Just like the stock market, the crypto market is becoming increasingly complex and diverse. Blockchain technology makes it possible for almost anyone to launch a cryptocurrency that’s tradeable globally on a 24/7 basis, and there’s plenty of liquidity available for crypto assets that gain traction in the crypto community. With this in mind, it’s easy to see why there’s now thousands of cryptocurrencies competing for investors’ attention.
Crypto trackers are a must-have tool for crypto investors
Staying up-to-date with all the action in the cryptocurrency market would be an impossible task without crypto trackers.
In some ways, crypto trackers can be compared to platforms like MarketWatch, where users can follow the latest developments in traditional markets.
Crypto trackers are websites and applications that were designed specifically to address the needs of cryptocurrency investors, and provide real-time information about cryptocurrency prices in multiple currencies, trading activity, supply fluctuations, market capitalization and other key metrics.
Typically, a crypto tracker will also give users access to slightly more advanced tools like personalized portfolios, conversion rates between different cryptocurrencies, or filters where cryptocurrencies can be separated by important properties like consensus mechanisms.
Some of the most popular crypto trackers available today are CoinMarketCap, CoinGecko, CoinCodex, and CoinCheckup.
How can a crypto tracker improve your cryptocurrency trading?
1. Monitor coins that are not listed on your exchange
Crypto trackers give you insight into the entire cryptocurrency market, ranging from top assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum to exotic “altcoins” with market capitalizations of $10 million or even less. This will expand your knowledge of the market and help you discover coins that might not currently be listed on your exchange of choice.
You can look for the coins that have been seeing the biggest gains or losses in a selected period, which can potentially lead to opportunities for making a momentum trade or buying dips. Since cryptocurrency trackers also provide you info about factors other than price, you can use them as the starting point for making more informed decisions. For example, if you see that a coin which has made big gains in the last 24 hours has low trading volume and is only trading on one venue, it might not be the smartest idea to jump in.
2. Create a personalized watchlist and portfolio
Crypto trackers like CoinCodex allow you to create a personalized watchlist of the cryptocurrencies you’re interested in. This allows you to filter out the clutter and only monitor the coins you think are worth your attention. Watchlists can be a great tool for following cryptocurrencies that you don’t yet own, but think could hold some promise in the future.
Most of the top crypto trackers also feature a portfolio feature. This is meant to help you track performance of the cryptocurrencies you already own.
Setting up a crypto portfolio can be very helpful if your cryptocurrencies are spread out between different places – for example, you may be holding your crypto funds across several exchanges, a hardware wallet and a mobile wallet. With a crypto tracker portfolio, you can easily track the aggregated performance of your holdings in one place – simply enter which cryptocurrencies you own and the respective amounts, and you’re good to go.
3. Set up cryptocurrency price alerts
The best crypto trackers let users set up alerts that automatically send notifications when certain price thresholds are met, either to the upside or downside. Even though limit or stop orders on exchanges can partially fulfill a similar role, crypto trackers make it possible to set up alerts for coins you might not own or don’t have the intention to buy immediately.
Some trackers even let users receive price alerts via email or text message, which makes them almost impossible to miss.
Price alerts are a great tool because of their flexibility – you can set up alerts at price targets that you believe are important short-term support or resistance levels, or set up more “ambitious” alerts that will likely take weeks or even months to trigger.
4. Monitor the latest news from the cryptocurrency industry
In addition to providing information about prices and trading volume, the best crypto trackers also double as crypto news aggregators.
The cryptocurrency and blockchain industry is moving at an extremely rapid pace. Most crypto trackers feature some sort of news functionality that will allow you to monitor the most important news from the industry.
Typically, trackers will allow you to filter news on a coin-by-coin basis – for example, if you want to get up to speed on the latest news about Cardano, you can easily do so with a crypto tracker app or website.
Monitoring crypto news can be helpful when you’re trying to determine if cryptocurrencies are making price moves based on fundamentals, or if the price action is driven primarily by technical/speculative factors. Of course, you can also learn something new about the cryptocurrencies you’re interested in, which will ultimately lead to better trading and investing decisions in the future.
5. Quickly identify the best and worst performers
One of the main reasons for the popularity of crypto trackers is that they’re one of the most convenient ways of getting a big-picture view of the cryptocurrency market. Crypto investors and traders who use crypto trackers will typically check their tracker of choice multiple times a day to see which coins are making the biggest moves. For example, if you see that a specific cryptocurrency is performing well while the rest of the market is tanking, it might be smart to try and identify reasons for such a discrepancy.
Most crypto trackers will let you analyze a coin’s performance across multiple time frames, which helps with identifying both short and long-term trends. They will also feature a list of exchanges that the cryptocurrency is trading on, which will make your life easier if you do decide to trade the cryptocurrency you’re looking at.
Improve Your Trading Strategy with a Crypto Tracker
Crypto trackers are extremely widespread in the cryptocurrency community and if you’re not using one yet, you will likely change your mind as you go further in your cryptocurrency trading journey.
As we’ve shown above, crypto trackers make life easier for traders and investors by helping them stay informed about both cryptocurrency price action and fundamentals. High-quality crypto trackers also offer personalization options like watchlists, personalized portfolios and custom price alerts.
There is also a lot of competition among the different crypto trackers, which ultimately results in a better product for the end user. To top it all off, most of the best cryptocurrency trackers are completely free to download and use.
And even though crypto trackers typically don’t have the in-depth charting features offered by dedicated technical analysis platforms, they can still serve as a useful complement and provide a solid starting point for new trading ideas that can then be developed further.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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