#TradingPairs101

🧠 #TradingPairs101 – The Psychological Trap of Trading Pairs that No One Teaches You

When it comes to trading, everyone knows the concept of a trading pair. It’s the foundation: you exchange one asset for another (e.g., ETH/USDT or BTC/ETH). But there’s a detail that almost no one considers, and that can radically change the reading of your portfolio:

👉 The value of an asset is always relative to the one you are trading against.

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🔄 The relativity of value: an invisible trap

Imagine this:

🔹 You trade on ETH/BTC, you think you are flat (the price is stable), but BTC is rising strongly against the dollar.

🔹 Result? Your portfolio in ETH/BTC is stable… but you are losing value against the USD without realizing it.

The ETH/BTC pair may seem still, but in reality, both currencies are either falling or rising asynchronously against a third asset, like USDT.

💥 The real risk manifests when you don’t understand who the “reference currency” is.

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🧩 The underlying problem: you are not “gaining” ETH… you are losing USD

Many traders fixate on the gain in coins.

“I made +2% on SOL/ETH” → good, but how much is that performance worth in dollars?

If ETH has meanwhile dropped by 5% against USDT, you still lost purchasing power.

👉 You cannot ignore the third element: the neutral currency (USD, USDT, BUSD), the one in which you measure your real wealth.

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💡 Pro solution: always think in “base currency”

Every time you make a trade, ask yourself:

• Am I gaining in asset A, but how much is it worth in USDT?

• Is this gain real or relative?

📌 If you do spot trading, always measure your equity in a stablecoin.

📌 If you do long/short on cross pairs (e.g., LINK/BTC), keep a parallel monitoring on the asset against USD.

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🔍 A piece of advice you didn't expect (but saves your capital)

Before entering a trading pair, ask yourself:

“What is the direction of the denominating asset?”