Storing Cryptocurrencies on Exchanges

[bizbwan]

I store all my cryptos on exchanges and all went hacked I suggest keep your funds outside exchangers and put only amount that you are ready to lose.

[boogy07]

I would suggest a reasonable level of due diligence before using any exchange.
Find out what type of business structure they have, and what level of security they have.

Exchanges operate very much in the "security through obscurity" bracket.

Good point.

Here is a decent guide on conducting due diligence: https://howtobuybitcoin.io/good-vs-bad-exchanges/
It may not provide any deep insight into the quality of security of an exchange, but it helps support my point.

The general premise is this - if some parts of the business is weak, under-developed, or simply done in a poor way, it is an indication of the quality of their security.

[gentlemand]

Absolutely not. Even if the exchange isn't hacked, your account may be phished. If your account isn't phished these days we have the exchanges freezing people left, right and centre for non compliance or simply being overloaded.

The latter is my main worry these days. I get in and out as quickly as possible and I'd never go all in with a buy or sell. I'd step it just in case they froze me.

[sjyi]

For me, I lost some coins in the past because I could not keep the wallet info safe.
Based on what happened to Mt. Gox, I would think the newer exchanges should protect themselves better.

As the regulations evolve to tax earnings from cryptocurrency,  I don't want to be subject to taxes and regulations.  But how do I achieve the liquidity of fiat with coins?  I do hope that everyone moves off the fiat to cryptocurrency soon, but I don't see it happening soon.  My thought is that it would be easier and hopefully safer to use the exchange than my own wallet.

[NikitaSkublov0202]

I store only coins that I'm planing to trade. I use only exchanges with good reputation - kraken and freewallet for my trading. That gives me feeling of safety although I'm aware that every eschange (even with a perfect reputation) can get hacked

[Rouse_creationsHostel]

I stopped using exchanges half a year ago. Now I just use https://shapeshift.io only when I sell some crypto for food and shelter ... also I hold all the coins. Because I have been researching alternate cryptocurrencies for a couple of years, and I have found my favorites, so now just HODL!

[MonkeyBrain]

I have like 15 coins.  Wouldn't it cost a lot in fees to transfer in and out of exchanges?

[monergo]

Don't allow the convenience to fool you. Im saying this as a former mtgox survivor

[Dudeperfect]

I would recommend maintaining not more than 5% of the overall portfolio on the exchange because even if we are taking necessary security precautions like two-factor authentication, you never know what kind of security precautions is being taken on the server side but since you will need some amount to trade on the exchanges I would recommend the lowest part to hold there. If you want more amount then you can top up using hardware wallet and then again with withdrawing surplus funds from the exchange at the end of the day.

[golek upo]

every coin deposit has a high risk, (on the stock or in the wallet) but saving the coin in exchange I think is safer. because right now, almost every exchange has better security protection. (this is just my personal opinion)

[Stedsm]

Is it Okay to keep BTC and other coins at exchanges?

Depends upon many factors:
- Intentions of the exchange itself and their behavior (take example of HitBTC as to how they reacted (did nothing actually) when everybody was asking them about their TRX deposits when the coin was pumping really high.
- Security offered as well as implemented on the exchange itself (SSL Certificate as well as DDoS protection, high-quality servers as well as 2FA should be offered in variance).
- If any previous hacks occurred, how did the exchange dealt with the situation (Take Poloniex and Bittrex's examples, as well don't forget MT Gox).

Other types of coins are actually a mess when it comes to wallets as not all devs provide lite versions of their wallets. If you're specific about Bitcoins, storing it on an address whose private key is held by you is the best option.

[MonkeyBrain]

That's really a personal opinion. I keep the bulk of mine on Coinbase in the hope that they are well insured and secure. Some of my friends refuse to keep most of their's on exchanges though due to past issues.

I keep half of mine on Coinbase as well. They say they keep majority of coins offline and are insured so that seems like a pretty secure way to store coins.  Problem is they only have wallets and vaults for 4 types of coin (BTC, BCH, LTC, ETH) only.

[jim_crypto]

Do yourself a favour & if you have any of the major coins invest in a ledger nano s for peace of mind, or some coins not supported have their own wallets... an example of this is the Deep Onion coin which has a high security/private wallet for investors   

[topgun911]

to keep up with Jonses..

Short term/Day trade = exchanges
Anything past 3 days = cold storage

[aardvark15]

Is it Okay to keep BTC and other coins at exchanges?

The problem with these exchanges is that the can go out of business and you can’t get your funds out. This happened with MtGox, Cryptsy, and Bitconnect. They may just steal your money or get hacked. Whatever the reason for it, you are taking a risk. I keep most of my find in an offline wallet.

[Camillee]

I know, that it's considered not safe enough to store coins in exchange wallets, but I've chosen two trusted ones and never had a problem. My choise is coinbase because backed by trusted investors and used by millions of customers globally, Coinbase is one of the most popular and well-known brokers and trading platforms in the world. And freewallet because it's the best fee rates on the market.