Trading pair
Also called: pair · market pair · currency pair
Definition
A trading pair is two assets that can be exchanged for each other on a market, such as BTC/USDT, where the first is the base asset you buy or sell and the second is the quote asset used to price it.
This entry is shown in English.
How Trading pair works
In BTC/USDT, BTC is the base and USDT is the quote. A price of 65,000 means one BTC costs 65,000 USDT. Buying the pair means buying BTC and paying USDT; selling it means selling BTC and receiving USDT.
Most crypto volume is quoted in stablecoins such as USDT and USDC. Exchanges also list pairs against BTC, ETH, their own tokens and fiat currencies like EUR. The same coin can have very different liquidity on different pairs, so a coin that trades well against USDT may have a wide spread against BTC.
If the pair you want does not exist, you may need two trades, for example selling coin A for USDT and then buying coin B with USDT. That means paying fees twice. Some exchanges offer a convert feature that does the routing for you, but the price may include a spread, so compare it with the order book.
Example
Suppose you hold 0.02 BTC and want SOL, but the exchange has no SOL/BTC pair. You sell 0.02 BTC on BTC/USDT at 70,000, receiving 1,400 USDT minus a 0.1 percent fee, so 1,398.60 USDT. Then you buy SOL on SOL/USDT at 140 USDT, getting 9.99 SOL before the second fee and about 9.98 SOL after it. In total you paid roughly 2.8 USDT in fees across both trades.
Common mistakes
- Mixing up base and quote and entering an order for the wrong amount.
- Trading a coin on a thin pair when a more liquid pair is available.
- Forgetting that a two-step route through USDT costs two fees and two spreads.
Learn and practise
FAQ
What does BTC/USDT mean?
It is the market where BTC is bought and sold using USDT. The price shows how many USDT one BTC costs.
What is the base and quote currency?
The base is the first asset in the pair, the one being bought or sold. The quote is the second asset, used to express the price.
Why do most pairs use USDT?
USDT is the most widely used stablecoin on exchanges, so USDT pairs tend to have the most liquidity and the tightest spreads.