Bitcoin Forum

Hi guys,

I have a bitcoin wallet app and I'm noting that the amount of money in BTC when converted to USD is not precise. There is like USD30 od difference between the amount displayed in the app and some online converters.

Apparently the app gets its convertion from bitcoinaveragedotcom.

What's your thought?

There is no single price. The price you see is generally the price of the last sale at some exchange somewhere, or some kind of average of prices on multiple exchanges.

So is there a BTC app for mobile that can give you the best rate convertion, or all have their highs and lows?

There is no "best rate".

Exchanges provide a place for bitcoin buyers and bitcoin sellers to find each other.
Buyers decide how much they are willing to spend and list that amount at the exchange.
Sellers decide how much they want to be paid and list that amount at the exchange.
If the amount a buyer is willing to spend is more than the amount a seller wants to be paid, then an exchange happens and the site reports what that amount was.

Each person using bitcoins gets to decide for themselves how much their bitcoins are worth to them and then gets to decide for themselves if the amount of bitcoins being requested for a product, service, or fiat is something they are willing to pay. If so, then they make the bitcoin payment.  If not, then they look elsewhere.

Most people have a favorite exchange or service that they like to use to help them determine how much they are willing to value their own bitcoins.

your app is probably using their own price to convert your bitcoin>USD.
Every exchange have it's own price, depending on the market volatility the difference between each one will increase. That's arbitrage(buying at the cheaper place and selling where the price is higher).

The reply is simple - every site or app has it's own price for bitcoin, they set prices how they see it to it suit to their business. I never used just one exchanger for my operations and transactions. I chose the place with prices that satisfy me the most.

Because everytime the price of bitcoin always changing and the system does not have 100% accuracy to pick the current rate in every second and that's normal in my mind. And there is no the reliable bitcoin wallet app.

if you need to buy/sell bitcoin then go to an exchange service that you like and get the live price there so it is the accurate and current price.

a wallet app is not supposed to have live price which is accurate with exchanges. a wallet app that reports price should do that so that you can have some kind of idea about how much equivalent money you own in your bitcoin wallet.

although this also depends on where that particular wallet app takes its price. bitcoinaverage is average price, some of the wallets (mostly desktop) allow you to fetch the price directly from an exchange API if that is what you want.

I think you've got the whole concept wrong, Bitcoin prices are never stagnant/fixed at any time; they keep fluctuating due to its volatility and some exchanges try to play safe by raising the buy/sell rate of Bitcoin to a grace level where they wouldn't lose when there's an unforeseen drop/dump in prices. The wallet apps as far as I know are reliable; I use coinbase and they've been excellent ever since I started using.

Every wallet app will have a favorite exchange site in which they will quote their price the reason for that chosen is best known to them. But its equally an advantage to someone could exploit the difference in price as a means of arbitrage and even make more money by buying from the one quoting a lower price then selling in the higher exchange site after studying that the spread is enough to cover the cost to be incurred.

I have the feeling that my wallet app is the weak link in my Bitcoin security.
Blockchain has a 4 digit code to get into it, my phone has a lock too, but in comparison to 2FA and a very long very strong password, it is weak.

That's why I only keep a small amount on my phone, in case of emergency :)

In your case, do you actually trade in the app, or is it just to show the USD value? If it is just for show, it doesn't matter!

Yes they are safe as I've been using a couple of them. The problem I think you are having has to do with the price changes and any Bitcoin enthusiast knows that it is synonymous with bitcoins; that's the norm and Bitcoin prices are never stable so you have to be flexible with your expectations so that you don't always get disappointed with a price change.

Rate & transaction fee for each wallet is different, they use their own customized conversion policy, and also because influence of latest volume and bitcoin price movements. Its function is as an intermediary for a third party and they use a certain fee. You can't transact without using them, no matter if they use a different rate.

Jaxx is reliable, but you need to keep your phone and wallet safe, which is easy, don't download no source app or unknown link.

idk, dependent to their policy of regulation. like blockchain wallet, they are much better to protect your fund from monitoring yet could be lost easily, generally reliable. for somewhere in china, it is not even for non-chinese people due to its strict laws to prevent money laundering.

yeah because in most bitcoin wallet app there are just estimate prices from several exchanger and average the current price. you're never know the actual amount do you have before you sell your bitcoin.

although just estimate prices it's accurate and reliable.

Find a trusted wallet similar to blockchain.info which gives you precise value for the bitcoin that's been saved into the wallet. It also shows the value in terms of USD. Importantly as we can see variations in price on different exchange sites here to small changes will be there between different wallet.

If you asked about security, they are normally safe. Wallet are normally use to hold. Price in wallet are just API. Use exchanges or markets for price.

Yes, but the mobile app and the online converters I googled use the same exchange source (mentioned on the first post) to convert BTC to USD. And yet they provide different prices when expressed in USD.

This is what I found strange.

Different it would have been if they have used different sources, but that is not the case here.

There are different a quotes when you buy and another quote if you sell. Normally, the convertion of btc is cheaper if you sell and higher if you buy. If you want to have the best price, or the price that you want, move your funds to an exchange site like polo or bfx. Then trade there. After trading, move your funds back to your wallet.

Yes I haven't had any issues with xapo and coinbase ever since I started using them do I guess they are trustworthy reliable in every sense. But if you don't want any third party issues like what happened to bitfinex then you can download the entire Bitcoin core on your desktop and keep your coins there.

Speaking of converters or apps they dont really show the same price or value of bitcoin anytime since they have their own conversion regarding on its recent price. For me im using preev.com always when checking the current value and seeing compared to any exchanges its really different.

Bitcoin is decentralized. You will never get the same exact price in all of the exchanges or applications. They have set their own prices according to their own calculations. Try to use multiple applications, compare them and choose the best price for yourself.

Ok, this is weird. If they use the same sources, the price should be the same. The only thing I can think of, is that their software is at fault here. I would take a snapshot of their price with a snapshot overlaid from the other method you are using, to show the difference and then send that to their support staff.

You should bring the evidence that they are wrong. ^smile^

Sources can be same, using different rate for each application is a natural thing. That's why we are getting more options for using and get a rate as we want, that's the meaning of true market competition. No need to look for isolating some app, leave alone if you don't like it. Find/use another app better.

I have been using an online wallet of a remittance site in our country and found out their website was down for quite hours. I almost panic to see their page loads nothing but gibberish codes and so i though they were defaced by a hacker. I remember they do have an app which I have installed in my mobile and so i tried accessing it, send my btc to my desktop wallet and miraculously its safe. I think this should make you see how it could be useful for you in case something like this happen.

Found out later though that this remittance site were just updating their website but yes their app looks great and serve its purpose.

It depends on the wallet you use and how secure is your phone with respect to security. I use blockchain app on my android phone and have never faced any issues. It is better than using a casino or exchange for storing BTC. I have been using it for a while and have never faced any issues regarding it.

see bitcoin's price change every now and then and wallets keep at latest 5 minutes old data so it differs from rate which is shown in official website and wallets have to make some profit to run the service because you are not paying any service charge directly so they put that price difference to make some profit because it takes lot of pain to make and run a successfull projetc.

Bitcoin wallet app or the exchange itself extended on mobile applications are reliable. The difference in price is not because they are not reliable but it is how they design their system or program to work. Only in that way they can profit and as such there is a extra margin of the price they are selling and buying as compared to the trading sites. They dont get profit from trading itself but from service fees and thus that explains the difference in bitcoins price in the app wallet and the actual wallet.

Maybe because of the price fluctuations every time, and also not all converter of bitcoin has the same features, that is why there are things that they are not similar in the first place. Still, even though they have different price of bitcoin when you are converting to dollars, in the end, if you are going to convert your bitcoins into fiat, you will still going to have the real price of it in dollars, so there is noting to worry about.

If you are not satisfied with the other converters here online, I suggest you to go here www.preev.com in this site, you could get the accurate price of bitcoin if you are going to convert it in dollars, also in different currencies.

I think this is how they earn. And there are no single price for bitcoin. It depends on the exchanger itself. That's why bitcoin exchanges are very competitive because bitcoin users are always looking for the better prices out there.

Maybe mate, your app that you are using uses their own converting of bitcoin to US Dollar. Every application has their own conversion on their own,
depends on the market volatility and how application applied to their users.

There's not one single standard value or exchange rate for any particular currency to Bitcoin across the world since there are different markets / exchanges. Your app could be basing off just one of the many exchanges out there.

Anyways for Bitcoin wallet apps themselves, I don't think it's safe to exclusively pool your Bitcoins within a single wallet that can be accessed through your phone. It's convenient, but I suggest you diversify a bit with other wallets that can only be accessed through browsers + two-step email authentication.

The app only show the best average of the rates, you can not get a definite price of buying or selling bitcoin but you definitely get a price which is not far from the market price. did you ever seen bitcoin have fixed price local exchanger site, I dont think so, due bitcoin price always changed.