While the list of most popular crypto-to-crypto trading pairs fluctuates with the market, some of the most common BTC trading pairs have included: BTC/Crypto Trading Pairs Explainedīitcoin was the first cryptocurrency, and was thus the first base trading pair to gain widespread popularity in the crypto trading world. That’s why the expansion of trading pairs to include stablecoins, fiat currencies, and myriad cryptocurrencies played a major role in maturing crypto markets long-term.

A hassle on a good day, this process became highly problematic during market downturns that saw less demand for crypto assets. As many exchanges had no access or connection to the banking system, many investors would have to find a buyer and exchange crypto for cash face-to-face. The only option was to find some way to cash out your crypto for fiat - and perhaps try to buy back in when you felt the market was ready to trend upwards again. However, when markets went down, switching between crypto assets would offer little relief or stability. When the crypto markets went up, most crypto assets went up - a desirable outcome for crypto investors. ĭuring that era, many crypto assets would correlate with each other. That lack of variation in trading pairs often proved problematic for many traders and much of the wider market, because it was difficult to hedge against market volatility. These two crypto trading pair families (BTC and ETH) still tend to dominate the crypto-for-crypto trading markets, but were all the more ubiquitous when they were the only options. A typical early-phase crypto exchange would offer one to two base trading pairs - usually bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH). Exchanging between fiat currencies and stablecoins and choosing from vast arrays of asset pairs are both considered customary of exchanges now, but these options were not available on most exchanges for most of crypto’s early timeline. While investing in cryptocurrency nowadays is a relatively simple affair, exchanges in the early years of crypto offered far less in terms of user experience (UX) and trading options.

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