#TradingPairs101 Trading Pairs 101: What Are They & How Do They Work?

If you’ve ever looked at a crypto exchange and seen something like BTC/USDT or ETH/BTC, you’re looking at a trading pair.

🧠 What’s a Trading Pair?

A trading pair shows you which two assets you can trade between. It tells you what you're buying and what you're paying with.

Example:

BTC/USDT means you’re buying Bitcoin using Tether (USDT), or selling Bitcoin for USDT.

ETH/BTC means you're trading Ethereum against Bitcoin — buying ETH using BTC, or vice versa.

💡 Why It Matters

Trading pairs let you swap one asset for another without needing to convert to fiat (like USD) every time. They also determine what markets you have access to.

Some tokens are only paired with major coins like USDT, ETH, or BTC — so you may need to do multiple trades to get what you want.

🔁 Base vs Quote

In a pair like ETH/USDT:

ETH is the base currency (what you’re buying or selling)

USDT is the quote currency (what you’re using to measure value)

If ETH/USDT = 2,000, it means 1 ETH = 2,000 USDT

🧭 Pro Tips

– Always check the quote currency so you know what you’re actually spending

– Popular quote currencies: USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH

– Use stablecoin pairs (like USDT) for easier profit tracking in dollar terms.