My watchlist - and why everything on it is there
A watchlist isn't just a list of prices to stare at. It's a set of relationships you learn to read together. Once you understand why certain assets are connected, the whole market starts making more sense.
I trade on Hyperliquid, a decentralised exchange with high volume across everything we like. No single company owns it, no CEO runs it, and because the volume is high, no single player can push prices around. What you see on the chart is real. That matters a lot when you're learning.
Here's what I watch and why.
The Dollar (DXY)
The DXY is the US Dollar Index. It measures how strong or weak the dollar is against other major currencies. The dollar is the worlds 'reserve currency' so it creates massive moves in the market when it starts trending.
We watch this because everything else on our list reacts to it. Think of it like a seesaw. When the dollar gets stronger, Bitcoin tends to fall, gold tends to fall, and stocks feel pressure. When the dollar weakens, everything else gets room to move.
It's the first thing we check. Always.
Bitcoin
We don't just watch Bitcoin's price. We watch three things alongside it.
Bitcoin Dominance (BTC.D) tells us how much of the total crypto market is sitting in Bitcoin versus everything else. When it drops, money is moving into smaller coins. When it rises, people are moving back to Bitcoin to play it safe.
Stablecoin Dominance is one of our favourite signals. Stablecoins are coins pegged to the dollar that don't move in price. When traders are nervous, they swap their crypto into stablecoins and wait. When stablecoin dominance rises, more people are sitting on the sidelines. The market is saying "not yet."
MicroStrategy (MSTRX) is the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin in the world. Their stock price moves like a mirror for BTC. We watch it as a cross-check. When the two move together, everything is normal. When they move differently, something interesting is happening.
Metals and Oil
I have both on the list because they tend to move in opposite directions. When oil runs, metals often take a breather. When metals are strong, oil sometimes cools. Watching both together gives you context that watching one alone never would.
Gold leads the metals. When big money is nervous about the world, it flows into gold first.
Silver follows gold but moves faster and harder. Gold leads, Silver amplifies. If you want to understand percentage moves, Silver is worth studying closely.
Copper goes into almost everything. Construction, electronics, manufacturing. When copper is rising it usually means the global economy is active. I don't always trade it but it tells me something important about the bigger picture.
Oil (Brent and WTI) is on the list because it's driven by real world events as much as charts. Supply disruptions, conflicts, OPEC decisions. It moves fast when news breaks and it's a great asset for understanding how headlines become candles.
Crypto
Solana (SOL) gets its own mention because it's where everything started for us. The first trade I ever placed was on a Phantom wallet, which runs on the Solana network. The profit from that trade bought my MacBook.
So I have a soft spot for SOL. But beyond the story, it's a high-volume, fast network that carries some of the most active trading in crypto. It stays on the list permanently.
I also keep OTHERSBTC on the list. It tracks how altcoins are performing against Bitcoin. Even in a down market there are pockets of strength, and this helps us find them.
Here's the rest of the altcoin list and why each one is there:
WIF, PEPE, FARTCOIN are meme coins. High risk, high volatility, not for the faint hearted. I watch them because when the market is in a good mood, meme coins tend to move the fastest and the furthest. They're a good gauge of overall market sentiment.
INJ (Injective) is a decentralised exchange token, similar in spirit to Hyperliquid. I like assets that sit in the same category as the platform we trade on.
XRP is one of the oldest and most established coins on the list. High volume, high liquidity, and tends to move with conviction when it goes.
SUI is a newer, fast-growing blockchain gaining traction. Growth in its ecosystem tends to show up on the chart before the news catches up.
DOGE is still one of the most traded coins in the world. Volume and community keep it relevant regardless of what you think about its origins.
STRK (Starknet) is a layer 2 Ethereum project. As Ethereum gets more expensive to use, activity moves to cheaper alternatives and that activity shows up in price.
TRX (Tron) has massive volume, particularly in stablecoin transfers. This often moves with stablecoins, which can provide a bit of interesting counter signal.
XMR (Monero) is a privacy coin. It moves on its own logic more than most and is worth watching for that reason.
WLFI (World Liberty Financial) is a Trump-backed DeFi project. Politically connected crypto tends to move on news cycles.
PUMP is tied to the Pump.fun ecosystem on Solana, where most new meme coins launch. When this moves, the meme coin market is usually heating up.
HYPE (Hyperliquid) is the native token of the exchange I trade on. We always keep an eye on the platforms we use.
STX (Stacks) is a Bitcoin layer 2 project. As Bitcoin grows, the infrastructure built on top of it tends to grow too.
BNB is Binance's native token. One of the highest volume coins in the world and a good indicator of centralised exchange health.
SPX tracks the S&P 500 in crypto form. Useful for understanding how crypto is pricing in traditional market moves.
TAO (Bittensor) is decentralised AI infrastructure. When AI is in the news, TAO tends to move.
NEAR is a developer-friendly blockchain focused on AI integration. Similar thinking to TAO.
ETH (Ethereum) is the second largest crypto by market cap and the foundation of most of DeFi. Always on the list.
RENDER is a decentralised GPU network used for AI rendering.
ZEC (Zcash) is a privacy coin similar to Monero. I watch both to see which one the market is preferring at any given time.
The coins on this list generally have enough volume that you don't need a separate indicator to confirm it. They're traded by enough people around the world that the charts tend to behave. The smaller the timeframe you trade, the trickier it gets. But once you've built the skill properly, even that becomes manageable and honestly, a lot of fun.
That said, volume is never something you can ignore. All the trend lines, Fib levels and momentum signals in the world can still fizzle out if the big buyers or sellers decide not to show up at that moment. The technicals tell you where something could go. Volume tells you whether anyone is actually going to take it there.
The Bigger Picture (Macro)
I keep a few global markets on the list not to trade them, but to understand which way the wind is blowing.
JP225 is Japan's stock market. USDJPY tells us how the Japanese Yen is moving against the dollar. When Japanese stocks are holding up and the Yen is weakening, it usually means bigger money in the world is still comfortable taking risk. And when big money is comfortable, crypto tends to find its footing too.
I look at both together because they carry far more volume than crypto. In markets, volume is truth.
Why This Matters for You
You don't need to trade all of this. But understanding how these markets connect to each other is what separates someone who trades with context from someone who just stares at a single chart hoping it goes up.
Start by adding the DXY, Bitcoin, and Gold to your watchlist in TradingView. Check them together every morning. Over time you'll start to see the relationships playing out in real time. That's when it starts to click.
Mom Tip: Your watchlist should tell a story, not just show prices. Build it slowly, understand why each thing is on it, and let it grow as your knowledge does.
The content in this post is for educational purposes only and reflects our personal perspectives on the market. It is not financial advice. Always do your own research before making any trading decisions. We are sharing our ideas, not telling you what to do with your money.