Most crypto traders live in isolation. They look at their coin’s price chart in a vacuum—thinking green candles mean strength, red candles mean weakness. But here’s a truth that’s hard to swallow once you get it:

It’s not just about going up. It’s about going up more than everything else.

In traditional markets, this concept is baked in. Fund managers don’t just want returns—they want alpha. They want to outperform the S&P 500, because that’s the baseline. Anything less than that is dead weight.

Stan Weinstein knew this decades ago. While most people were chasing tickers with shiny headlines, he was developing a systematic way to identify which stocks were actually leading the market. His secret weapon?

The Mansfield Relative Strength Indicator.

This one tool gave him a consistent edge. And in a space like crypto where thousands of tokens are fighting for attention you need that same edge more than ever.

What Is the Mansfield Relative Strength?

At its core, the Mansfield Relative Strength (MRS) indicator is simple. It compares the price action of your chosen asset (say, a coin like LINK) against a benchmark asset over time.

Traditionally, in the stock market, that benchmark is the S&P500. If LINK was a stock, you’d be comparing its performance to the overall market. If LINK is going up faster than the S&P500, it has positive relative strength. If it’s lagging behind, it has negative relative strength.

In crypto, we switch the baseline.

The equivalent of the S&P500 in crypto is Bitcoin.

Why? Because Bitcoin is the foundation. The reserve currency of this market. If your altcoin can’t outperform BTC, what are we doing here?

So instead of plotting LINK vs. SPX, you plot LINK vs. BTC using the Mansfield Relative Strength.

That one shift changes everything.

How It Works on TradingView

You can find the MRS indicator on TradingView by typing “Mansfield Relative Strength” in the indicators tab. There are a few versions. I prefer the one built by Stage_Analysis, which is clean, customizable, and works well with crypto charts.

Once added to your chart, here’s what you’ll see:

A line oscillating around zero.

When the line is above zero, your altcoin is outperforming Bitcoin.
When the line is below zero, it’s underperforming Bitcoin.

That’s it. Super simple. But incredibly powerful. Also, green and red helps make it easier to indicate at a glance which direction your altcoin is going.

Because now, instead of looking at price in isolation, you’re looking at performance in context.

Why This Matters in Crypto

Let’s take a real-world example.

Imagine you’re looking at two coins: XRP and ETH.

Both are going up in USD terms. You could look at either chart and convince yourself that both are bullish. But let’s say you apply the MRS indicator to both, using BTC as the base.

XRP has an MRS line that’s starting well above zero. ETH has a flat or declining line, below zero.

What does that tell you?

It tells you that even though both are rising in USD, only XRP is outperforming Bitcoin. Only XRP is showing real relative strength.

So if you’re building positions, the decision becomes clearer. You want to bet on strength. Not weakness masquerading as strength.

How to Use MRS to Build Smarter Positions

This is where things get fun.

Most people in crypto try to out-trade the market with complicated setups. They zoom into the 15-minute chart, try to time bounces, scalp volatility, and wonder why they’re stressed, overtrading, and underperforming.

You don’t have to play that game.

You can zoom out. Apply the Mansfield Relative Strength indicator on the daily or weekly timeframe. And ask one simple question:

Is this coin worth being in right now, or is BTC the better trade?

Here’s a basic approach you can start using immediately:

• If MRS is rising and above zero, you’re in a good place. That coin is outperforming BTC. It deserves attention.

• If MRS is falling or below zero, you’re better off in BTC or another coin showing relative strength.

• If MRS crosses zero from below, that’s a sign of emerging strength. You’re catching the rotation early.

This one filter can clean up your watchlist overnight.

In every crypto cycle, there comes a moment where you think you’re winning because your bags are up 20% only to realize that Bitcoin is up 25% with less risk. Or maybe you considered buying another altcoin that is up 30%, beating Bitcoin, but you were hesitant.

The Mansfield Relative Strength indicator helps you avoid that trap. It makes sure you’re always measuring your coin against the most important benchmark in the market. And in doing so, it forces you to rotate into strength, not just sit in bags.

Remember: This market rewards agility more than loyalty.

So What Can Go Wrong?

The biggest mistake people make with this indicator is treating it like gospel on low timeframes. The MRS shines on higher timeframes—daily and weekly—where trends are more meaningful.

If you try to scalp with it or use it intraday, you’ll get chopped up.

It also depends on clean chart data. So if you’re comparing a new token that’s only been trading for a month against BTC, you won’t get meaningful results. The indicator needs historical data to work with.

Lastly, don’t use MRS in isolation. Use it with cycle timing, market structure, and volume. MRS tells you what’s leading; it doesn’t tell you when to enter or where to put your stop loss.

It’s a compass, not a GPS.

Stan Weinstein was right.

Markets are about relative strength. They’re about identifying leaders and avoiding laggards. In crypto, that edge is even more important because the volatility is so high and the trends move fast.

Using Mansfield Relative Strength with BTC as your base is one of the cleanest ways to understand whether your coin is really worth holding. It cuts through the noise. It brings you clarity. And it helps you build positions that actually beat the market and not just follow it.

Next time you feel overwhelmed by all the altcoins flying around, just ask:

Is this coin outperforming Bitcoin?

If the answer is no…
You already know what to do.

Thanks,

Dawson