Best Crypto To Day Trade

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There is no defined list of the ‘best’ cryptos to day trade. Every trader comes up with their own list of preferred assets. However, there are some guidelines to follow that can make the search more efficient. Most day traders apply these principles to the CoinMarketCap top-50 list, resulting in a more or less common set of top coins to trade within the day. When choosing assets to day trade consider the following criteria:

Liquidity reflects the ongoing demand for an asset. The more people are trading the coin right now, the more liquid it is. For scalpers and day traders, liquidity is crucial as it translates to fast order execution and tighter spreads (a spread = a difference between the bid and the ask price). It also means lower slippage – a change in an asset’s price after an order has been placed – which in turn means more precision when entering and closing deals at the market price.

Volatility is the bread and butter of all day traders/scalpers. It represents the amplitude of price movement for a coin. The more % it gains and drops within a day, the better it is for day trading. However, the mere percentage of price change doesn’t necessarily mean a high trading potential. For profitable day trading, a coin has to be volatile and liquid at the same time

This is a measure of the number of times a stock is bought and sold in a given time period. It's commonly known as the average daily trading volume. A high degree of volume indicates a lot of interest in a coin. Scalpers and day traders often take note of volume spikes and concentrations, as those are usually harbingers of drastic price movements to come.

As it happens, the best cryptos for most day traders are most often somewhere in the TradingView top 50 list. This is because top cryptos are usually made by trustworthy teams with reputable backgrounds and a lot of expertise in the field. They also often have a solid idea backing the cryptocurrency, and a tight-knit community of supporters. All this translates to not only a lot of liquidity, but also the chance that the coin’s going to shoot because of good news (or drop because of bad ones, which you should also be ready for).

Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) don’t really need an introduction when it comes to day traing.

Both have some of the highest liquidity in the market, making each a no-brainer for intraday trading. Also, both are susceptible to news- and tweet-induced price swings within the day, which can sometimes be quite drastic. If you prefer scalping, than you’d also want to keep the BTC charts at hand at all times, as most major altcoins mirror its price movements to some degree. BTC correlation is sometimes crucial to watch out for, especially in a bear market.

Also, at the time of this writing, Ethereum is fresh past its transition to Proof-of-Stake (aka the Merge), meaning a new surge in buying & selling power for ETH and even more liquidity that before. For many, day-trading the second-largest altcoin is now more profitable than ever.
However, there are some other notable coins that most often fit in the above criteria. These include:

• Dogecoin (DOGE)

Dogecoin is one of the top picks for most full-time day traders.

Being a meme coin, it’s famous for being the personal favourite of Elon Musk’s, whose tweets about DOGE can cause drastic jolts in the price in either direction. Besides, the coin has a huge market cap and a lot of trading activity at any given time.

• Shiba Inu (SHIB)

SHIB was initially a knockoff of Dogecoin sharing the same trading characteristics as the ‘original’.

However, later on it developed a personality of its own and now stands as an independent memecoin in its own right, albeight sometimes mistakeable for DOGE. Nowadays it is also the native coin of its own DEX called ShibaSwap, which ensures high liquidity and buying/selling activity within the day.

• Solana (SOL)

Being the native coin of the Solana ecosystem, SOL is one of the top picks of every day trader.

The Solana blockchain is famous for being the fastest and the most efficient blockchain on the planet. Having strong backing by some major funds and exchanges, it's long-established as one of the best-trading coins out there, and is most certainly bookmarked by many full-time day traders.

• Ripple (XRP)

XRP was made by RippleLabs and is fueling the Ripple blockchain.

The Ripple ecosystem is aiming to bridge the gap between crypto and fiat. The foundation enjoys some serious backing from numerous angels institutions from both worlds, and the XRP coin has a lot of eyes on it 24/7, making it one of the top picks for crypto day trading.

Some other notable day trading picks include the Binance Coin (BNB), TRON (TRX), Cosmos (ATOM) and Cardano (ADA). However, the list is always in flux and can be different for every trader. Nothing prevents you from going off the beaten track and coming up with your own list of cryptos for day trading.

As with the coins to day trade, so with your choice of exchange. More often that not your choice of platform boils down to your own aesthetical preferences, your willingness to do KYC, and your overall trading demands (order types, margin & leverage options etc.). Also, if you’re trading via a terminal, such as CScalp, you’ll want to make sure that your exchanges are supported by the terminal. Let’s have a look at some of the most prominent crypto trading platforms that you can use for day trading/scalping.

Founded in 2017 and currently headquartered in the Cayman Islands, Binance is an international cryptocurrency exchange that currently serves as the world's largest crypto trading platform by volume of daily trading.

Binance is considered a regulated exchange, and it’s trying to be both compliant and user-friendly. It has several notable characteristics, including powerful charting tools and access to the Binance Earn feature, as well as a Binance Visa Card. For scalpers and intraday traders, Binance is a no-brainer as it checks all the marks in what day traders are usually after. It also has two of its own coins: BUSD – the local USD-pegged stablecoin, and BNB – the native cryptocurrency used to pay fees. Both can be traded on Binance and other platforms, and both give tangible benefits to their users within the Binance ecosystem (fee discounts etc.)

ByBit is a cryptocurrency exchange founded in Singapore in 2018.

Built by a team with prior expertise in banking and ForEX, ByBit aims to build a clean and accessible crypto trading ecosystem for users of all levels. With a clear emphasis on crypto derivatives and leverage trading, it also supports 20+ fiat currencies and offers low fees and bonus programs to its users. ByBit has a lot of liquidity and a responsive interface, making it a good pick for crypto day trading and scalping.

Some other crypto trading platforms for day trading include BitMEX, Bitfinex, OKX, dYdX and Phemex. All platforms mentioned above are supported by the CScalp terminal.

Day trading can be done via an exchange’s native interface. However, built-in trading tools are often slow and not well-suited for professional traders. For advanced trading tools, you’ll want to turn to specifically-built trading terminals made by professional teams.

One such terminal is CScalp. Made by a team of scalpers with decade-long trading expertise, CScalp allows you to trade a number of markets, including cryptocurrencies. The terminal works through an API key and doesn’t require you to approve withdrawals – the software can only place trades on your behalf. CScalp is also completely free.

To read more about CScalp and other notable trading terminals, check out our catalogue.

Day trading crypto is considered more risky than mid-term and long-term trading. The reasons for that mostly boil down to risk management: intraday deals call for a more solid knowledge of the market, more thorough technical analysis, and more in-the-moment engagement in your trades. A single stroke of good or bad luck, combined with plain humar error, can make or break the bank for the day trader. Here are some tips as to how to make the most out of your day trades.

The crypto market is replete with cryptos of all kinds, some of which are quite dubious in their nature and market behaviour. Before setting off, make sure your cryptos come from a well-known source and have a more or less predictable price behaviour. Also, study how vulnerable they are to news – you might want to check all the previous tweets by their owners and prominent supporters, as well as the project’s roadmap, and analyze the influence those have had on the coin’s price.

Day trading in all its forms, including scalping, is much like a game of sports: it requires you to stay focused over prolonged time periods and make split-second decisions that often make a life-and-death difference. It’s not unlike a full-time job that’s extremely intense on your emotional state and can be quite draining even when done right. When planning your trading day, make sure to eliminate all possible distractions in advance. Also, make sure your have a way of relieving stress at hand if need be – otherwise your might burn out before you know it.

When trading intraday, this don’t always go your way. Losing money is not about ‘if’ – it’s about when and how much – so you should have a safety net prepared at all times. Familiarize yourself with stop-loss orders and how they work. A stop-loss is a sell order that triggers after the price reaches your desired level. These orders help you exit a losing deal while losing as little as possible. When planning your trades, calculate exactly how much you can afford to lose, and place your stop losses accordingly.

Another key aspect to keep in mind while day trading or scalping crypto is chart patterns. Efficient trading most often comes down to proper analysis of the coin’s current price movements. Without a fleshed-out approach to pattern analysis, trading can turn into a mindless gamble, and one you’re pretty much guaranteed to lose.

Based on the status quo, you can make predictions about which direction the price could go next, how soon, and how drastic the move would be.

While planning intraday trades, most traders look out for current price levels – either flat or ascending/descending, and also try to find some basic patterns such as wedges, flags, etc., to get a picture of how the coin’s trading right now. After that, you’ll try to tell what kind of price movement could follow the said pattern – a breakout, a drop, or a bounce off the current level, etc. Then it’s on to the amplitude of the pattern – based on it, intraday traders and scalpers then plan their entry and exit points, as well as the placement of stop-loss and take-profit orders.

You can read more about how to analyze chart patterns for scalping and intraday trading here.

Day trading is a specific type of trading that calls for a specific approach. You need to plan your trades in advance, along with your set of coins to trade and the platforms to trade them on. Day tradin also calls for increased leves of in-the-moment engagement and risk control. However, if you master these aspect and learn to conduct proper analysis, day trading can be very profitable.