Bitcoin Forum

Hey everyone,

Just wondering, what percentage of your total funds do you usually keep at a single exchange?

I mean, what is your risk mitigation strategy, considering the many exchanges that went kaput?

This can be really different from one person to another. I personally don`t keep more than 2BTC in a single account. In fact, this is my top limit to risk on trading.

I see.

Actually what I'm wondering is how people relate to risk. I mean, what percentage of your total funds is 2BTC?

If it's 10%, for example,  that means you are very conservative. If it's 80% then you're a serious risk taker...

That's the kind of idea I wished to apprehend from btc community.

In my case, this is actually %100 percent. But percentage of total funds being used on trading doesn`t exactly mean the person is a big risk taker. It has a lot to do with what you are investing in. I personally wouldn`t buy any altcoin that does not have huge volume on the market. So, it is less likely to make huge profit when you are not investing in a brand new altcoin which you think has a great potential in the future. I hope i explained my point clearly.

The % of your money you put on something is what dictates how risk averse you are. Even if you're 100% sure of some investment, it's still risk and we should always diversify.

I don't keep more than 1/4 of my invested coins at a single exchange, or wallet, or anything. That's how I'm willing to loose in case some shit happens, it wouldn't take up my sleep.

No more than 1-2 BTC. i wouldn't advise anyone to hold more than that in an online wallet.

0%. I deposit some coins when I want to trade, do the trades and immediately withdraw them, so my coins are only there when i need them to be there.

In the past, I've never kept more than a couple bitcoin. Well, except in the early days when it wasn't worth much.

It depends, when i want to do some trading, i can have more than one bitcoin on exchange, but i withdraw them to my computer wallet when I finished the trading.  I don't feel save having more than 0.50 Bitcoins on exchange. We saw before that some exchanges were hacked or scamed their users, MtGox, Cryptsy ...

100%.  Otherwise impossible to trade with sell orders. 

What do you mean? You put your bitcoin there and immediately take out your fiat. Don't wait for anything.

Same here. It's too risky. I learned my lesson - you can't trust Bitcoin exchanges.

I only keep about 10% of my Bitcoin in an exchange. I don't really trust exchanges with my Bitcoin.

Yeah. After the Mt Gox scandal, I only keep 5% of my Bitcoin in an exchange. I keep the rest in a trezor.

I'm not a trader but I have some accounts on exchanges.  I basically keep nothing in my accounts, including sig earnings from Yobit.  I buy some Dash with that and transfer some to my Mycelium wallet.  After Mt. Gox and Cryptsy I've become justifiably paranoid about losing what I have.

I keep almost half of my coin in exchange usually in bitfinex and i use 25% of my fund to do altcoin trading. And remaining 25% to use for daily use.

Wow. You have some balls my friend. I wouldn't really think someone would put that much into an exchange.

anybody who has been trading for some time, or lost any bitcoin (like me) on cryptcy or couple of others who went down knows not to keep even 1 satoshi on an exchanger or risk losing it.

that is why whenever i trade i withdraw at the end of my session.

I've kept 0.24BTC for around 24 hrs in a exchange in the past. It's very risky to keep any sort of amount on any of exchanges for longer than the time it's needed for you to exchange it. Base on what happened in the past (many lost their funds), no one should leave their funds on exchanges nowadays.

You should not put a amount figure on here, the OP wants a perfect strategy based on percentages. I would say, never more than 20% depending on what you own. You could distribute the risk and

use more than one exchange, but it might even expose you to a bigger chance that one of them may pull a Mt Gox on you. If the exchange you are using are regulated, you have a smaller change of

getting Gox'ed. The old saying, " Never invest more than you can lose " still apply to trading on exchanges. Do not go all in... and you will be fine.  ;)

For me, I will not keep more than 0.5 BTC in exchanges. This is mainly because I do not actively trade BTC for profit. Most of the coins are transferred to Coinbase or cold storage (paper wallets).

For me, not more than 1 BTC for 1 week; not more than 0.5 BTC for 1 month.

It's not so much about trading or not than about the exchange pulling a Gox on your ass. If the exchange closes and doesn't let you withdraw your money you're fucked (and yes, it has happened a bunch of times in the past).

Oh thank you very much for the tip. I never realised this, but I never really keep my Bitcoin in an exchange anyway.

probably 1 btc no more, but in the past i was holding more there but only if the exchange was not hacked before and stuff like that

I did the same thing, 100%. I kept them in one exchange a week. 100% is less than 0,5 bitcoin. so it's not too risky I think. saving them in online wallet in a long term will be risky because of hackinh

Honestly, I actually do not trust exchange website. I mean, I do trust them. But there is no reason for me to store my funds in their non-safe online wallet even though it is less than one cent.
I usually have less than 1% of my total funds in an exchange website for trading purposes. (Not really into trading, though.)

what you mean "went kaput" ?? i never take a risk on exchange,so i just put about 20% of my funds on exchange,just for trade and other need.

I don't keep any bitcoin at an exchange.  If I by some from an exchange, I withdraw it to a wallet I control as soon as I am able to.  I don't trust anyone else with it.  If I'm going to cash any out, I send it in, exchange it and immediately send it to my bank account.

I try to keep no more than 10% on an exchange while actively trading. Like others, I try not to keep coins I am not planning to trade in the next day or so on a exchange and will withdrawal them to a wallet for slow periods or if I will not be trading for awhile.

As Cryptsy has shown, even this strategy is not fool-proof, as I did have some BTC and DOGE get stuck on their exchange while trading and now it looks like they are gone. Fortunately, my doge holdings were fairly small on there, so I only lost maybe 1-2% of my total crypto holdings. If nothing else, the loss will re-emphasize the importance of the fact that no exchanges can be trusted and the coins are only safe once they are back in your possession. This "lesson" will perhaps keep me from encounter bigger losses in the future.

before cryptsy went under, i used to keep up to 1BTC at exchanger in order to be able to trade fast and withdraw the rest.

but nowadays i will keep 0BTC at any exchanger, cause i don't want to lose any more of my coins.

I used to keep everything at them, but now i just send in the BTC/else, exchange it and then get it back in my wallet.

I usually do not keep more than 0.2 BTC on an exchange. You should ask yourself what you can afford to lose in the event of a exchange close. 0.2 BTC is the amout I can afford. Some could more and some could less.

i keep nothing on exchangers.
good or bad, i started using bitcoin in 2014-2015 which was after what mtGox did so i always think of them whenever i want to keep anything at any exchanger and stop myself.

I don't keep any amount in exchanges since all the poor things that have happen in the past year with most of them.
So my answer is zero.

I buy on exchanges and then immediately send to a different wallet that I control.

There is no hard and fixed rule of how much I usually can keep in each wallet exchange. But I never prefer to use exchange wallets as my saving wallet. The good ways is withdrawing your bitcoins immediately after an exchange if you do not have any plan of another trade.

I have trust both coinbase and bitfinex with over 100BTC (which worked out to over 95% if my bitcoin at the time) and both were able to process withdrawals quickly. Coinbase has actually processed 100+ withdrawals almost instantly after successfully entering my 2fa code, almost at a speed that is scary and has me thankful that I triple checked the address I asked them to withdraw to.

In every case however I had (what I believed to be) a valid business reason to have BTC at the exchange and was able to capitalize on large price swings of the price of Bitcoin, so the risk of trusting them with so much BTC was not without (potential) reward. I most likely would not trust them with as much if I was simply trying to convert BTC to fiat.

if the exchange sites that are very reliable way you can save 50% of your money in the exchanger. I thought no more of it. possibility to cheat sites could happen. remains cautious.

You are right. Exchanges are not our wallets. Instead, You can keep all of your Bitcoins in single cold storage because its most secure. But if you want online some funds, then spliting them in different exchanges is the wise thing to do.

extremely right, keeping balance in exchange account is too risky. I never keep my balance in exchange account. always cashout them in primary wallet, every time I want to exchange I deposit my money to exchange account. It takes only few minutes. Taking care is better then taking risk.

After I was scammed earlier, I try to keep the minimum amount possible in any online site and exchange. But still at some trusted sites I try to keep some 0.1 btc , but whom I trust a lot.

Nowadays, I don't store anything in online exchanges. But when I started collecting my coins, I used to store the entire stash in my BTC-e wallet. But then Bitcointalk users warned me against holding my coins in exchanges, and I gradually moved them to offline storage. A few days ago, I bought a few LTC by exchanging BTCs. That was the last time I deposited Bitcoins in BTC-e.

Yes we should divide out Bitcoins in different Online wallets to minimize the risk of being stolen. Can you tell which is the most trusted Wallet online available ?

i have all my btc in coinbase cold storage as coinbase seems to be a very popular option i thought it might be safe. i hope it is :D

Not more than 0.05 BTC. I know this is not much but I lost almost 0.4 BTC on the Mintpal shutdown. I worked hard to get these coins, I do not want to risk another lost of this amount.

highest amount I hold in an online exchange is about 1 BTC, but usually lower than that. However, it is a high percentage of what I own.

I remember once that i put several bitcoins in a single exchange and withdrawed fast because i was afraid holding there.

depends what exchange also some satoshis are too much ;)

0.5BTC is the most that I've held into an exchange site. It's too risky to put most of your coins in an online exchange. Better safe than sorry.

I already lost a lot of coins because of scammy exchanges, so now I try to keep few coins on exchanges.
I usualy don't have more than one BTC on any web site

Because Im not trader,  I dont see reason to keep my Bitcoins at exchange.

When I buy Bitcoins, I deposit only amount not too high to be disaster for me if the exchange just happen to cease operation before Im able to withdraw my new Bitcoins.

I've never left coins on an exchange before logging out ever.

I'm more intrigued about the fiat situation. There must be traders leaving hundreds of thousands on there simply because it's so unwieldy to get it off. I wonder whether they sweat in the same manner.

i have kept about 0.3bitcoin till now but i am sure than many users has deposited a lot more than me

I don't keep over 0.2-0.25 BTC in 1 website as I don't want to risk over this amount. It can depend on what's the price of BTC as earlier I used to invest more. The same goes for Forex too while in stock markets, I have invested over 5-6 BTC.

I don't trust exchanges at all now.
It is just a place to hold your money or assets waiting for them too take it all away from you.  >:(

i'm still trust an exchange but currently i don't dare to save all my money into 1 exchange because it's too risky and i was heard that some people got hacked into their exchanges account so for now i just only save 25% my bitcoin into 1 exchange from all my money

The maximum coins that I keep in an online exchange is .2, as I always keep mine in my cold storage, just to make sure that it is safe, I just transfer coins when I needed it when I don't have extra cash...

i dont keep anything there.
Just pay in to trade then withdraw immediately.
Its the safest.

Around 20% of my balance. so it's 0.2 for maximum i keep at a single exchange, because every week i need to spend 0.2 for turn it into fiat for something in real life.

This figure varies from person to person and some one suggested me to have little balance for being on safer side i.e., 25% of the balance. It helps to everyone a lot I guess since it gives peace of mind and can work and sleep easily.

I think their is no minimum or maximum for a exchange , ya but some exchanges can keep the limit, but my never keep amount in exchange when ever i feel to buy i transfer the amount and buy it and then transfer the bought coin to other wallet for safe . if tomorrow exchange goes bankrupt or scam i should be safe.

i think before mintpal offline. they've been told all their members. via email so that all the coins that they have had to immediately pull. it also occurs in swisscex. I know the exchange is to be a scam just mtgox or cryptsy

for me, i keep the limit at 0.50 BTC, as I am new to online job so I don't have much amount to take risk with.
But with Okpay I do not need any person for exchange, I can myself exchange my money to fiat and back to bitcoin without any fee.

On kraken i keep max 5 bitcoin. But on small exchanges i keep max around .5 and 1 BTC. F.e. c-cex max .5 BTC.
But on bittrex i feel confident holding 1 BTC

The max I hold at the moment is 0.015 BTC so I can keep the risk low.

it depending how much you have bitcoins,and how brave you are,its about trading and keep your bitcoin on hot plate,if you dont trust exchange,just put it little amount there,i just put half of my bitcoins amount on exchange when i do short term trading.

The max i hold is 10 bitcoin. I mostly use bittrex and they are very long active in the world of bitcoin. They run would be possible but i don't
see that happening, because their support guys seems nice fellows.

3 bitcoin is all i trust exchanges too. I've lost several btc on some exchanges so i will not risk any more.
If i buy coins i make sure to transfer them back to my wallet too, so it is safe again.

As little as possible, usually a deposit and then use the BTC for whatever it is I want and withdraw any of the remaining, there are a few exchanges I trust but still will not risk it.

Why not use a decentralized exchange and be always in full control of your funds?

I prefer to manage my own coins, wouldn't be against a decentralized exchange option though.

I only keep about 1 Bitcoin in an exchange. I feel that anymore than that is a very dangerous amount and you could lose a lot.

To the maximum it is better to keep 0.5 Bitcoin in exchange.More than that will be considered risky due to the price variation with exchange values.

I never have more than one btc on an exchange and that is mainly for giving out monthly to my investors. I prefer to have bitcoin stored in a variety of places. Although now I don't have a whole bitcoin yet anymore but I would like to start earning again enough to do so.

once i had all my funds in one exchange wallet, but after i read about the fractional reserve that exchanges use, it's like the banks system, after that i don't trust any exchange and i have all of my bitcoin right in my wallet, where i control my private keys

I only have coins on an exchanges when I am going to trade. If I'm done with trading for the day then I withdraw all my coins to my PC wallet. And when I will do some trading again I simply deposit my coins in my exchange account. I never leave them there if I'm not trading.

I would not trust any exchange to babysit my coins overnight but that's just me.

You should keep coins in exchanges, the amount you want to invest, and keep the savings
in your wallet.

Correct, just because an centralized exchange account balance shows an amount of Bitcoin does not mean it is backed by anything.
Using a centralized exchange always includes a counterpart risk and not all of their users understand how big the risks and limits really are.

This is where decentralized exchanges services (DEX) come in. That means the exchange is as decentralized as the underlying blockchain tech itself. On a DEX users are in full control of their own security, which "can" be much better than any centralized entity.

In traditional exchanges you are also limited to a set of pairs. Whereas in a real DEX everyone can create his own assets/tokens/currencys and trade them right away.
Be Your Own Bank & Be Your Own Broker.

At the moment it is just not common to use a DEX.
But time is working towards more decentralized exchange services, because they are more flexible and cannot easily get bankrupt or hacked as centralized ones can.
However the solution is not one or the other, both centralized and decentralized exchanges need to go hand in hand to provide their customers the best and safest experience.

is there a list of DEX options somewhere?

if you are not doing trading or other activities like to exchange or withdraw. better not to save in the exchanger. better kept in the wallet

Yeah would be great to have a complete list, however a quick google brought this up.
OpenLedger (https://openledger.info/?r=referral.btswolf)
Counterparty (http://counterparty.io/get-started/)
NXT (https://nxt.org/what-is-nxt/asset-exchange/)
Omni (http://www.omnilayer.org/)

Why do you trust in exchanges with all the bull they have pulled in the past.
It has been plastered all over the news. It is hard to miss.

nothing. i am too scared to keep anything at any exchanger anymore :)
there has been enough incidents with reputable exchangers that it is absolutely necessary to withdraw all the funds from each exchanger after the trade.
i have even reduced the amount if trade for that reason.

That entirely depends on your risk taking capability, that defers from person to person.

You can put your money in old and trusted exchanges like C-cex and Yobit as they are secured.

If you wish to test new exchanges, then it is not advisable to keep high amount. I usually keep around $250 in C-cex and little less in yobit.

you named two of the not so popular exchangers for keeping money!!
besides YOBIT has always have problems with payment to its users, just look at the services discussion board and you will see how many people are waiting for withdrawals.

I think $250 is still ok for keeping in exchanges. Any higher you should reconsider.

I have not used C-cex and Yobit so I would not comment on how trustworthy and reliable they are.

I think cryptsy was a very well know, popular and the most trusted exchange but they were the second biggest scammers of all time i guess ? The problem with exchanges or online wallet services is that you need to trust them with your coins and just hope nothing bad happens.

There could be no typical amount and i have kept thousands of dollars(3-5 bitcoins) on Trex in the past and had no issues at all.

Well i had sometime ago somethin like 1 btc at yobit,then i found poloniex and i had something around 1.5btc the thing is you must trust into the exchange,they can shot down any moment and go with your coins instead they collect small fees.

I've made it a point to never keep any coins stored at any exchange, I try not to invest in too many different altcoins since it requires me to install so many different wallets.
It's tempting to just put a bunch of coins into Poloniex and keep them there, but every time an exchange dissapears (cough Gox, cough Cryptsy) I'm reminded that it's worth the hassle.

It depends on how frequent you trade at the exchange. I think the exchanges charge a small fee for withdrawal. So if you withdraw and deposit frequently, you will spend more on the fee.

I think about 1BTC will be just ok for a normal bitcoiner.