Should the exchanges close on the weekends?

[Bitcoin Swami]

I dont know much on how it works but I hear alot of people saying that the wire transfers and stuff doesn't work on weekends because banks are closed.  This seems to lead to more selling pressure on the weekends.   Wouldn't it be better for bitcoin if trading on the exchanges closed for the weekend? or does it not even matter?

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[NetTecture]

Yes. Has a lot of advantages, also technically - gives them a maintenance window t  take down the site / update the programs withint incured downtime.

Adhering to FOREX trading hours (23 hours / day, 6 days a week) or CME GROUP hours (15 minute downtime per day, weekends off) means more planned stability. And, as I said, a window for handling maintenance.

[ripper234]

Yes. Has a lot of advantages, also technically - gives them a maintenance window t  take down the site / update the programs withint incured downtime.

Adhering to FOREX trading hours (23 hours / day, 6 days a week) or CME GROUP hours (15 minute downtime per day, weekends off) means more planned stability. And, as I said, a window for handling maintenance.

Absolutely not. We don't play by old economy rules.

[NetTecture]

Yes. Has a lot of advantages, also technically - gives them a maintenance window t  take down the site / update the programs withint incured downtime.

Adhering to FOREX trading hours (23 hours / day, 6 days a week) or CME GROUP hours (15 minute downtime per day, weekends off) means more planned stability. And, as I said, a window for handling maintenance.

Absolutely not. We don't play by old economy rules.

Make sense. Let's ignore reality and live ina a fantasy world.

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.).

Plus somehow Bitcoins dont live in a fancy fantasy world - exchagne against funds requires funds available, and as the OP pointed out, lots of the non-bitcoiin infrastructure shuts down on weekends.

[wumpus]

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.

[enmaku]

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? If enough of us (especially if we got all the miners onboard) refuse to do business in certain ways or certain time frames then there's no product to buy during those windows.

[Bit_Happy]

No

[bittersweet]

How about community enforcement? If enough of us (especially if we got all the miners onboard) refuse to do business in certain ways or certain time frames then there's no product to buy during those windows.

It doesn't make sense. Why would you want to not be able to trade 24/7? Bitcoin is a global currency.

[brunner]

No

Agreed.  That's just dumb.

If you want to personally forgo trading at certain times of the day, have at it.

However, the exchanges are privately owned, and can decide on their own what times of day and days of the week they will be open for business.

If you start an exchange, you'll be free to set the business hours.

[pokermon919]

You know how much money the exchanges make on fees? They wouldn't close at all unless they had to. Keep in mind they are running a business.

[mellowhead]

Exchanges should stay open on weekends, evenings, whenever they feel like it IMO.

[enmaku]

How about community enforcement? If enough of us (especially if we got all the miners onboard) refuse to do business in certain ways or certain time frames then there's no product to buy during those windows.

It doesn't make sense. Why would you want to not be able to trade 24/7? Bitcoin is a global currency.

I would love to, if the infrastructure were available in the other currencies we all rely on right now.

Also, I was perhaps talking less about the "certain time frames" and more about the "certain ways" (http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=15595.0  <- shameless derailing plug of my own thread about unionizing mining)

[swusc2]

The "new economy, old economy" idealogy doesn't work in the current model. The only way for bitcoin to get big is through the transaction between established currencies and bitcoin. By not using a limited model current currencies play the economic advantage over bitcoin in stability.

Also it couldn't be enforced and enforcement is probably a bad idea. But it would be in the best interest to exchanges and bitcoin right now to use something like forex. It can always be changed later.

A perfect model would be, banks open 7 days a week and exchanges open 7 days a week. Because banks do close,  the perfect economic model doesn't apply because no money can go into exchange during the weekend but money can leave. Economics no longer apply because while the price can go down the but not up by counter buying at low prices because no new money can be put in until a certain time. And since crashes are due to the steepness of dropping prices the inability to counter buy until later increases the likelihood of significant drops leading to crashes.

[ripper234]

The "new economy, old economy" idealogy doesn't work in the current model. The only way for bitcoin to get big is through the transaction between established currencies and bitcoin. By not using a limited model current currencies play the economic advantage over bitcoin in stability.

Also it couldn't be enforced and enforcement is probably a bad idea. But it would be in the best interest to exchanges and bitcoin right now to use something like forex. It can always be changed later.

A perfect model would be, banks open 7 days a week and exchanges open 7 days a week. Because banks do close,  the perfect economic model doesn't apply because no money can go into exchange during the weekend but money can leave. Economics no longer apply because while the price can go down the but not up by counter buying at low prices because no new money can be put in until a certain time. And since crashes are due to the steepness of dropping prices the inability to counter buy until later increases the likelihood of significant drops leading to crashes.

Yes, bitcoin should be traded on Forex. We need the added exposure.
No, any exchange that can trade 24/7 should not limit itself except for technical reasons (2 hour downtime window for updates). If the market wants to trade, it will trade. If one exchange bars it, people will move to an exchange that will.

Don't try to regulate the market thinking that you're smarter than it. Let the market does what it does, and choose for yourself whether you want to play it or ride it.

[becoin]

Yes. Has a lot of advantages, also technically - gives them a maintenance window t  take down the site / update the programs withint incured downtime.

Adhering to FOREX trading hours (23 hours / day, 6 days a week) or CME GROUP hours (15 minute downtime per day, weekends off) means more planned stability. And, as I said, a window for handling maintenance.

Absolutely not. We don't play by old economy rules.

Correct. No need to close on weekends or holidays.

[ironwolf]

24/7 is extremely hard to maintain for anything not a joke website.

Yeah, only jokers run 24/7 sites... like Amazon, and Google, and... well there's really no point in continuing is there?

lots of the non-bitcoiin infrastructure shuts down on weekends.

Over the long haul, my money is on Bitcoin changing the way the rest of the world works. Bankers hours are a relic.

[bcearl]

Yes. Has a lot of advantages, also technically - gives them a maintenance window t  take down the site / update the programs withint incured downtime.

Adhering to FOREX trading hours (23 hours / day, 6 days a week) or CME GROUP hours (15 minute downtime per day, weekends off) means more planned stability. And, as I said, a window for handling maintenance.

Absolutely not. We don't play by old economy rules.

Make sense. Let's ignore reality and live ina a fantasy world.

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.).

Plus somehow Bitcoins dont live in a fancy fantasy world - exchagne against funds requires funds available, and as the OP pointed out, lots of the non-bitcoiin infrastructure shuts down on weekends.

The rules of the old trade markets are the fantasy world. The economy does not sleep at weekend.

[Steve]

Scheduled downtime is the only argument I can see for not trading 24x7.  Perhaps if the various exchanges do adopt regularly scheduled downtimes, they can do it at different times so that there is always trading available at any time of the day.

On the other hand, with the proper architecture, there should be no real reason for scheduled downtimes.

[Isosceles]

No they shouldn't close at the weekend. Does Google close on Saturdays? This is the new world.
Besides, even if MtGox closed there would be others who stayed open, which would increase volatility.

[tymothy]

Exchanges can do whatever they please, but an hour of suspended trading a week or so, announced well in advance would be a lot better than having wonky half-trades and price fluctuations that don't match the market because of technical concerns.