Which is better for analysis: /BTC or /USDT?

When you're looking at a cryptocurrency, a lot of folks just focus on how it performs against /USDT, totally ignoring its performance against /BTC. This is such a limited way to think about it and really doesn’t give you the full picture. Here’s the deal: Example 1: So I jumped into a trade for this coin based on some technical stuff: there was an ascending triangle pattern. The coin hit my target, and I made a 10% profit, selling at the wick that touched the resistance marked in red. After that, the price pulled back. As it pulled back, a bullish candle formed and stayed within the triangle's limits it didn’t close below it. But that wasn’t a solid enough reason to jump back in just yet. So I took a look at how the coin was doing against /BTC to get a better idea. Turns out, there was also a bullish ascending triangle on the /BTC chart that hadn’t hit its target yet. I decided to hop back into the trade, but this time on /USDT. Why go with /USDT for the second entry instead of /BTC? Typically, the price movement for a coin on /USDT tends to be bigger compared to /BTC, which means potentially higher profits. You might want to use this approach: when you see a coin showing bullish momentum against BTC, trade it against USDT for better chances of profit. (But hey, there are always exceptions.) Lucky for me, the coin shot up again: Example 2: XRP Before it made headlines, XRP looked pretty dead against /USDT, not showing any signs of movement. Then, out of nowhere, it skyrocketed to its all-time high of $3. But the thing is, its /BTC chart had already signaled something positive.

If bitcoin is falling and it fall massively, did you know how much coins are liquidated? They are in billions of dollars worth in United States dollar. Also just as it is if the market go in the down direction as people that go long get liquidated for using high leverage. No one that will trade derivatives that will not think of going short position at times but those that trade spot are the ones that only prefer bitcoin to only go against USD.

Why do you need to analyze on pairing that is not use by common trader? It’s easier to analyze in fiat/stable coin fair since you are considering one price movement alone while doing an analysis on BTC gives you 2 different currency price that moves simultaneously which is gives you difficuties to analyze. Altcoins moves the same way with Bitcoin and sometimes the other way. You will have have an inconsistent price analysis depending on the trend compared if you will analyze a coin that fair to stable asset.

I didn’t face any difficulty with this; on the contrary, it actually benefited me. For example, in the first coin, Bitcoin and the market were going down, while it went up and achieved the target of the ascending triangle pattern. The goal of analysis in /btc and /usdt is to gain a clearer understanding of the coin's behavior. I have no knowledge about this topic because I don’t trade futures, only spot. [moderator's note: consecutive posts merged]

I've never analyzed any asset against BTC, never. I hadn't even thought about doing it until now that this discussion came up. I believe it's because it could be a bit complicated and confusing using a BTC pair as against USDT or any other stablecoin. For me, a stablecoin option is way easier to analyze with. Well, there's no much stress with spot trading; especially during a bullish rally as we've it now. Only pick an entry after what one thinks it's a dump for there's no loss until one sells off. It's unlike what happens with Futures. Have you ever considered taking this observation of yours to another level by going into Futures?

Maybe it’s time to test your skills with /btc analysis. Give it a shot—it might just be the game-changer you’re looking for! As for me, I can’t use futures due to my religion. In Islam, both futures and margin trading are considered forbidden (haram).

This post is amazing, I also been keeping any eye on XRP as I wanted to buy some at the price of $2 but when market dumped I was too busy that for the last 3 days I did not analyze the market and even did not saw the charts, I had also draw the flag patterns which is bullish pennant patterns and it was really following the patterns, kust like the last picture of yours in which it shows a break through the resistance. I never do such analysis on BTC pair I think that is the biggest mistake from now on I will keep an eye on it for better result we all should open any alt coin's pair with BTC. Because as you said maybe that coin is moving with BTC if it falls then the coin falls and vice versa if anything like this is happening then comparing with BTC is not necassary because we can easily know but if the trend is opposite then I think the benefit is more overall the idea is good.

The simple answer is "Yes, looking at /BTC is very important, even better than /USDT." In a Bull market most decent alts will show gains vs USD, and /BTC is more important to know if you are gaining or losing your BTC holdings. Why choose /USDT instead of /USD? I cannot think of any reason to study movements related to a dangerous, un-audited scamcoin (way over-due to collapse) when you can study vs a dangerous, fiat currency also over-due to collapse dramatically.

Oh, really. You think it would? Well, I ain't scared of trying new things; especially if I've even a slight suspicion that they'll better position me on track. I will take a look at your suggestion. Why? What makes your religion forbid that? Is it also considered as lending with interest? I know I've read certain stuff online where it was heatedly argued that moslems don't do interest banking but I'm confused here reading you mention that Futures and Margin trading are also forbidden. If you don't mind, I would like to get further details on that.

Sure , Islam is a religion that calls for balance, fairness, and ethics in all aspects of life. When it comes to trading, the core principle is justice and the avoidance of anything that could lead to excessive uncertainty and gambling. Now, with Futures and Margin trading, these financial tools inherently carry a significant amount of risk—and the problem isn't just the risk itself, but the speculative nature of these trades. If the speculation leads to imbalanced wealth distribution, manipulation, or causes harm to individuals or society, it can easily be deemed unethical and un-Islamic. The beauty of Islamic finance is in its emphasis on mutual benefit, shared risk, and transparency. Futures and margin trading often involve leverage, meaning that a trader is borrowing funds to make larger trades, thus amplifying both potential gains and losses. This not only creates excessive uncertainty but also places the trader in a position where they could owe more than what they initially invested—an imbalance that goes against the Islamic principle of risk-sharing and fair dealing. So, while the markets themselves are not inherently bad, Islam demands that wealth be generated in a manner that is clean—free from exploitation, interest (riba), or excessive uncertainty—ensuring that the financial system serves to elevate people, not drag them into financial ruin. In conclusion, the use of futures and margin trading can lead to scenarios where individuals are trapped in a cycle of speculation and debt, which is why Islamic law often advises against these practices. It’s not about the markets themselves, but rather the integrity and ethics that Islam demands.

I have always measured my altcoin portfolio in BTC. That is how many people did it in the early days when everything was paired with BTC on exchanges and USDT pairs were not very common yet. Looking at a coin’s price in BTC gives you an idea if it would have been better to simply hold BTC, instead of risking your funds on altcoin speculation. Looking at the value in BTC requires patience because when BTC is bullish and altcoins are underperforming, you can see a dramatic decrease in your portfolio’s value, but I usually eventually come out ahead and will swap my profits for BTC or BTC wrappers.

Thanks , Glad you found it useful, Good luck mate

Depends on which one of them you want more. If you want to have more bitcoins than what you have right now, then you analyse against BTC and try to find the best that way, if you want to have more USD then what you already have, then you analyse against USDT. It is not about the analysis, both can be done and you could make money both ways, there is nothing wrong with that, I am pretty sure that we are going to see good results in both cases, however you need to be careful about it and see what you are going to do, because while both of them could work, there is nothing wrong with having some sort of tough period when you are adjusting to one of them, and it's even harder to move from one of them to another one of them, but it's still valid if you choose any.

Personally, I only analyze against USDT instead of Bitcoin, the reason might be that I mostly trade Bitcoin/USDT and that's why when I trade some good altcoins I follow the same formula. Let's say if I'm about to trade Solana then I will do my analysis on SOL/USDT chart instead of SOL/BTC, and so far my approach has been profitable for me. However, I must say that I always check the price of Bitcoin before trading any alt coins because we all know the market moves up and down by following Bitcoin and without it the market doesn't even moves.

I agree with your theses. Everything you write is correct and convincing. Any trader should strive to increase their profits not only in US dollars, but also in terms of Bitcoin. This statement has a logical basis. If a trader makes a profit in US dollars, but suffers losses when this profit is converted into Bitcoin, then why should he trade alternative cryptocurrencies at all? It is much easier to just buy Bitcoin and use the "HODL" strategy. Therefore, when using technical analysis, you need to analyze the charts of the alternative cryptocurrency both to the US dollar and to Bitcoin. This will allow you to get the most accurate information about the situation on the crypto market and maximize your profits.

Huh? But both of them are so popular and I once saw them being used the most already but indeed, it is obvious that a stable coin is more easy to analyse as compared to BTC. I don't want to explain anymore on why as there is already the answer there. It may seem that a stable coin only moves on one direction but there are small declines too that they can experience sometimes. BTC is BTC. It is only a single coin but it is only more volatile than the other, which may be the reason for you to say that we are like analysing two currencies. If we are talking about alts other than a stable coin, then it must be easy actually. We can only refer BTC. We can use it as a guide.

EXACTLY! Glad that you liked the idea.

Depends, on what your goals are. If you area btc maximalist, you analyze every asset against Btc because your main goal is to increase your btc stash. The majority though, do that with USD and that's not because they don’t know anything better. It is because USD is still the world’s reserve currency even though it is getting shittier by day. USD will s by far the most adopted currency all around the world. You show a $100 bill to a guy that lives in Africa, he will know what it is and he will want to take it for the services and products he offers. Btc is nowhere near that kind of acceptance.

You don't have to analyze both /BTC and /USDT pairs but concentrate on the pairs that you want to trade and what your intentions are for that trade. There are times when I open a trade because I want to trade against Bitcoin because I have seen that the price of Bitcoin is about to take a dip and although when this happens, it always affects the entire market but there are sometimes some altcoins do well against Bitcoin and when you're trading against Bitcoin, you're going to get more Bitcoin as the price of the altcoins that you're trading against Bitcoin will give your more Bitcoin than when you brought it. More traders use usdt or other stablecoin because that's easier to understand than when they'll have to convert back the profits that they have made from Bitcoin to stablecoin. Trading against Bitcoin is more risky than trading against USDT.