Date:
19th Oct 2020
Author:
CryptoGT

BTC/USD Strategies that Work

Bitcoin has had quite a remarkable year in 2020. By August, BTC had risen 60%, making it one of the best performing assets of the year. At that time, Bitcoin was trading just below the $12,000 mark. But the rise did not stop there. In October 2020, payments company PayPal announced its support for the digital currency. This helped push the price to $12,481. This was the highest BTC has been since July 2019. 

On the other hand, the performance of traditional assets has not been that great. Geo-political uncertainties and Covid-19 saw oil being traded at negative prices. The US dollar also saw significant weakness through the year.  

With such promising performance from BTC and under other market conditions, it isn’t surprising that many traders have moved into the crypto space. If you too are thinking to do the same, here’s a look at some popular strategies in Bitcoin trading. 
 
This is one of the simplest and most popular BTC trading strategies. HODLing is not an acronym for some elaborate trading strategy. In fact, it just means to hold on to the crypto. The term was coined in 2013, in a Bitcoin forum. At that time, the price of Bitcoin was falling, and a trader wanted to say that he would hold the position. But he mistyped it as HODL.  

Shortly after that, BTC’s price started rising. By the end of the year, the price had increased from $15 to over $1,000. This made HODLing a widely recognised Bitcoin trading strategy. With this strategy the trader decides to hold on to a long position, in hopes that the price will increase in the future. The simple nature makes it great for beginner traders. However, there is no guarantee that the price will rise. Therefore, it is best to make the decision only after robust analysis and risk management. 
 
The high volatility of the digital currency means that there is always a chance of losing money on short term trades. Therefore, hedging trades can be a great idea. Hedging is the practice of strategically opening trades so that the risk of exiting a position can be balanced by the changes in the value of other positions. There are 3 ways in which you can hedge Bitcoins: 
  • Short Selling 
Short selling is a commonly used hedge against long exposure, be it a speculative trade or if you are HODLing for the long-term. Short selling is the practice of selling an asset, due to expectations that its value will decline in future. Once the price has fallen, you can buy it back, making profit from the difference. With this, you would need to borrow BTC from a third party or broker, selling the crypto and then returning the borrowed amount to the lender. 
 
  • Hedging with CFDs 
This is possibly the most popular way of hedging Bitcoin. Since CFDs are derivative instruments, you do not need to own any BTC to open a position. This means that you can speculate on the price without having to open a digital wallet or exchange account. Another advantage of such derivatives is that you can trade both rising and falling markets.
 
  • Hedging with Futures 
These were first introduced by the Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE) in 2017. Futures are a kind of economic contract, in which two parties agree to trade Bitcoin at a specified future date and at a pre-determined price. 
 
The digital currency tends to be highly volatile and this is what scalping takes advantage of. Scalping is an extremely short-term strategy, where traders aim to earn profits from small price moves. For this, scalpers enter and exit trades multiple times through the day. Scalping traders need to follow a strict exit strategy. This is because a single large loss can nullify multiple small gains. This strategy is suited for trading BTC/USD in a short timeframe.
 
This is a strategy dependent on the prevailing trends in the Bitcoin space. In trend trading, you hold your position for as long as you feel the trend will continue. This could be hours, days, weeks or even months. The driving force of trend trading is FOMO. People do not want to miss out on the next big profit-making opportunity. This is what helped push BTC price to almost $20,000 in 2017. 

Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency and has taken the world by storm. But Bitcoin trading requires knowledge, discipline and robust analysis. In addition, using a feature-rich platform that offers the right trading tools and risk management tactics can be invaluable.
 
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