Where did Buy the Dip come from?

The expression appeared in Forbes and Wall Street Journal headlines in the 1990s and showed up online around a February 28th, 2011 Urban Dictionary entry for 'Buy the Fucking Dip'.

What does Buy the Dip mean?

It means doubling down on a losing position by purchasing more at a lower price, with the expectation of a rebound; the abbreviation BTFD stands for 'Buy the Fucking Dip'.

How do you use Buy the Dip?

Crypto and meme stock posters typically caption charts of plummeting assets with 'buy the dip' or BTFD, often paired with wojaks or r/wallstreetbets screenshots.

Is Buy the Dip still popular?

The catchphrase stayed a standard crypto refrain through the 2022 downturn, when memes ran wild during a major Bitcoin crash that hit El Salvador's national holdings.

Buy the Dip

Q: What is Buy the Dip?

Buy the Dip is a catchphrase and piece of investor advice urging traders to purchase more of an asset while its price is falling, in hopes of profiting when it recovers.

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Published October 15, 2026

Buy the Dip is investor advice urging traders to purchase more of an asset while its price falls, in hopes of profiting when it recovers. The slogan appeared in financial headlines going back to the 1990s, but cryptocurrency and meme stock communities on Reddit and Twitter turned it into a rallying cry in the early 2010s, often stretched to 'Buy the Fucking Dip' or shortened to BTFD. By September 2021, El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele was announcing national Bitcoin purchases in the meme's exact language.

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Overview

BTFD images typically show the slogan over wojaks, Pepe variants, or cartoon traders calmly shoveling cash into price charts pointing straight down3. The humor sits between genuine conviction and gallows cope, since the trader shouting 'buy the dip' is often holding the same bleeding bag as everyone else.

Urban Dictionary users defined the saying as both a strategy and a nihilist punchline during the post-2008 quantitative easing years2. The joke cuts in two directions, working as sincere advice when a correction turns out to be short, and as pure cope when an asset keeps falling toward zero4.

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Origin & Background

Platform

Financial media (pre-internet) / Urban Dictionary and crypto Reddit (viral spread)

Date

2011

Financial writers at Forbes and The Wall Street Journal were using 'buying the dip' in headlines back in the 1990s, well before the catchphrase hit the internet1. Its earliest clearly online appearance is a February 28th, 2011 Urban Dictionary entry for 'Buy the Fucking Dip' by user Cocomaan, who tied the phrase's popularity to Federal Reserve quantitative easing policy that encouraged speculation even in weak markets2.

How It Spread

YouTuber Gerald Pontificus posted a cartoon video titled 'Buy The Dip' on March 1st, 2014, featuring two superheroes repeating the slogan at each other; the clip gathered more than 500,000 plays over a decade3. Across the 2010s, r/bitcoinmemes and crypto Twitter made BTFD a go-to response whenever coins slid during Bitcoin's volatile early years4.

When meme stocks exploded in early 2021, r/wallstreetbets posters began recycling the catchphrase against GameStop and AMC price swings4. On September 20th, 2021, El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele tweeted 'We just bought the dip. 150 new coins! El Salvador now holds 700 coins,' announcing a national Bitcoin purchase in the meme's exact language5. During the 2022 crypto downturn, Newsweek reported that El Salvador faced potential default after its Bitcoin position lost tens of billions in value, while BTFD memes ran wild among holders still committed to the trade6.

Timeline

1990

Forbes and Wall Street Journal headlines use 'buying the dip' as financial jargon[1].

2011-02-28

Urban Dictionary user Cocomaan posts an entry for 'Buy the Fucking Dip,' crediting Federal Reserve quantitative easing[2].

2014-03-01

YouTuber Gerald Pontificus uploads a cartoon video titled 'Buy The Dip' that later surpasses 500,000 plays[3].

2021-09-20

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele tweets 'We just bought the dip,' announcing 150 new Bitcoin purchases[5].

2022

Major crypto downturn produces widespread BTFD memes; Newsweek reports El Salvador faces default risk on its Bitcoin holding[6].

How to Use This Meme

To run the format, posters typically caption a chart of a falling asset with a confident declaration to buy more. Common conventions include adding wojak traders, crypto logos, or screenshots from r/wallstreetbets watchlists. Variations use 'Buy the Fucking Dip' or 'BTFD' when the price action looks especially grim.