Hello, crypto enthusiast! 🚀 If you've ever opened Binance, you've definitely seen mysterious inscriptions like ETH/USDT, SOL/BTC, or DOGE/USDC. These aren't Elon Musk's codes — these are trading pairs, and understanding them is vital if you want to stop 'HODLing in the dark' and start trading for real.
Let's break it down simply, clearly, and without fluff. 💧
🤔 What is a trading pair?
A trading pair is a way to exchange one currency for another. It always consists of two parts:
Base currency (first) — what you are buying or selling.
Quoted currency (second) — what you buy or receive when selling.
Examples:
BTC/USDT — You buy or sell Bitcoin for USDT.
SOL/BTC — You exchange Solana for Bitcoin.
ADA/USDC — You sell or buy Cardano for USDC.
📌 If you opened the pair ETH/USDC and clicked 'Buy', you're buying ETH, paying with USDC. It's that simple.
⚡️ Why do I need to know this?
Because not knowing what you're doing — you give money to smarter traders 😅
That's why it's important to understand pairs:
🔄 Exchange without fiat: You can switch between altcoins without going into USD or EUR.
📊 Alternative Liquidity: Some coins are traded only in pairs with BTC or USDT.
📉 Trading Strategies: You won't understand the chart and won't place the right order if you get confused with the pairs.
🧠 Common mistakes of beginners:
❌ You think that ETH/USDT and USDT/ETH are the same.
✅ No. This is a different direction of the trade.
❌ You buy an altcoin in a pair with BTC, thinking you're calculating profit in dollars.
✅ Looking at SOL/BTC — your profit/loss is calculated in BTC, not in USD.
❌ You dive into an illiquid pair with low volume — and you get slippage.
✅ Always check the volume — especially on low caps.
