Exchange spreads and fees (some info/question too)

gweedo

legendary

Activity: 1498

Merit: 1000

Quote from: James Bond on March 11, 2013, 02:55:31 AM

Mt.Gox says market depth is currently only on their old website: https://classic.mtgox.com/
But looking at these sites again, I'm confused: they seem to have substantially different prices. E.g right now about 47.3 USD/btc at Mt.Gox, 46.1 at Bitstamp, and 44.9 at BTC-E. I must be missing something. Can anyone explain?

They are all different exchanges, unlike fiat where one exchange price rules the exchange, bitcoin has as many as the exchanges that there are. Currently Mt Gox, has the most volume so people use them as what the current exchange rate is. But nothing is wrong with Bitstamp or BTC-E, they are exchanges just like mt gox, just less volume, Bitstamp is the second largest.

epetroel

sr. member

Activity: 431

Merit: 251

You can find the MtGox order book on several third party sites. Here's one:

http://bitcoincharts.com/markets/mtgoxUSD_depth.html

As for the price differences between exchanges, trading fees and liquidity are part of it, but a larger part is the fees involved with getting currency in and out of the exchange. MtGox uses Dwolla, so you can get money in and out pretty cheaply. Others have larger fees for transferring money in and out, so the prices on the exchange take that into account.

James Bond

member

Activity: 61

Merit: 10

Mt.Gox says market depth is currently only on their old website: https://classic.mtgox.com/
But looking at these sites again, I'm confused: they seem to have substantially different prices. E.g right now about 47.3 USD/btc at Mt.Gox, 46.1 at Bitstamp, and 44.9 at BTC-E. I must be missing something. Can anyone explain?

James Bond

member

Activity: 61

Merit: 10

Mt.Gox: <= 0.60% fees; I can't find their order book (link please if I'm missing it?) so I'm not sure of the spreads; presumably they're the lowest since they have the most volume
BTC-E: 0.2% fees
Bitstamp: <= 0.5% fees, spreads seem to be much wider than BTC-E

Topic: Exchange spreads and fees (some info/question too) (Read 727 times)