#TradingPairs101
What are trading pairs?
Trading pairs are the way in which the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies are organized on trading platforms. A trading pair consists of two currencies: the base currency that you wish to buy or sell, and the quote currency that is used to determine the value of the base currency.
## Structure of a Trading Pair
* **Base Currency**: This is the currency you want to buy or sell (appears first in the pair)
* **Quote Currency**: This is the currency used to evaluate the base currency (appears second in the pair)
* **Example**: In the trading pair BTC-USDT, Bitcoin is the base currency and Tether is the quote currency
## Main Types of Trading Pairs
### 1. Stablecoin Pairs
* **Definition**: Pairs in which the quote currency is a stablecoin linked to the US dollar or other currencies
* **Examples**: BTC-USDT, ETH-USDC, SOL-USDT
* **Benefits**: Ease of evaluating the value of cryptocurrencies against traditional currencies
### 2. Bitcoin Pairs
* **Definition**: Pairs in which Bitcoin is the quote currency
* **Examples**: ETH-BTC, XRP-BTC, ADA-BTC
* **Benefits**: Helps in measuring the performance of altcoins compared to Bitcoin