USDT and Naira Glossary

Plain-language definitions for the terms used across NairaRate, written to be read in under a minute each. For how these ideas fit together, start with how to read a USDT to naira quote.

Ask / bid: An ask is the price at which a service will sell to you; a bid is the price at which it will buy from you. The bid is always lower than the ask, and the difference is the spread.
Buy price (on NairaRate): The naira amount you pay for one USDT. It is the higher of the two prices on a working market.
Cached rate: A rate stored for a short time so that many visitors can see it without every one of them triggering a fresh request to the exchanges.
Cold vs. hot wallet: A hot wallet is connected to the internet and convenient; a cold wallet is kept offline for safer storage. Neither is covered by NairaRate.
Depth: The amount available at each price level on a board. Looking at depth tells you whether the top price is usable for your amount.
Dispute / appeal: A platform process for resolving a trade where one side says something went wrong. Evidence kept inside the platform helps most.
Effective rate: The total you actually received divided by the total you started with, after every fee and transfer cost. It is the honest number to compare.
Escrow: The platform's holding of the crypto while a P2P payment is being made, so neither side has to trust the other with the asset.
Gap (against official): The difference between the street price and the official reference, shown as a percentage of the official figure.
Instant exchange: A service that quotes its own single price and takes the other side of your trade, so there is no merchant and no payment window.
KYC: Know Your Customer: the identity verification an exchange requires. P2P payments should normally match the verified name on the account.
Liquidity: How much you can buy or sell at a price close to the one you saw. A deep market absorbs large orders; a thin one does not.
Merchant: A user who posts P2P offers regularly. Platforms show merchants' completed orders and completion rates.
Network fee: A fee paid to move crypto between wallets or from a wallet to an exchange. It reduces the amount that arrives.
Official / reference rate: A published benchmark for a currency pair. On NairaRate it is shown for context and is not a price you can trade USDT at.
Order limits: The smallest and largest amount a P2P offer will accept. A good price is useless if your amount falls outside the limits.
P2P (peer-to-peer): A market where individual users post offers and trade with each other, while the platform holds the crypto in escrow during the trade.
Payment method: The bank, wallet or channel used for the naira side of a P2P trade. Offers are tied to specific methods.
Sell price (on NairaRate): The naira amount you receive for giving up one USDT. It is the lower of the two prices.
Slippage: The difference between the price you expected and the average price you actually got, usually because a large order used up several offers.
Spread: The gap between the buy and sell price. A tight spread usually means a busy, competitive market; a wide one means fewer people are competing for your trade.
Stablecoin: A crypto token designed to hold a steady value, usually by tracking a currency such as the US dollar. USDT is one of them.
Stale data: A rate that is older than the freshness window. NairaRate labels it as older instead of hiding the fact.
Street / market rate: The price at which people actually trade in the open market. It can sit above or below an official reference rate.
Timestamp: The time at which a rate was fetched. A rate without one cannot be judged for freshness.
USD/NGN: The exchange rate between the US dollar and the Nigerian naira. Different publishers can show different USD/NGN figures.
USDT: A dollar-tracking stablecoin. It is designed to be worth about one US dollar, but its market price can drift slightly above or below that.
Withdrawal fee: A fee charged by an exchange when you move funds out of it, either as crypto or as local currency.

These definitions are educational and general. They do not describe any specific exchange's rules, and they are not financial advice.