How Crypto Trading Works
What BTC/USDT means, how exchanges work, and why prices move
What is BTC/USDT?
BTC/USDT is a trading pair. It tells you the price of one Bitcoin (BTC) measured in USDT — a stablecoin whose value is pegged 1:1 to the US Dollar.
So when you see BTC/USDT = 67,500 it means: right now, one Bitcoin costs 67,500 US Dollars.
What is an exchange?
A crypto exchange like Binance is a marketplace where buyers and sellers meet. It works like a stock exchange — people post orders to buy or sell at specific prices, and the exchange matches them.
Binance processes millions of trades per second. EGY-AI connects directly to Binance's public data stream via WebSocket, receiving every single trade the moment it happens — no delay, no polling.
What is simulated trading?
EGY-AI is a simulator. It uses real live prices from Binance, but trades against a simulated balance — starting at 10,000 USDT — with no real money involved.
- • Live BTC price every millisecond
- • Real order book from Binance
- • Real trading fees (0.1%) in fitness calc
- • Real historical candles for GA training
- • Your USDT and BTC balance
- • The trade executions
- • Your profit and loss
- • No real money ever changes hands
Why do prices move?
Prices move because of supply and demand. When more people want to buy BTC than sell it, the price goes up. When more want to sell, it goes down.
This happens constantly — thousands of traders, algorithms, and institutions placing orders simultaneously. A single tweet from a major figure can shift the price by thousands of dollars in seconds.
This is exactly what makes algorithmic trading interesting and difficult. The market is never static — it constantly adapts. A strategy that works today might not work next month. Which is why EGY-AI's genetic algorithm continuously re-evolves rather than following fixed rules.
Spot vs Leverage trading
You buy or sell the actual asset with money you have. If you have 1,000 USDT and BTC costs 50,000, you can buy 0.02 BTC. Simple, lower risk. This is what the "Spot" tab in EGY-AI does.
You borrow to amplify your position. With 2x leverage and 1,000 USDT, you control a 2,000 USDT position. Profits are doubled — but so are losses. EGY-AI's Leverage tab lets you try this with simulated funds at up to 8x.
Key vocabulary
- Trading pair
- Two assets traded against each other. BTC/USDT = Bitcoin priced in USDT.
- USDT
- A stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the US Dollar. Used as the 'cash' in most crypto trades.
- Bid
- The highest price a buyer is willing to pay right now.
- Ask
- The lowest price a seller is willing to accept right now.
- Spread
- The gap between the best bid and best ask. Smaller = more liquid market.
- Liquidity
- How easy it is to buy or sell without moving the price. BTC has very high liquidity.
- Volatility
- How much and how fast the price moves. High volatility = big swings.
- Slippage
- When your order fills at a worse price than expected due to fast market movement.