What are ATH and ATL?
- Author
- CRYPTO PORT Editorial
- Published
- Updated
- Reading time
- 3 min
In short
ATH is the all-time high and ATL the all-time low. Both are factual records rather than slang. The phrase 'new ATH' is often reported as if it implied more upside, but a record price contains no information about the next move.
Key points
- ATH means all-time high
- ATL means all-time low
- Both are past records, not forecasts
- The figure changes with the quote currency used
Definition
Abbreviations for an asset's highest and lowest recorded prices. Because each data source defines its own history and quote currency, published figures differ between sites.
ATH and ATL simply describe the top and bottom of a price history. This site shows both, with their dates, as part of each coin's market data. They are objective numbers and useful for seeing how wide an asset's range has been.
Watch the quote currency. A yen-denominated high and a dollar-denominated high can fall on different dates once the exchange rate moves. Figures also depend on which venues a data provider tracks and how far back its history goes, so two sites can disagree without either being wrong.
Coverage tends to treat 'new ATH' as a bullish signal, but setting a record only means the price exceeded everything before it. There are many cases of sharp declines immediately after a record, and many of further gains. The record itself says nothing about what comes next.
Watch out for
- · 'New ATH' headlines are a standard device for triggering FOMO
- · Yen and dollar terms give different dates and different numbers
- · A recently listed token has too little history for either figure to mean much