Should the exchanges close on the weekends?

[Scrat Acorns]

Should the internet close on the weekends?

[fredi173]

Should the internet close on the weekends?

+1

[bg002h]

15 min down per day sounds reasonable...with all maintenance extending this downtime as necessary. 1 day off per month. 1 weekend off every 6 months for big upgrades.

[auzaar]

Exchanges like any other website should decide when they want to go down for maintenance and if a exchanges wishes they can do it every week, but forcing all exchanges for a common window is the most ridiculous thing I heard in bit-coin economy a) how you will enforce it b) it doesn't make business sense because than I will open an exchange called window-exchange which will give me business for free in already crowded market, so please do it

[solex]

No. Bitcoin has to be exchangeable 24/7 if it is to supersede cash. E.g. anyone can agree 24/7 to privately swap Mexican pesos for US$ in cash.

The scheduled downtime for upgrades is the only argument that holds water, and this is up to the individual exchanges. As pointed out, most major websites are 24/7 already.

[MPOE-PR]

I can't believe this is actually being discussed.

Rule of thumb: if it starts with should and includes Bitcoin it's probably stupid.

[Littleshop]

Should the internet close on the weekends?

Or how about after hours (US time) so the people on the other side of the world can not use it during the day?

[SouthernComfort]

Bitcoin is the future! There is no reason for us to follow old world currency traditions!

Keep the exchanges open!

[Walter Rothbard]

If it's a good idea for exchanges to be closed on the weekends, somebody should start an exchange and run it like that.  If it's a good idea, that exchange will prosper relative to the other exchanges.

There might even be room in the market for both.

[Stephen Gornick]

An efficient capital market is a market that reflects all available news and information. An efficient market is also quick to absorb new information and adjust stock prices relative to that information. This is known as an informationally efficient market. Generally, efficient markets are expected to reflect all available information. If that is not the case, investors with the information may benefit leading to abnormal returns.

 - http://www.investopedia.com/exam-guide/cfa-level-1/securities-markets/emh-efficient-market-hypothesis.asp
 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient-market_hypothesis

There aren't many (or any ?) methods for a retail investor to do forex trading over the weekend.   There was one, OANDA, but they claimed the low volume was too challenging for them where they would be taking on too much risk having to take the other side of the trades:
 - http://www.forexcrunch.com/oanda-closes-weekend-trading

Of course, there is a lot of forex trading over the weekend -- just not by you or I.  Central banks, corporate and institutional (government) bankers, multinational corporations and more are all trading 24x7.

So the market is efficient for them.  The rest of us stuck with a losing forex position thanks to news that occurs over the weekend are stuck with that increasingly deteriorating position until the markets open on Monday (or Tuesday, when Monday is a banking holiday like what happened this 3-day weekend.)  

That's not the definition of an efficient market.  Market-changing information occurs over the weekend as well (with announcements oftentimes timed specifically for release over the weekend.)  Bitcoin markets don't have this restriction.    That still doesn't mean bitcoin exchanges can be considered "efficient" though.  For instance, there was a pattern called the "weekend dip" in which buyers interested in buying had insufficient cash at the ready at the exchanges in order to buy and as a result there was little buying to counter a weekend selloff until new cash arrived at the exchanges when funds sent through the banking system were credited.   Lately, however, the weekend dip opportunity seems to have abated.

At some point a financial company will start using Bitcoin as the method for moving value in and out of other assets, including offering the ability for that to continue throughout the weekend as the way to differentiate that investment offering from the competition.

[hazek]

Market-changing information occurs over the weekend as well (with announcements oftentimes timed specifically for release over the weekend.)

Example: Pirateat40 posted his announcement that he was going to shut down his ponzi on a Saturday afternoon (GMT+1) which caused a huge reaction in the market.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

There would be no way to enforce this. Exchanges can choose for themselves whether to be open or closed in the weekend or at other times.

How about community enforcement?

No.

Let me add some more emphasis so I am clear:

[disclaimer201]

Did anyone notice this thread is from 2011? This silly discussion was left alone for 2 years and just continues now? Wow.

[Richy_T]

Yes, you DO play by old economic rules. You also play by standard IT rules which LOVE planned downtime. 24/7 is extremely hard to maintain for anything not a joke website (mt gox still is there - joke website - wait until you see real volume, options etc.).

Meh, IT downtime is typically because a company considers the cost/benefit ratio of instant (or near-instant) switchovers are not worth it. There's nothing inherent that requires that things be down for more than a marginal amount of time. Especially for something like an exchange which is, at heart, a somewhat simplistic beast.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

Did anyone notice this thread is from 2011? This silly discussion was left alone for 2 years and just continues now? Wow.

Oh, we all fell victim to a vicious necromancer.

[Richy_T]

Oh, we all fell victim to a vicious necromancer.

I love that song.

[cedivad]

I've never seen google doing a planned maintance.
It must be a joke of a website.