Diamond Hands

Diamond hands is slang for an investor who refuses to sell an asset despite heavy losses, wild volatility or tempting profits, on the belief that it will be worth more in future. The phrase spread through crypto communities and the online retail-trading forums that drove the GameStop share surge of early 2021. Its opposite is "paper hands", used for someone who sells at the first sign of trouble. Diamond hands is close in spirit to HODL, the crypto habit of holding for the long term, and is a recurring theme in communities around meme coins. The mindset can help investors avoid panic selling, but it can also become stubbornness: holding a collapsing asset out of loyalty or group pressure has led many to large losses, and online calls to "hold the line" can serve insiders who are quietly selling, as in a pump-and-dump scheme.