We are all used to trading in BTC or in USDT most of the time, but there are different pairings to trade in as well that can actually offer some benefits to trading in good ol' BTC.
Lately I've been making most of my trades in Ethereum instead of Bitcoin. I converted a fair deal of BTC into ETH at the wrong time and got stuck holding the bags, which I initially didn't like much. So I don't want to sacrifice any more of my BTC to invest in other things. However it turns out there are some benefits to trading in Ethereum.
The main benefit is that Ethereum offers a more stable base to trade out of than BTC. Everytime I try to beat BTC in growth by investing in some alt, I end up doing it at the wrong time and will see my BTC value go down quick due to the volatility and quick rises. It's nearly impossible to turn a profit in BTC by trading during BTC bull runs.
Ethereum however has been on par with the altcoin rises and dips. Usually it dips less than many other alts, so it is a relatively safe haven to return to. I'm happy to return to it at any time, because I know in the future Ethereum will be up big time. For the time being it is only growing slowly - many alts can outperform it. While trading in BTC is uncertain either way: You may miss out because BTC goes up right after you invested, but BTC is also so high that it may also enter in a bear market. Ethereum, by comparison, seems like it has not really even started growing (odd to say about a $70-80 billion crypto, but still it feels like this to me).
So lately my trading has been focused on accumulating more Ethereum by trading altcoins, instead of accumulating more BTC. I see it as a double edged sword: First I get to increase my ETH stack, and my ETH stack itself will of course grow over time as well. This way I can still take advantage of beneficial trades, without the high risk of doing it during the insane Bitcoin volatility. The risk of becoming a bagholder is significantly less, as Ethereum goes down with the other alts so the ETH/altcoin pairings are far less affected and I don't need to risk my remaining BTC stack.
I've been able to make some nice trades with small amounts to test this out these past weeks. I basically look for a coin that is likely to go up faster than ETH because of the lower market cap, then put some money in it and then sell it off when it does outperform ETH. While ETH will grow 10-15%, the minor alts will usually do 20-30%, so this is real easy to do a lot of the times. Much moreso than trying to swim upstream against Bitcoin. I try to stick with alts that I wouldn't mind holding either way. So wether I end up with more of that altcoin, or with more ETH, I don't care because I want more of both!
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