting worse while the price climbs anyway. The thing being traded is the attention itself. The pattern became widely known in early 2021, when GameStop and AMC both rose sharply over a matter of days, driven largely by retail traders organising on Reddit. Both companies were, at the time, widely expected to struggle. That was the point: the trade was built on the disagreement, not on the outlook. Two features tend to recur. The companies are usually well known to ordinary people, often high-street names, which makes the story easy to tell and easy to join. And they usually carry heavy bets against them, which is what turns a rally into something faster. ## Why do meme stocks move so fast? Three things stack on top of each other, and the order matters. The first is short interest. When a large share of a company's stock has been borrowed and sold by traders betting on a fall, those traders have an open obligation to buy it back later. A rising price turns that obligation into pressure. The second is float. Float is the number of shares actually available to trade, which is smaller than the total issued. When demand arrives against a small float, each buyer moves the price more than they would in a large, liquid name. The third is speed of coordination. A rally that once needed a broker's phone tree now needs a post. Retail buying can arrive in hours, and it arrives in public, which pulls in more buyers who can see it happening. Speed cuts both ways The same thin float that lets a meme stock rise quickly also lets it fall quickly. Sharp moves down happen on the same mechanics as the moves up, and they tend to happen faster. ## What is a token named after a meme stock? A separate thing has grown up alongside meme stocks: tokens on a blockchain that carry the name or ticker of a well-known listed company. It is worth being precise about what these are, because the naming invites a confusion that costs people money. There are broadly two categories, and they are not the same. A tokenized stock is a token issued against a real share, held by the issuer, and designed so the token tracks that share's price. What it gives you is price exposure. What it generally does not give you is registered ownership of the share or the rights that come with it, most notably the right to vote. That distinction is the single most important thing to understand about the category, and it is not a technicality: it is the difference between owning a company and tracking one. A thematic meme token carries a company's name or ticker as branding and nothing more. There is no share behind it, no issuer holding anything on your behalf, and no mechanism tying its price to the company at all. The name is the product. This has become contested territory. Executives at companies whose names appear on such tokens have publicly objected to them, arguing that the tokens imply a relationship with the company that does not exist and give holders none of the rights real shareholders have. Regulators in several markets are examining the question. None of that is settled, and this guide does not attempt to settle it. Check what sits behind the name Before touching anything carrying a company's ticker, find out what the issuer actually holds and what rights, if any, the instrument gives you. If that is not clearly documented, treat the name as decoration. ## FAQ **What makes a stock a meme stock?** A meme stock moves on collective attention rather than on business results. The usual markers are a widely recognised company, a heavy volume of bets against it, a limited float, and a story spreading on social platforms faster than any analysis of the accounts. **Why do meme stocks rise so quickly?** Retail buying arrives in a short window against a small pool of tradeable shares, which moves the price more than the same demand would move a large liquid name. If many traders have bet against the stock, some of them buy back to limit losses, and that buying pushes the price higher still. **Are meme stocks riskier than other stocks?** They carry the same underlying company risk plus far more price volatility, because the price is set by attention that can stop as suddenly as it started. Moves down tend to be faster than moves up, since the same thin float works in both directions. **If I buy a token named after a company, do I own the company's stock?** Not in the sense of registered share ownership. A tokenized stock is issued against a real share and tracks its price, but generally does not carry voting rights. A thematic meme token carries the name as branding with no share behind it at all. Check what the issuer holds before assuming either. --- # What is market cap? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-market-cap Market cap is share price multiplied by shares outstanding, the total value the market puts on a company. See the formula, size bands, and its limits. Market cap tells you how much a company or crypto asset is worth in the eyes of the market right now. It is one of the simplest ways to compare size across different companies and assets, and it takes just one formula to work out. This guide covers what market cap means, why it beats share price as a size measure, and where it falls short. ## What is market cap? Market cap, short for market capitalisation, is the total value the market places on a company. You get it with one simple formula: current share price multiplied by the number of shares outstanding. A company trading at $50 a share with 20 million shares outstanding has a market cap of $1 billion, since 50 times 20,000,000 equals 1,000,000,000. Shares outstanding is just the total number of shares a company has issued that investors currently hold. That number does not change often, so on any given trading day, market cap moves mostly because the share price moves. Multiply the two together and you get one clean number that stands in for how big the company is worth in the eyes of the market right now. This is why market cap works well as a size measure. Instead of trying to compare companies by revenue, headcount, or how many products they sell, you can compare them by a single figure that reflects what buyers and sellers are actually willing to pay for the whole business. Market cap is not fixed. It moves throughout the trading day as the share price moves, and it can shift sharply around news, earnings, or broader market swings. Treat it as a snapshot of current market opinion, not a permanent score. ## Why market cap matters more than share price A common mix-up is assuming a higher share price means a bigger company. It does not. Share price on its own tells you the cost of one share, not the size of the business behind it. Take two companies with round numbers. Company A trades at $10 a share and has 500 million shares outstanding, for a market cap of $5 billion. Company B trades at $200 a share but has only 10 million shares outstanding, for a market cap of $2 billion. Company B has the higher share price, but Company A is the larger company by market value. The gap exists because companies choose how many shares to issue, and that choice has nothing to do with how valuable the underlying business is. A company can split its shares to lower the price per share without changing its market cap at all. Market cap strips out that difference and gives a like-for-like comparison. Price alone is not size A stock's price only tells you the cost of one share. Market cap tells you what the market thinks the whole company is worth. ## Large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap, and where market cap falls short Investors often group companies into size bands based on market cap: large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap. These are general categories, not official cutoffs, and the exact ranges shift over time and across markets. The point is relative size, not a rating of quality. Market cap is not only a stock concept. Crypto assets are sized the same way, current price multiplied by circulating supply, to give a total value for that asset. The formula changes slightly, supply instead of shares outstanding, but the idea of using one number to compare size stays the same. Market cap also has real limits. It ignores debt and cash sitting on a company's books, so two companies with the same market cap can carry very different financial positions underneath. It also reflects what the market currently thinks a company is worth, not some fixed or intrinsic value, which means it can move on sentiment alone, even without new information about the business. Size is not a safety signal A larger market cap does not make a company or asset a safer or better choice. It is a size measure, not a risk rating. ## FAQ **Does a higher market cap mean a better investment?** No. Market cap is a size measure, not a quality or safety rating. A company's market cap says nothing on its own about its financial health, growth prospects, or how risky it is to hold. **How is market cap different from share price?** Share price is the cost of one share. Market cap is share price multiplied by the total number of shares outstanding, which gives the total value the market places on the whole company. **Does market cap apply to crypto assets?** Yes. A crypto asset's market cap is its current price multiplied by its circulating supply, which gives the same kind of total value figure used for companies. --- # What are tokenized stocks, and do you own the shares? https://cronos.com/learn/what-are-tokenized-stocks Tokenized stocks are tokens that track a real company share. Learn how they work, whether you own the shares, and how dividends are handled. Tokenized stocks are digital tokens that track the price of a real company share, like Apple or Nvidia, and trade on a blockchain. They give you exposure to how a stock performs without the traditional brokerage setup. This guide explains what they are, whether you actually own the underlying share, and how things like dividends work. ## What are tokenized stocks? A tokenized stock is a token that represents a real company share and is issued on a blockchain. When the real share price moves, the token is designed to move with it, so your position tracks the stock. The idea is simple: take something that normally lives inside a brokerage account and put it on-chain, where it can settle around the clock. Most tokenized stocks are backed one-to-one by real shares. A licensed custodian holds the actual shares, and each token stands in for that holding. This backing is what keeps the token's value tied to the real stock rather than floating on its own. Because they live on a blockchain, tokenized stocks trade differently from shares on a traditional exchange. Settlement is fast, positions can be fractional, so you can hold a small slice of a high-priced stock, and the market does not close at 4pm. That combination is why tokenized equities have grown quickly through 2026. ## Do you own the shares? Here is the honest answer most explainers skip. In the common model today, you own a token that tracks the share, not the registered share itself. You get the economic exposure, your position rises and falls with the stock, but your name is not on the company’s share register the way it would be with a traditional broker. Dividends are usually handled inside the token rather than paid to you as a separate cash deposit. When the underlying company pays a dividend, that value is typically reflected in the token, often by adjusting its value, rather than landing in your account as a standalone payout. The exact method depends on the platform. Voting rights generally do not pass through to token holders today. Traditional shareholders can vote on company matters, but tokenized stock holders usually cannot. This is starting to change, with early experiments in on-chain shareholder voting, but it is not the norm yet. The rights attached to a tokenized stock vary by platform, so it is worth understanding the specific structure before you trade. Tokenized is not the same as registered A tokenized stock tracks a real share and gives you price exposure, but it is not the same as being the registered owner of that share. Rights like voting usually differ. ## Tokenized stocks vs buying on a traditional broker The part that stays the same is the exposure. With both a tokenized stock and a share bought through a broker, your position tracks the same company, and both let you access expensive stocks in small fractional amounts. If your goal is to follow how a stock performs, the experience feels similar. The differences sit in the plumbing. A traditional broker gives you registered ownership, formal voting rights, and dividends paid as cash, but trades only during market hours. A tokenized stock gives you on-chain exposure that can settle at any hour and move easily alongside your crypto, while ownership and rights work differently, as covered above. Which one fits depends on what you want. If formal share ownership and voting matter to you, a traditional broker is the closer match. If you want fast, round-the-clock access to stock price exposure in the same place as your other assets, tokenized stocks are built for that. Neither is advice, they are just different tools for different needs. ## FAQ **Do you get dividends on tokenized stocks?** Usually, but not as a separate cash payment. When the underlying company pays a dividend, that value is typically reflected in the token itself rather than deposited into your account. The exact method depends on the platform. **Are tokenized stocks the same as owning the real stock?** Not quite. You hold a token that tracks the real share and its price, which gives you economic exposure. You are usually not the registered owner of the share, and rights like voting generally do not pass through today. **Can you trade tokenized stocks 24/7?** In most cases yes. Because they trade on a blockchain rather than a traditional exchange, tokenized stocks can settle outside standard market hours, including nights and weekends. --- # How do you buy tokenized stocks? https://cronos.com/learn/how-to-buy-tokenized-stocks Buying tokenized stocks takes a few steps: pick a platform, verify your identity, top up, then place and confirm the trade. Here is how it works. Buying a tokenized stock follows a short, consistent process on most platforms that offer them: pick a platform that supports tokenized equities, verify your identity, top up your account, then place and confirm the trade. The steps look similar to buying any other asset online, even though tokenized stocks settle on a blockchain instead of moving through a traditional brokerage. ## How do you buy tokenized stocks? The first step is choosing a platform that actually lists tokenized stocks. Not every trading app does, and the range of stocks on offer varies by platform and by region, so it is worth checking what is available to you before you plan a trade around a specific company. Once you have a platform, the process narrows to a few checkpoints. You verify who you are, you fund your account, and then you place the trade itself, selecting the stock, entering an amount, and confirming. Because tokenized stocks trade on-chain, settlement is not tied to a stock exchange's opening bell, so the window to place a trade is usually wider than with a traditional broker. None of this requires you to understand blockchain infrastructure. The token issuance and custody happen behind the scenes. From your side, the experience is closer to buying anything else in a trading app: search for the stock, review the trade, confirm it. ## What do you need before you buy? Two things need to be in place before you can place a trade: a verified account and funded buying power. Verification is the standard identity check most trading apps run before letting you move money or place trades. It usually takes a few minutes and is a one-time step, not something repeated per trade. Buying power is what actually lets a trade go through. You add funds to your account first, then that balance becomes the buying power you spend on a trade. Platforms differ on how you can fund an account, some accept a bank transfer, others accept crypto, so it is worth checking a platform's funding options before you commit to it. Fund before you plan a trade Top up your account ahead of time so your buying power is ready when you want to act, rather than funding at the moment you spot a stock you want. ## What to expect after you buy Once you confirm a trade, you should see it reflected in your account almost immediately, since settlement happens on-chain rather than waiting on exchange hours. Most platforms let you view details on the position, including the amount held and how it is performing, so you can check on it whenever you want rather than only during market hours. Selling works in reverse. You choose the position, select Sell, confirm the amount, and the trade settles the same way a buy does. If you want your funds back out of the platform entirely, that is usually a separate withdraw step, distinct from selling the position itself. Fees, minimum trade sizes, and exactly how fast funds move can vary from one platform to the next, so it is worth reading a platform's own terms before your first trade. None of this is investment advice, it is simply how the mechanics tend to work once you have decided what you want to buy. ## FAQ **Do you need to verify your identity before buying tokenized stocks?** Yes, on most platforms. Identity verification is a standard, one-time check most trading apps run before letting you fund an account or place trades, similar to opening any other financial account online. **Can you buy a fraction of a tokenized stock?** In most cases yes. Because tokenized stocks are issued as tokens rather than whole share certificates, platforms can typically let you buy a small slice of an expensive stock rather than a full share. **What happens when you want to sell a tokenized stock?** You select the position, choose Sell, and confirm the amount, the same way you would place a buy. If you also want the funds out of the platform, that is usually a separate withdraw step. --- # Are tokenized stocks safe? https://cronos.com/learn/are-tokenized-stocks-safe Tokenized stock safety depends on backing, custody, and the platform you use. Here is what to check before you trade one. Tokenized stocks carry a mix of risks that shift with who backs them, who holds the underlying shares, and which platform lists them. There is no single yes or no that covers every provider. This guide breaks down what actually determines safety, so you know what to check before you trade. ## Are tokenized stocks safe? The honest answer is that it depends on the provider. A tokenized stock is only as safe as the backing behind it, the custodian holding the real shares, and the platform's own controls. Some providers publish clear proof of reserves and hold shares with regulated custodians. Others disclose far less, and that gap is where risk concentrates. Backing is the first thing to look at. A tokenized stock is supposed to be matched one to one with a real share held by a custodian. If that backing is real and verifiable, the token's value should track the stock closely. If the backing is unclear, or the platform will not say who holds the shares, that is a signal to slow down. Custody and counterparty risk sit right behind backing. Even when shares genuinely back the token, you are trusting the custodian to keep those shares safe and the issuer to honor redemptions. If either party runs into financial trouble, token holders can be affected before the underlying share itself ever moves. Regulatory treatment also varies by provider and by jurisdiction. Some platforms operate under licensed frameworks with regular disclosures, others operate in less defined territory. This varies enough between providers that it is worth checking on a platform by platform basis rather than assuming one standard applies everywhere. ## What determines whether a tokenized stock is backed properly? Proof of backing is the clearest signal of safety. A well-run provider will state who the custodian is, how often reserves are verified, and whether that verification is done by an independent party. Look for this information on the platform itself rather than taking backing on faith. Redemption terms matter just as much as the backing claim. A token that is genuinely backed should have a clear, stated path connecting a holder's position back to the real share, even if that path does not run through you directly as a registered owner. Vague or missing redemption terms are a warning sign, not a technicality. ## What other risks affect tokenized stocks? Platform and regulatory treatment is not uniform. Requirements for capital, custody, and reporting differ from provider to provider and jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and that variation shapes how much protection actually stands behind a given token. Checking a platform's own terms and licensing status is the way to understand where it sits, rather than assuming the same rules apply everywhere. Blockchain and smart contract risk sit on top of the backing question. Tokenized stocks depend on code that mints, burns, and tracks tokens correctly. A bug in that code, or a compromised contract, can affect a token's behavior independently of whether the underlying share is actually safe. This is a different kind of risk from traditional stock ownership, and it does not disappear just because the backing is solid. Liquidity is the last piece. A tokenized stock is only as easy to exit as the market for it, and thinner markets can mean wider spreads or slower fills when you want to sell. This can leave most holders facing worse pricing than the headline share price would suggest, particularly for less-traded names. Code risk is separate from backing risk Even a fully backed tokenized stock still depends on the smart contract behind it working correctly. A contract bug or exploit is a distinct risk from the shares themselves being safe. ## FAQ **Is a tokenized stock automatically less safe than a real stock?** Not automatically. Safety depends on the specific backing, custody, and platform involved rather than the format itself. A well-backed, transparently run tokenized stock and a poorly regulated traditional broker can carry very different risk profiles, so it comes down to the provider, not the category. **What is the single biggest thing to check before trading a tokenized stock?** Whether the platform can show clear, verifiable backing, meaning a named custodian and some form of independent reserve verification. Without that, you are relying on the platform's word alone. **Does regulation make tokenized stocks safe?** Regulatory treatment varies by provider and by jurisdiction, and it is one factor among several, not a guarantee on its own. Backing, custody, and the platform's own disclosures still need to be checked directly. --- # Do tokenized stocks pay dividends? https://cronos.com/learn/do-tokenized-stocks-pay-dividends Learn how dividend value works for tokenized stocks, why it shows up in token value instead of cash, and why withholding tax varies by platform. Dividends are one of the first questions people ask once they start comparing a tokenized stock to a share bought through a traditional broker. This guide walks through how dividend value is actually handled for a token that tracks a share, why the method differs from platform to platform, and where tax can come into the picture. ## Do tokenized stocks pay dividends? A dividend is a slice of a company's profit that gets paid out to its shareholders, usually in cash, a few times a year. For a tokenized stock, the short answer is that dividend value is typically folded into the token's own value rather than sent to you as a separate cash payment. You still get the economic benefit of the dividend, it just arrives differently. This is the main mechanical difference from a traditional broker. A broker holding the real share receives the cash dividend and deposits it straight into your account as a distinct line item, separate from the share price. A tokenized stock usually skips that separate deposit. Instead, the value the dividend represents gets absorbed into the token, so the token's tracked value adjusts to account for it rather than a cash amount landing next to your position. It helps to think of it as the same value, delivered through a different pipe. Nothing about the underlying company's payout changes, what changes is how that payout reaches you as a token holder instead of a registered shareholder. Because the token is built to track the share's economics as a whole, a dividend becomes part of what the token tracks rather than a standalone transaction you see hit your balance. The exact method varies by platform, and that variation matters. Some platforms fold dividend value into the token's reference price, others handle it through a separate mechanism tied to how the underlying shares are custodied. There is no single standard yet across tokenized-equity providers, so the specifics depend on whichever platform you are using. ## How dividend value gets reflected in a tokenized stock Behind a tokenized stock sits a real share, usually held by a custodian on behalf of the token issuer. When that underlying company pays a dividend, it is a corporate action on the real share, the same as it would be for any shareholder. The tokenized stock's job is to pass that action through to the token, so the value the token tracks moves to account for the dividend that was paid on the share behind it. Companies that pay larger or more consistent dividends, often the larger, more established names sometimes called blue chip stocks, tend to make this more visible, since a bigger payout is a bigger adjustment to track. Whatever the size, the principle stays the same: the token is a wrapper for the share's economics, and dividends are one of the things it is built to carry through. This is not a yield product Dividend value passed through a tokenized stock is the company's own payout reaching you in a different form, not interest or income generated by the platform. Treat it as part of how the stock works, not as a separate earning feature. ## Withholding tax and other things worth checking Real dividends can carry withholding tax, meaning a portion is deducted before the value reaches the shareholder, and that treatment can carry through to how a tokenized stock reflects the dividend too. Whether tax applies, and how much, depends on where the underlying company is based and on your own tax situation, so it is not something a general guide can state as a single figure or rule. This is exactly the kind of detail that is worth checking directly rather than assuming. Look at how your specific platform describes its dividend handling, and if tax treatment matters to your decisions, confirm it with your own tax advisor rather than relying on a general explainer. Nothing here is tax advice, and the right answer depends on your own circumstances. The broader habit is the same one that applies across tokenized stocks generally: the mechanics vary by platform, so a feature working one way on one platform is not a guarantee it works identically elsewhere. Reading the specifics before you rely on a number is the safer approach every time. ## FAQ **Is dividend value on a tokenized stock the same as a cash payout?** Not usually. A traditional broker pays a dividend as a separate cash deposit next to your share position. A tokenized stock typically reflects that same value inside the token itself, so you get the economic benefit without a standalone cash line item. The exact method depends on the platform. **Does dividend value count as yield or investment income from the platform?** No. The value comes from the underlying company’s own dividend, passed through to the token that tracks its share. It is not interest, income, or a yield feature generated by the tokenized-stock platform itself, it is the same corporate payout arriving in a different form. **Do you pay tax on tokenized stock dividend value?** The underlying dividend can carry withholding tax, and whether it applies and at what level depends on the company's home market and your own tax situation. This varies enough that it is worth checking your specific circumstances rather than assuming a fixed rule. This is not tax advice. --- # Can you trade stocks on weekends? https://cronos.com/learn/can-you-trade-stocks-on-weekends Traditional exchanges close on weekends. Here is why, what extended hours actually cover, and how tokenized stocks can settle any time. Traditional stock exchanges only operate on set weekdays, so ordinary weekend trading of real shares is not available through most brokers. This article covers why exchanges keep fixed hours, what extended-hours sessions do and do not cover, and how blockchain-based tokenized stocks can work differently. ## Can you trade stocks on weekends? Ordinary weekend trading of real shares is not available through most brokers. Traditional stock exchanges run on a weekday schedule, and once the closing bell sounds on Friday, order books stay closed until the next trading day opens. That gap covers all of Saturday and Sunday, no matter what time zone you are trading from. This is not a broker-specific quirk. It comes from how exchanges are built. A stock exchange is a marketplace with a fixed calendar, matched to the banking and clearing systems that sit behind every trade. Most retail brokers simply mirror that calendar, so if the exchange is shut, the app shows the market as closed too. It helps to compare this with how crypto already trades. Crypto markets run continuously, with no weekday cutoff and no weekend pause, because they settle on a blockchain rather than through a centralized clearing system tied to business hours. Stocks, at least through most traditional routes, still depend on that older infrastructure. None of this means access is fixed forever. Extended-hours sessions exist around the regular trading day, and newer blockchain-based instruments are starting to offer stock exposure that behaves more like crypto. Both are covered below, along with the honest tradeoffs that come with trading outside the busiest hours. ## Why do stock exchanges close on weekends? A stock exchange is built around more than buyers and sellers clicking a button. Every trade has to clear and settle, meaning ownership and cash actually change hands, and that process runs through banks, custodians, and clearinghouses that operate on standard business days. Building a system to settle trades on a Saturday would mean rebuilding that entire chain, not just keeping a website open. Staffing is part of it too. Exchanges, market makers, and the firms that keep order books orderly rely on people and systems set up to run on business days. Concentrating activity into a fixed window also keeps markets liquid: when everyone trades in the same hours, buyers and sellers are easier to match, and prices reflect real supply and demand rather than a handful of stray orders. Trading hours are a plumbing choice Weekday-only hours exist because clearing, settlement, and staffing are built around business days, not because markets could not technically run longer. Spreading the same trading activity across seven days without changing anything else would only thin out that liquidity further, since the same number of participants would be trading across more hours instead of concentrating in one window. ## What extended hours cover, and where tokenized stocks fit Extended-hours sessions such as pre-market and after-hours trading add extra time around the regular trading day, but they do not extend into the weekend. Both sessions still sit on top of the same weekday calendar, and most brokers restrict what you can trade and how, since fewer participants are active and liquidity runs thinner. Tokenized stocks work differently because of what sits underneath them. Rather than settling through a traditional clearinghouse tied to business hours, tokenized stocks settle on a blockchain, which does not observe weekends or holidays. That is what lets a blockchain-based instrument track a stock's price and still be tradeable outside the hours a traditional exchange keeps. Off-hours access usually means thinner liquidity Whether it is a weekend session for a tokenized stock or an early pre-market order on a traditional exchange, fewer active participants tends to mean wider spreads and prices that move more easily on smaller orders. The tradeoff is the same one that applies to any thinly traded session. Trading outside the busiest hours generally means fewer active participants, so spreads tend to be wider and prices can move more on smaller orders. Around-the-clock access does not remove that tradeoff, it just moves it to a different clock. ## FAQ **Can you trade stocks on Saturday or Sunday?** Not through most traditional brokers. Stock exchanges run on a weekday schedule, and ordinary brokers close their order books along with the exchange, so weekend orders for real shares generally have to wait until the next trading day. **Why don't stock markets run 24/7 like crypto?** Stock trades settle through banks, custodians, and clearinghouses that operate on standard business days, and concentrating trading into a fixed window keeps liquidity high enough for fair pricing. Crypto settles differently, on a blockchain that does not observe weekends, which is why it can run continuously. **Can tokenized stocks trade on weekends?** Often yes, because they settle on a blockchain rather than through a traditional clearinghouse. Weekend and other off-hours trading in any instrument, tokenized or not, typically comes with thinner liquidity and wider spreads than the busiest weekday hours. --- # What are fractional shares? https://cronos.com/learn/what-are-fractional-shares A fractional share lets you buy a portion of one stock, so a high-priced share becomes affordable. Learn how it works and where it is available. A fractional share is a slice of a whole share, sized in a dollar amount instead of a full unit. It exists so that a stock with a high per-share price is not out of reach just because you cannot afford one entire share. This guide covers why the barrier exists, how fractional buying works, where it is and is not available, and what a fraction of a share does and does not give you. ## What are fractional shares? Some of the most talked-about companies trade at a price per share that runs into the hundreds of dollars. For a new investor working with a modest amount of money, that single-share price can be a real barrier to building a diversified position, since a handful of expensive names can absorb most of a small budget in one purchase. A fractional share removes that barrier for most new investors. Instead of buying one whole unit at the full share price, you buy a portion of it, sized to whatever amount you choose to put in. Put in an amount smaller than the share price and you receive the matching slice of that share, priced proportionally to the amount you paid. This is why fractional shares matter for people starting small. They let a limited budget get spread across more companies, rather than being concentrated in whichever names happen to be cheap enough to buy whole. The mechanic itself is simple. What varies is how and where it is offered, which the rest of this guide covers. ## How does buying a fractional share work? In practice, a fractional share order is placed as a dollar amount rather than a number of shares. You tell the provider how much you want to put in, and the order is sized into whatever portion of a share that amount buys at the current price. The provider handles the underlying math and settlement, so from your side it looks like a normal purchase, just described in dollars instead of units. What you get is proportional. A fractional position moves with the stock at the same rate a whole share would, just scaled down to the size of your slice. If the company pays a dividend, most providers pass that through proportionally too, credited as cash or reinvested depending on the platform's settings. What you get is not always identical to a whole share. A fractional position generally does not come with a physical share certificate, and some rights that attach to a whole share, most commonly voting on company matters, can be capped, pooled, or unavailable on a fractional holding depending on the provider. Fractional access is a feature a provider chooses to build, not a separate legal class of share with its own fixed rulebook. Fractional is a feature, not a share class A fractional share is a way a provider lets you buy in smaller sizes. It is not a distinct type of security with its own separate rulebook. ## Fractional access is not the same everywhere Fractional shares are common, but they are not a universal feature. Whether you can buy one depends heavily on the market you are trading in and the provider you use, and most providers that offer the mechanic in one market do not necessarily offer it in every market they operate in. A useful example is domestic equities in India, where most local brokers generally do not offer fractional shares. This is not a quirk of one platform's choice, it reflects a limitation shared across the industry there rather than a gap any single provider has simply chosen not to close. The broader point holds beyond this one example: before assuming a fractional option exists, it is worth checking whether your specific market and provider actually support it. Access is uneven, not absent Fractional shares are widely available, but not everywhere and not through every provider. Most barriers are market or provider specific, so check before assuming either way. Blockchain-based instruments such as tokenized stocks approach this differently, by being fractional by design rather than fractional as an added-on feature. A tokenized stock is issued and settled on a blockchain, and blockchain assets are naturally divisible into very small units, so a fractional position is built into how the instrument works rather than something a broker chooses to layer on top. That is one reason tokenized stocks have become a way to reach expensive names without needing a provider to specifically enable fractional buying first. ## FAQ **Is a fractional share the same as owning a whole share?** You get proportional economic exposure, your position moves with the stock at the rate of your slice, and most providers pass dividends through proportionally. Some extras tied to a whole share, like voting or a physical certificate, can be capped or unavailable depending on the provider, so the two are close but not always identical. **Can you sell a fractional share whenever you want?** In most cases yes, a fractional position can generally be sold the same way a whole share can, sized back into a dollar amount rather than a full unit. Exact availability still depends on your provider and market. **Why do some markets not offer fractional shares?** It usually comes down to how brokers and exchanges in that market are set up to handle share settlement, rather than any single company deciding against it. Domestic equities in India are a common example, where most local brokers generally do not offer the mechanic. --- # What is a stock split? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-a-stock-split A stock split divides shares into more shares at a lower price. The total value stays the same. Here is how it works and why companies do it. A stock split is when a company divides its existing shares into a larger number of shares, at a proportionally lower price per share. If you hold shares in a company that splits two for one, you end up with twice as many shares, each worth about half as much. The total value of your holding does not change. ## What is a stock split? Nothing about the company itself changes when it splits its stock. It does not make more money, own more assets, or become a different business overnight. A split is a structural change to how ownership is divided up, not a change to what the company is worth. Here is a simple way to see it. Say you hold 10 shares priced at $50.00 each, for a total position of $500.00. After a two for one split, you hold 20 shares priced at $25.00 each. The total is still $500.00. The pie is cut into more slices, and each slice is smaller, but the size of the pie has not moved. Companies usually announce a split ahead of time, and it applies automatically to existing shareholders on a set date. You do not need to buy or sell anything for it to take effect. More shares, lower price, same value A stock split increases your share count and lowers the price per share by the same ratio, so the value of your existing position is unchanged. ## Why do companies split their stock? The most common reason is accessibility and liquidity. When a share price climbs high enough, buying a single share can feel out of reach for a lot of ordinary investors, and trading in smaller, cheaper units tends to bring in more buyers and sellers. A lower per-share price after a split can make a stock easier to trade for people managing a smaller amount of money. Fractional share trading has reduced how much this motive matters. Where a high share price used to be a real barrier for someone without much capital, many brokers and apps now let people buy a fraction of a share, so a $500.00 stock and a $50.00 stock can both be bought with the same $20.00 budget. A split still tends to widen the pool of round-lot buyers, but it is no longer the only route to affordable access. The other common reason is signalling. A company sometimes splits its stock after a strong run-up in price, as a way of projecting confidence in its own trajectory. This is a signal about how management wants the stock to be perceived, not a guarantee about what happens to the business next, and it should not be read as a forecast. ## What is a reverse stock split? A reverse stock split works in the opposite direction. Instead of dividing shares into more, smaller pieces, a company combines existing shares into fewer, larger ones. If a company does a one for ten reverse split, 10 shares worth $2.00 each become 1 share worth about $20.00. The total value of the position again stays the same. A reverse split tends to carry a different character than a forward split. Companies often use it to lift a share price that has fallen too low, sometimes to meet the minimum price required to stay listed on an exchange, or simply to make the stock look less distressed on a quote screen. That is not true in every case, but it is a common enough reason that a reverse split is generally read differently from a regular split. The key point holds for both directions. Whether a company divides its shares into more or combines them into fewer, the action itself does not make the business more or less valuable. Value comes from how the company performs afterward, not from the arithmetic of the split. ## FAQ **Does a stock split change how much your holding is worth?** No. A split changes your share count and the price per share by the same ratio, so the total value of your position stays the same immediately after the split. Any change in value after that comes from normal price movement, not from the split itself. **Do you have to do anything when a stock you hold splits?** Usually not. The split applies automatically to existing shareholders on the date the company sets, and your brokerage or app adjusts your share count and price accordingly. **Is a reverse stock split a bad sign?** Not always, but it is often used to lift a share price that has fallen too low, sometimes to meet an exchange's listing requirements. It is worth understanding why a specific company did it rather than treating every reverse split the same way. --- # What is a stock index? https://cronos.com/learn/what-is-a-stock-index Learn how indexes track groups of stocks and why traders watch them. A stock index tracks a group of companies to show how a market segment is performing. ## An index is a market benchmark Indexes help traders understand broad market performance. The S&P 500 tracks 500 large US companies. The Nasdaq Composite tracks many technology-heavy companies listed on Nasdaq. You cannot buy an index directly, but you can trade products that track one. ## Why indexes matter Indexes show whether a move is broad or limited to one company. If one stock rises while the broader index falls, the move may be company-specific. Index products can also help beginners get diversified exposure without picking individual stocks. --- # Ult vs Robinhood: what is the difference? https://cronos.com/learn/cronos-app-vs-robinhood Robinhood is available in around 32 countries. Ult is available in 183 countries with 24/7 stock and crypto trading. See how they compare on access, features, and fees. Robinhood made trading accessible in the United States. Ult is built for global access across stocks, digital assets, and more. ## Overview Robinhood made commission-free trading mainstream with a clean mobile app and a product that keeps expanding. Registered with FINRA and the SEC, the platform is available in around 32 countries including the US, UK, and select EU/EEA markets. Stocks and crypto are available across these regions, with futures available in the US and UK, and event contracts limited to the US. Robinhood supports around 25 to 30 cryptocurrencies, focused on established assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Crypto transfers require identity verification that can take up to five business days, and withdrawal limits vary based on account history and verification level. Only select ERC-20 tokens can be moved off the platform. Setting up a Robinhood account requires identity verification through document uploads and a linked bank account, with application review taking 1 to 2 weeks and full deposit settlement taking 4 to 5 business days. Ult is a mobile-first trading app that brings stocks, crypto, and prediction markets into a single account, available across 183 countries. Setup takes under 60 seconds. Sign in with Apple, Google, or a passkey. No seed phrases, no chain-switching, and no paperwork. Once signed in, you pick up to 10 interest categories and your feed begins personalizing before you make your first deposit. Ult offers stocks and digital assets in one place. Assets on the platform trade 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. ## Ult and Robinhood comparison ## Which platform is right for you? The right choice depends on location, asset access, and trading style. Choose Robinhood if you are in the United States and want a mature brokerage-style product. Choose Ult if you are outside the United States, want 24/7 access, or a wider selection of stocks and digital assets in a single app. --- # Ult vs Coinbase: what is the difference? https://cronos.com/learn/cronos-app-vs-coinbase Both Ult and Coinbase offer stocks and crypto in one place. The difference is where you can access them and how you want to trade. Coinbase built its name on crypto in the US. Ult is built for traders everywhere, with stocks, crypto, and prediction markets in one place. ## Overview Founded in 2012, Coinbase has grown into what it calls the Everything Exchange, combining crypto trading with stocks, prediction markets, and derivatives. It offers retail trading, an Advanced Trade platform for experienced users, custody services, and Base, its Ethereum Layer-2 network. Coinbase acquired Deribit in 2025 for $2.9 billion, adding options and perpetual futures to its offering. It launched stock trading for all US customers in early 2026 and partnered with Kalshi to bring prediction markets to 49 or more US states. Coinbase is available in 115 or more countries for crypto. However, stocks, prediction markets, and sports contracts are US-only features. For crypto trading, Coinbase supports 350 or more cryptocurrencies with no minimum deposit. Setting up a Coinbase account requires identity verification through a government-issued ID and phone number, with additional Tax Identification Number requirements for users in select regions. Ult is a mobile-first trading app that brings stocks, crypto, and prediction markets into a single account, available across 183 countries. Ult is designed to get from download to first trade in under 60 seconds. Account creation is done through Apple ID, Google, or a passkey, with no seed phrases, no chain-switching, and no forms to fill out. After signing in, users select their topics of interest and the app begins surfacing relevant assets before the first deposit is made. Stocks and digital assets are available in a single account on Ult. Every asset on the platform trades around the clock, seven days a week. ## How Ult and Coinbase compare ## Which platform is right for you? The right choice depends on location, asset access, and trading style. Choose Coinbase if you are based in the United States and want an established platform with a large crypto selection and access to stocks, prediction markets, and derivatives. Choose Ult if you are outside the United States, want 24/7 stock and crypto trading, or prefer a simpler experience with all asset classes in one account. --- # Ult vs Polymarket: what is the difference? https://cronos.com/learn/cronos-app-vs-polymarket Polymarket is a prediction market platform available in select countries. Ult offers prediction markets, stocks, and crypto in a single app across 183 countries. See how they compare. Polymarket built one of the largest prediction market platforms in the world. Ult brings prediction markets together with stocks and crypto trading in a single account, available in 183 countries. ## Overview Polymarket is a prediction market platform where users bet on the outcomes of real-world events using USDC on the Polygon blockchain. Events range from politics and sports to economics and crypto prices. It has no stocks, no crypto spot trading, and no fiat on-ramps - USDC is the only collateral on the platform. To get started, users need to set up a Polygon-compatible wallet, fund it with USDC, and connect it to the app. Polymarket is not available to US residents. Users in certain other jurisdictions may also be restricted depending on local regulation. The platform operates on a decentralised model: markets are created by users, resolved by an oracle, and payouts are settled in USDC. There are no leverage options and no earn features on idle balances. Ult is a mobile-first trading app that combines stocks, crypto, and prediction markets in a single account. It is available across 183 countries. Setup takes under 60 seconds. Sign in with Apple, Google, or a passkey. There are no seed phrases, no chain-switching, and no paperwork. Once signed in, you pick up to 10 interest categories and your feed begins personalising before your first deposit. Ult offers stocks and digital assets alongside prediction markets. All assets trade 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can borrow against your portfolio, earn on idle crypto and stablecoin balances, and access up to 10x buying power across asset classes. ## Ult and Polymarket comparison ## Which platform is right for you? The right choice depends on what you want to trade and where you are based. Choose Polymarket if your interest is purely prediction markets and you are comfortable managing a crypto wallet and funding with USDC. Choose Ult if you want prediction markets alongside stocks and crypto in one account, with simpler onboarding and access from more countries.