Dealing With Poor Price Uniformity

[check.mate]

I've been thinking about this one for a while.

I'm not a cryptography expert or anything, but I have been using cryptocurrencies for practical reasons for roughly a year now. The main reason I use them is for little things like paying friends back for lunch and stuff.

I'm not into trading crypto amateur-ly either, but I know a few people who are. They used to complain about a lot of things, namely "the flippening", but nothing major. This is what tripped me up. A big problem I've noticed is that several different exchange platforms will often list different prices for the same coin at once. Volatility of BTC and similar cryptocurrencies are the root cause. This isn't just a minor inconvenience.

As more and more people are trying to find ways to make crypto appeal to the general public and make platforms that are user-friendly, people like myself will find it hard to determine one true price of a cryptocurrency. For traders, they won't be able to chart prices -- making any sort of long-term trading nearly impossible. Thus, many professionals that I know look upon bitcoin as a "scam" due to its unpredictability. I would like to disagree, but their concerns are legitimate.

Again, I'm not an expert with crypto, so hate on me all you want for this part: what if a service compiled the prices of most major coins from the major exchange platforms and took their average, updating the price every ten seconds? It wouldn't be perfect, but it could bring people a little bit closer to feeling secure about knowing prices.

This could help many of the startup future exchanges I've seen advertised on here, like Bitfuturex (bitfuturex.com). It looks like an amazing idea, but with such volatility and confusion regarding coin prices, it is unlikely to become a reality.

Please give me some feedback on this. If it sounds like a good idea, I'd like to turn in into a reality. I really do think that price uniformity is an issue that could hurt a lot of entrepreneurs who want to bring their ideas to life. I'm not looking to become the next major BTC executive, but I do want to help my friends and some of the startups on here out.  

Thanks,

checkmate

[Vod]

I don't think people care about the average price - they want to see highs and lows and the exact price at the exchange they use.

[check.mate]

I don't think people care about the average price - they want to see highs and lows and the exact price at the exchange they use.

Hello,

Thanks for the info. I understand the "highs and lows" point you made, but it's the "exact price at the exchange they use" that bothers me. Across many different exchange platforms, there could be as much as (the equivalent of) a $100 difference in estimation of the exact price (at a given moment). This isn't so great for practical uses of cryptocurrencies and for experienced future traders.

I understand your point and value your feedback a lot. It's great to hear what others have to say on the matter.

Thanks again!

[khaled0111]

what if a service compiled the prices of most major coins from the major exchange platforms and took their average, updating the price every ten seconds? It wouldn't be perfect, but it could bring people a little bit closer to feeling secure about knowing prices.

Many websites provide such service. Coinmarketcap.com is one of them.

[check.mate]

what if a service compiled the prices of most major coins from the major exchange platforms and took their average, updating the price every ten seconds? It wouldn't be perfect, but it could bring people a little bit closer to feeling secure about knowing prices.

Many websites provide such service. Coinmarketcap.com is one of them.

There goes the idea then. Thanks for the info.

[BrewMaster]

big price differences are very rare and only happen during ridiculous volatility periods. otherwise $100 difference for bitcoin which is only 1% doesn't happen. for example price difference between Coinbase, Bitstamp, Bitfinex and Kraken is less than $10 (0.1%) which is normal in any other market too.
besides people don't care about these price differences unless they are doing arbitrage trading between these exchanges. and they fetch the price directly from the exchange API instead of relying on another site that updates the price too late (with delays). so for instance the only usage a site like coinmarketcap.com has is to tell us which coin is listed where and give us additional links such as their explorer link,...

[check.mate]

big price differences are very rare and only happen during ridiculous volatility periods. otherwise $100 difference for bitcoin which is only 1% doesn't happen. for example price difference between Coinbase, Bitstamp, Bitfinex and Kraken is less than $10 (0.1%) which is normal in any other market too.
besides people don't care about these price differences unless they are doing arbitrage trading between these exchanges. and they fetch the price directly from the exchange API instead of relying on another site that updates the price too late (with delays). so for instance the only usage a site like coinmarketcap.com has is to tell us which coin is listed where and give us additional links such as their explorer link,...

Alright, thank you for the info.

[Mahanton]

like Bitfuturex (bitfuturex.com). It looks like an amazing idea

This site is for sale already

"Bitfuturex is for sale for 5 BTC, contact me at bitfuturex@gmail.com , buy Satoshi Nakamoto`s Project Bitfuturex"

Dont know why this belongs to Satoshi Sorry for OT.

On topic,we already have CMC when it regards to your idea.

[hugeblack]

Perhaps the difference is between your use and what others want, many tend to speculate in the markets and therefore the rise and fall in price will be a big gain.
To be honest, using these currencies as a currency to buy/sell is much less than using it in speculation.
There are some stablecoins through which the benefits of cryptos "the possibility of transferring money to all over the world at low fees" in addition to the stable price.
You may need to wait for some central currencies like libra until you get those features.


BTW: Do not thank anyone who replies to your topic, this is against Bitcointalk rules, Read it here ----> Unofficial list of (official) Bitcointalk.org rules, guidelines, FAQ

[squatter]

I don't think people care about the average price - they want to see highs and lows and the exact price at the exchange they use.

Hello,

Thanks for the info. I understand the "highs and lows" point you made, but it's the "exact price at the exchange they use" that bothers me. Across many different exchange platforms, there could be as much as (the equivalent of) a $100 difference in estimation of the exact price (at a given moment). This isn't so great for practical uses of cryptocurrencies and for experienced future traders.

If the disparities can be arbitraged, then arbitrage bots will generally close up the gaps quickly. So which exchanges are you comparing, specifically?

Sometimes price disparities persist for good reasons -- worries over insolvency, disabled wallets, difficulty of fiat arbitrage, etc.