Two-market strategies
A strategy named BTCUSD/SPX doesn't ask "is BTC rising?" but "is BTC doing better than the S&P 500?". The $ button lets you see the result two ways.
Most strategies watch one price. The strategies in the Multi-Ticker folder watch two markets at once, and the slash in their name tells you which: Bittenfeld T5 - BTCUSD/SPX reads BTC's price divided by the S&P 500. That division is called a ratio, and it goes up whenever the first market does better than the second, whichever way prices are moving.
A round-number example makes this clearer. BTC is at $60,000 and the S&P 500 at 5,000, so the ratio is 12.
- If BTC rises 10% but the S&P 500 rises 20%, the ratio drops to 11. BTC went up, yet it lost ground.
- If BTC falls 10% but the S&P 500 falls 25%, the ratio climbs to 14.4. BTC went down, yet it gained ground.
So Long on a two-market strategy means "the first market is beating the second", not "the first market is rising". The rules work exactly as they do elsewhere, voting on five-day bars; they're just pointed at the ratio chart.
The folder has five pairs, each with its own tile at the top: BTC/SPX (BTC against the S&P 500), ETH/BTC, SOL/BTC, HYPE/BTC and VVV/BTC (each coin against BTC).
The $ button
The same buy and sell decisions can be turned into an account in two ways, and the dollar minimalistic icon $ button chooses which one you see.
Off (the default) you see the relative view: the account follows the ratio itself while the strategy is Long and stays level while it's Flat. It answers "how well did the rules time the ratio?". On the strategy page a line above the numbers reads "Relative pair equity. Click $ for absolute USD."
On, you see the dollar view: while the strategy is Long the account holds the first market, and while it's Flat it holds the second. It answers "what if the account had switched between BTC and the S&P 500 on every signal?". The line then reads "Absolute $ equity", and the comparison line becomes BTC Buy & Hold.
[1. The filled $ button means this card shows dollar results. Time in market is 100%, because the account always holds one of the two markets.]
In the dollar view the account is never in cash, which is why TiM reads 100%. Each switch also counts as a trade, so the trade count roughly doubles. For Bittenfeld T5 - BTCUSD/SPX the relative view shows 72.9% a year with 26 trades, the dollar view 132.7% with 52, simply because the dollar view also earns BTC's own rise. Neither is the "real" number; they measure different things. Compare relative with relative, and dollars with dollars.
You'll find the button in three places: on each pair card next to the pill, next to the heading of the Multi-Ticker and All Strategies folders (to switch every pair card at once), and on the strategy page next to Add to portfolio. It turns solid while the dollar view is on, and it works on the free version too.
[1. The top line names the pair. 2. The $ button, off. 3. The mini chart shows the ratio, not a dollar price.]
Pairs in a portfolio
On a portfolio board, a two-market strategy is usually used as a rule rather than a holding: its Long or Flat steers how the portfolio is split, for example moving weight from Crypto to Stocks when BTC lags the S&P 500. The All-Weather Index [GPS] default portfolio does exactly that. See Trade vs Signal and Dynamic mix: rules.
A pair isn't a portfolio, though. It's one strategy with two markets built into its rules. If you simply want to hold several markets, combine strategies on a portfolio.