How profitable are exchanges?

[Fearless]

At the end the one who is gonna make the most of profit are the exchanges,they are the beast.

[waqas]

they make a lot of money from the fees
but idk how much money is needed for running their service

Not much really, they need infrastructure to handle the website and trades plus maybe a few staff to handle support. Not much overhead and almost guaranteed profits.

But now need to work on security also few new exchanges have this problem hacked very easily and lost all money

[itsAj]

they make a lot of money from the fees
but idk how much money is needed for running their service

Not much really, they need infrastructure to handle the website and trades plus maybe a few staff to handle support. Not much overhead and almost guaranteed profits.

of course may need money to build the system and its security, but it is only the beginning,
and a little to the cost of maintanance and their employees,
but the profit is huge because transactions take place every day, every hour, even every minute, the profits will be greater if the exchanger was popular and had a lot of user. 

The more popular the exchange is, the more demand for tasks that an exchange's employees will have. In other works the more volume that an exchange handles, the more staff it will need to hire. I also think the more popular exchanges also have a lot of smaller, less profitable accounts that I would think would have a fixed cost to setup.

[wasserman99]

they make a lot of money from the fees
but idk how much money is needed for running their service

Not much really, they need infrastructure to handle the website and trades plus maybe a few staff to handle support. Not much overhead and almost guaranteed profits.

But now need to work on security also few new exchanges have this problem hacked very easily and lost all money

I would say that security is likely a major expense for exchanges. The fact that they hold so much money on behalf of their customers likely makes them a big target for hackers.

[picolo]

The exchanges must be uncredible profitable. They must be milionars $. Anyway, other thing is this so much has to do with the profitability of the exchanges but rather the amount of coins stored on these types of exchanges. Lot of people like to trade altcoins in a "day trading" fashion and as a result keep their coins on the exchanges. This results there being more coins on the exchange then there really should be.

They have low margins, high costs, they can be hacked; who knows how many bitcoins they have and how many exchanges would survive if all customers were withdrawing all their coins

[wasserman99]

The exchanges must be uncredible profitable. They must be milionars $. Anyway, other thing is this so much has to do with the profitability of the exchanges but rather the amount of coins stored on these types of exchanges. Lot of people like to trade altcoins in a "day trading" fashion and as a result keep their coins on the exchanges. This results there being more coins on the exchange then there really should be.

They have low margins, high costs, they can be hacked; who knows how many bitcoins they have and how many exchanges would survive if all customers were withdrawing all their coins

Well hopefully they would be able to survive from a "run on the bank" as they should have 100% reserves both in bitcoin and in fiat. I agree that they likely do have low margins as I think they spend a lot of money on security.

[picolo]

The exchanges must be uncredible profitable. They must be milionars $. Anyway, other thing is this so much has to do with the profitability of the exchanges but rather the amount of coins stored on these types of exchanges. Lot of people like to trade altcoins in a "day trading" fashion and as a result keep their coins on the exchanges. This results there being more coins on the exchange then there really should be.

They have low margins, high costs, they can be hacked; who knows how many bitcoins they have and how many exchanges would survive if all customers were withdrawing all their coins

Well hopefully they would be able to survive from a "run on the bank" as they should have 100% reserves both in bitcoin and in fiat. I agree that they likely do have low margins as I think they spend a lot of money on security.

It is very hopeful to think they all have 100% reserves

When they start they have low fees, not a lot of traffic, high costs, unexpected costs and very small capital so they are burning cash; I let you figure out what cash they are burning at that moment in time

[leannemckim46]

The exchanges must be uncredible profitable. They must be milionars $. Anyway, other thing is this so much has to do with the profitability of the exchanges but rather the amount of coins stored on these types of exchanges. Lot of people like to trade altcoins in a "day trading" fashion and as a result keep their coins on the exchanges. This results there being more coins on the exchange then there really should be.

They have low margins, high costs, they can be hacked; who knows how many bitcoins they have and how many exchanges would survive if all customers were withdrawing all their coins

Well hopefully they would be able to survive from a "run on the bank" as they should have 100% reserves both in bitcoin and in fiat. I agree that they likely do have low margins as I think they spend a lot of money on security.

It is very hopeful to think they all have 100% reserves

When they start they have low fees, not a lot of traffic, high costs, unexpected costs and very small capital so they are burning cash; I let you figure out what cash they are burning at that moment in time

Well ideally they would keep their customer funds separate from their operating funds. I don't think exchanges have a lot of surprises when it comes to their costs so they likely would not need to keep a lot extra for these kinds of expenses. 

[Robif]

Bitstamp owners have become the most wealthy people in their country, that tells you all 

[faiza1990]

Bitstamp owners have become the most wealthy people in their country, that tells you all  

But this not happen in one night or one month he done very hard work for his exchange and now one of most legit exchange in bitcoin community

[BTCjust]

In addition to fees, if to attract venture capital, and that they make big money 

[zorke]

The exchanges must be uncredible profitable. They must be milionars $. Anyway, other thing is this so much has to do with the profitability of the exchanges but rather the amount of coins stored on these types of exchanges. Lot of people like to trade altcoins in a "day trading" fashion and as a result keep their coins on the exchanges. This results there being more coins on the exchange then there really should be.

They have low margins, high costs, they can be hacked; who knows how many bitcoins they have and how many exchanges would survive if all customers were withdrawing all their coins

Well hopefully they would be able to survive from a "run on the bank" as they should have 100% reserves both in bitcoin and in fiat. I agree that they likely do have low margins as I think they spend a lot of money on security.

It is very hopeful to think they all have 100% reserves

When they start they have low fees, not a lot of traffic, high costs, unexpected costs and very small capital so they are burning cash; I let you figure out what cash they are burning at that moment in time

Well ideally they would keep their customer funds separate from their operating funds. I don't think exchanges have a lot of surprises when it comes to their costs so they likely would not need to keep a lot extra for these kinds of expenses. 

I agree this is what they should do, however I don't think it is something they likely do. I don't think most exchanges are transparent enough, nor have sufficient internal controls to be able to perform this kind of accountability. 

[waqas]

The exchanges must be uncredible profitable. They must be milionars $. Anyway, other thing is this so much has to do with the profitability of the exchanges but rather the amount of coins stored on these types of exchanges. Lot of people like to trade altcoins in a "day trading" fashion and as a result keep their coins on the exchanges. This results there being more coins on the exchange then there really should be.

They have low margins, high costs, they can be hacked; who knows how many bitcoins they have and how many exchanges would survive if all customers were withdrawing all their coins

Well hopefully they would be able to survive from a "run on the bank" as they should have 100% reserves both in bitcoin and in fiat. I agree that they likely do have low margins as I think they spend a lot of money on security.

It is very hopeful to think they all have 100% reserves

When they start they have low fees, not a lot of traffic, high costs, unexpected costs and very small capital so they are burning cash; I let you figure out what cash they are burning at that moment in time

Well ideally they would keep their customer funds separate from their operating funds. I don't think exchanges have a lot of surprises when it comes to their costs so they likely would not need to keep a lot extra for these kinds of expenses. 

I agree this is what they should do, however I don't think it is something they likely do. I don't think most exchanges are transparent enough, nor have sufficient internal controls to be able to perform this kind of accountability. 

Yea most of exchanges have no rules about this and they are using all funds just because of this some time exchanges run quickly

[picolo]

The exchanges must be uncredible profitable. They must be milionars $. Anyway, other thing is this so much has to do with the profitability of the exchanges but rather the amount of coins stored on these types of exchanges. Lot of people like to trade altcoins in a "day trading" fashion and as a result keep their coins on the exchanges. This results there being more coins on the exchange then there really should be.

They have low margins, high costs, they can be hacked; who knows how many bitcoins they have and how many exchanges would survive if all customers were withdrawing all their coins

Well hopefully they would be able to survive from a "run on the bank" as they should have 100% reserves both in bitcoin and in fiat. I agree that they likely do have low margins as I think they spend a lot of money on security.

It is very hopeful to think they all have 100% reserves

When they start they have low fees, not a lot of traffic, high costs, unexpected costs and very small capital so they are burning cash; I let you figure out what cash they are burning at that moment in time

Well ideally they would keep their customer funds separate from their operating funds. I don't think exchanges have a lot of surprises when it comes to their costs so they likely would not need to keep a lot extra for these kinds of expenses. 

I agree this is what they should do, however I don't think it is something they likely do. I don't think most exchanges are transparent enough, nor have sufficient internal controls to be able to perform this kind of accountability. 

Yea most of exchanges have no rules about this and they are using all funds just because of this some time exchanges run quickly

They use the money sent to them as their capital, like banks

[giveBTCpls]

Exchanges are making shitloads from fees, i can guarantee that. The amount of orders that happen daily with cryptos is unprecedented and they happen much faster than in any other markets due the digital fast nature of the asset. All these little fees sum up in big ass amounts. This plus the ads = money in the bank for the guys moving big money in their exchanges.

[snappa4ever]

The exchanges must be uncredible profitable. They must be milionars $. Anyway, other thing is this so much has to do with the profitability of the exchanges but rather the amount of coins stored on these types of exchanges. Lot of people like to trade altcoins in a "day trading" fashion and as a result keep their coins on the exchanges. This results there being more coins on the exchange then there really should be.

They have low margins, high costs, they can be hacked; who knows how many bitcoins they have and how many exchanges would survive if all customers were withdrawing all their coins

Well hopefully they would be able to survive from a "run on the bank" as they should have 100% reserves both in bitcoin and in fiat. I agree that they likely do have low margins as I think they spend a lot of money on security.

It is very hopeful to think they all have 100% reserves

When they start they have low fees, not a lot of traffic, high costs, unexpected costs and very small capital so they are burning cash; I let you figure out what cash they are burning at that moment in time

Well ideally they would keep their customer funds separate from their operating funds. I don't think exchanges have a lot of surprises when it comes to their costs so they likely would not need to keep a lot extra for these kinds of expenses. 

I agree this is what they should do, however I don't think it is something they likely do. I don't think most exchanges are transparent enough, nor have sufficient internal controls to be able to perform this kind of accountability. 

This is one thing the NY regulations are suppose bitcoin exchanges to do, and they must subject themselves to audits to prove they are in fact keeping their customers' money separate from their own.

I think the fact that exchanges make a lot of very small fees would somewhat hamper their ability to do this.

[johnyj]

Exchanges can create money and bitcoin out of thin air in their database and no one will notice it, but they are just as risky as any other small bank, which also does the same thing

[InwardContour]

I have seen someone who is selling a complete exchange website in the market.
If it's true you can find out yourself if it's really profitable

[AlexMine]

Exchanges can't actually add decimal values in their databases as it will lead to theit clients' funds unsecurity (there will be a negative delta between assets and liabilities) and they will have troubles while processing crypto- or fiat withdrawals as there won't be enough money. Great exchanges (especially today's leaders) possess internal terminals to control this figures in real time (at least our exchange had  ).

[zorke]

Exchanges can create money and bitcoin out of thin air in their database and no one will notice it, but they are just as risky as any other small bank, which also does the same thing

Yes they can technically do this, but I think this would not be in their long term interest. I would believe that exchanges would be able to make more money from trading fees over the long term then they could buy selling phantom bitcoin on their exchange