Bitcoin, Ethereum & the Majors

Bitcoin was created in 2009 by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto. It's the original cryptocurrency and still the benchmark — when BTC moves, everything else follows. Key properties: • Fixed supply: only 21 million BTC will ever exist • Decentralised: no company, government, or person controls it • Store of value: increasingly treated like digital gold by institutions • Halving cycles: every ~4 years, the mining reward halves. Historically this triggers bull markets 12-18 months later. For trading: BTC is the most liquid, has the tightest spreads, and is least susceptible to manipulation. Start your trading here.

Ethereum is programmable money. It's not just a currency — it's a platform for decentralised applications (dApps), DeFi protocols, NFTs, and more. Key properties: • Smart contracts: code that executes automatically when conditions are met • ETH is 'gas': you pay ETH to use the network • Deflationary mechanism: since EIP-1559, ETH is burned with each transaction • Staking: ETH holders can earn yield by staking (~3-4% APR) For trading: ETH often lags BTC in bull markets then catches up fast. It's the second most liquid pair and a great trading vehicle.

BTC Dominance (BTC.D on TradingView) measures Bitcoin's share of total crypto market cap. How to read it: • BTC.D rising = money flowing INTO Bitcoin, often out of altcoins. Risk-off signal. • BTC.D falling = money flowing OUT of Bitcoin into altcoins. Risk-on. This is when altcoins outperform. A typical bull market cycle: 1. BTC rallies, BTC.D rises 2. ETH catches up, BTC.D starts falling 3. Altcoin season — small caps explode 4. Everything dumps, BTC.D rises again Watch BTC.D daily. It tells you where capital is flowing.