What does "ape" mean in crypto? Aped, aping and the three apes
Three different apes live in internet finance: the one who buys a token on impulse, the meme-stock crowd and the NFT monkeys. Here is how to tell them apart and where the verb came from.
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A verb with a date of birth
Nobody can name the person who first used it, and Know Your Meme says so plainly. What it can show is the paper trail. On August 27, 2020, a post on X showed a video captioned as "the fellas" apeing into a coin. A few months later, on December 7, 2020, a Medium post gave what that site considers the first formal definition: putting money into something quickly, with no research.
The timing is not an accident. Ledger Academy links the spread of the word to the DeFi summer of 2020, when protocols went live one after another, early buyers screenshotted their gains and everyone else rushed in without reading anything.
The ordinary English verb "to ape" means to copy, usually clumsily, as Wiktionary records. The crypto verb borrows the animal, not the copying: someone acting on reflex, not on reasoning.
The meaning in one breath
To ape in is to buy a token quickly and in size, because the chart is moving or the chat is loud, and to do the reading afterward if at all. Wiktionary's wording for the phrase is buying recklessly large amounts of an untried coin; Ledger Academy's is investing in a new project without due diligence.
The word often travels with a verdict. A May 2024 Binance Research paper on freshly listed tokens noted that "ape-ing" into them has a low chance of lasting returns: many launch at rich valuations, and early private holders have already captured much of the gain.
Forms you will meet
| Form | How it appears |
|---|---|
| ape / ape in | the verb, as in "I'll ape this one" |
| aped / aped in | the past, usually a confession |
| aping / apeing | the act, or the crowd doing it |
| an ape | the person who does it, said with affection or scorn |
Reading the tone
Most uses are either self-mockery or a flag raised for others. "Aped" in the first person is a wink at your own impulsiveness. "Don't ape" is a plea to wait. Said about a stranger, it is a neutral description until the price decides whether it was bold or foolish.
Invented lines, written for this page and not taken from any account:
- "Bought first, opened the docs second." (self-mockery)
- "Nine minutes since the deploy and the room is already aping." (warning)
- "Aped with pocket change, the serious money stays put." (neutral)
Three apes, three different things
- The impulse buyer. The verb described above: an action.
- The meme-stock crowd. Here ape is an identity, a self-deprecating tag for retail investors, especially on WallStreetBets. The slogan "Apes together strong" comes from the 2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Know Your Meme shows it captioning a January 25, 2021 headline about short sellers' losses on GameStop. AMC later issued preferred equity units under the ticker APE, which began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on August 22, 2022, and Fox Business remarked that Apes is also what the chain's most devoted retail holders call themselves.
- The NFT monkeys. Bored Ape Yacht Club is a set of 10,000 NFTs on Ethereum, launched on April 30, 2021. A 2022 article speculated that it inspired the verb, which Know Your Meme calls unconfirmed, since the verb was already around in 2020.
A fourth, the plain English sense of copying, shows up in phrases like "aping a style" and has no connection to buying anything.
Words that sit next to it
- FOMO: the itch that usually triggers it.
- Degen: someone for whom aping is a way of life.
- DYOR: the advice aping skips.
- Rekt: a frequent outcome.
- Crypto Twitter slang: the wider vocabulary.
Company names appear here only as sources or examples. We are not affiliated with Binance. We are not affiliated with Ledger.
Sources
- Know Your Meme, Apeing / Ape In, 2024
- Binance Research, Low Float and High FDV: How Did We Get Here?, 2024
- Know Your Meme, Apes Together Strong, 2019
- Fox Business, AMC APE units begin trading on Wall Street, 2022
- Wiktionary, ape, 2026
Questions
Is "aped in" a compliment?
Rarely. People use it about themselves, with a smirk, to admit they acted before thinking. When someone else says it about you, the tone usually depends on how the trade ended.
Should I write aping or apeing?
Both circulate. Know Your Meme titles its entry "apeing" and lists "aping" as a variant, while ordinary English dictionaries spell the imitating sense "aping". Pick one and stay consistent.
Where did the meme-stock apes come from?
Retail traders on WallStreetBets adopted the label in 2021 during the GameStop and AMC rallies, and "Apes together strong" comes from the film Rise of the Planet of the Apes. AMC later gave a class of preferred units the ticker APE.
Is the verb named after Bored Ape Yacht Club?
No. The collection launched in April 2021, while people were already apeing into coins on crypto Twitter in 2020. A 2022 article suggested a link, but Know Your Meme says that is unconfirmed.
Does a researched purchase count as aping?
No. The whole point of the word is the missing homework. If you read the contract, checked the liquidity and sized the position, you did something else and the word does not fit.