What are the top features/functionalities you look for in an exchange?

[josiah__Coinsetter]

Coinsetter is doing some research in regards to what bitcoiners are truly looking for what it comes to a BTC/fiat exchange. After all, we can sit around in a room and theorize all we want to--and can even look internally at what we want as bitcoiners ourselves--but at the end of the day it's you guys (and girls) that we want on our platform... Why not get the information we need straight, from the source?

Your responses are going to help guide the development of our platform moving forward, so please, feel free to speak your mind!

[infested999]

The "qualities" of a Bitcoin exchange all boil down to this:

* The trustworthiness of the owners: If they will run with all the coin that is deposited or play with customers money (Mt. Gox)
* Withdrawal and Deposit methods with low fees: SEPA for Europe, webmoney/QIWI for Russia, Money Order for US
* How powerful the exchange servers are: Mt. Gox had major delays during very high-volume times

[scarsbergholden]

Strictly in terms of features/functionality....

A high-functioning, low-lag trade engine. BTC-E is the only successful exchange in this regard.
Robust options for types of orders to execute -- limit, market, stops, trailing stops. Bitfinex is the only exchange that got this right so far.

[roslinpl]

I must say when I am thinking about it I think that I like when an exchange has got:

-2FA
-"Fast" working deposits/withdraws
-Withdraws with 2FA and E-mail at one time.

[FattyMcButterpants]

something that all these hastily coded exchanges all lack -- a real-time, atomic trading engine! i agree that btce is the only one that comes close.

[vic_stam]

trust, test of time (I first do test exchanges first), local deposits, fast and easy withdrawals.

[maurya78]

Speed of execution, clean and intuitive trading interface, privacy controls and seamless interaction with the fiat world (read banks)

[TheButterZone]

Non-exclusive control of private keys with users' BTC on them.

[josiah__Coinsetter]

privacy controls and seamless interaction with the fiat world (read banks)

This is something we haven't heard much of before. Could you possibly expand a bit on what you mean by "privacy controls".

Also, by seamless are you referring to time of transfer or more so in overall convenience?

Thanks again to you specifically Maurya78 for your feedback and everyone else giving us this valuable info!

[infested999]

privacy controls and seamless interaction with the fiat world (read banks)

This is something we haven't heard much of before. Could you possibly expand a bit on what you mean by "privacy controls".

Also, by seamless are you referring to time of transfer or more so in overall convenience?

Thanks again to you specifically Maurya78 for your feedback and everyone else giving us this valuable info!

Seamless as in the bank and the Bitcoin exchange working together. Most banks do not allow customers to use the bank accounts to buy Bitcoin and sometimes even close accounts because of it. For example with https://btcu.biz/ they work together with local banks to add the functionality to deposit USD into a bank's ATM and have it added to their btcu.biz account.

[Benjig]

Coinsetter is doing some research in regards to what bitcoiners are truly looking for what it comes to a BTC/fiat exchange. After all, we can sit around in a room and theorize all we want to--and can even look internally at what we want as bitcoiners ourselves--but at the end of the day it's you guys (and girls) that we want on our platform... Why not get the information we need straight, from the source?

Your responses are going to help guide the development of our platform moving forward, so please, feel free to speak your mind!

Speed on inquiries such a verification time, withdrawals and deposits, and of course it must be trusted.

[josiah__Coinsetter]

Seamless as in the bank and the Bitcoin exchange working together. Most banks do not allow customers to use the bank accounts to buy Bitcoin and sometimes even close accounts because of it. For example with https://btcu.biz/ they work together with local banks to add the functionality to deposit USD into a bank's ATM and have it added to their btcu.biz account.

So just for clarification, are you referring to developing connections with more local/regional banks? Or do you mean any bank, period?

[tooil]

1) Trust.
2) Low fee.

[infested999]

Seamless as in the bank and the Bitcoin exchange working together. Most banks do not allow customers to use the bank accounts to buy Bitcoin and sometimes even close accounts because of it. For example with https://btcu.biz/ they work together with local banks to add the functionality to deposit USD into a bank's ATM and have it added to their btcu.biz account.

So just for clarification, are you referring to developing connections with more local/regional banks? Or do you mean any bank, period?

Find a bank that is willing to work together with Coinsetter, have them make a statement that they will not close anyone's account because they are trading Bitcoins. The last thing users in the US want to see is this: https://i.imgur.com/cJCbbVY.jpg

However, if you are in the US, don't even bother. Any US bank will take KYC (know your customer) laws very seriously and will not allow Bitcoin trading to happen.

[josiah__Coinsetter]

Seamless as in the bank and the Bitcoin exchange working together. Most banks do not allow customers to use the bank accounts to buy Bitcoin and sometimes even close accounts because of it. For example with https://btcu.biz/ they work together with local banks to add the functionality to deposit USD into a bank's ATM and have it added to their btcu.biz account.

So just for clarification, are you referring to developing connections with more local/regional banks? Or do you mean any bank, period?

Find a bank that is willing to work together with Coinsetter, have them make a statement that they will not close anyone's account because they are trading Bitcoins. The last thing users in the US want to see is this: https://i.imgur.com/cJCbbVY.jpg

However, if you are in the US, don't even bother. Any US bank will take KYC (know your customer) laws very seriously and will not allow Bitcoin trading to happen.

We actually already have a compliance-approved US bank account. Our issue has never been getting the bank account, it has been the regulations surrounding accepting US customer funds.

[ranochigo]

Securing their customer's coin in a cold storage
Doing regular audits
Two factor authentication
Listens to customer's feedback
Transparency
Https protection.

[josiah__Coinsetter]

1) Trust.
2) Low fee.

1) How exactly do you define "trust"?
2) What qualifies as low fees for the community? 

[infested999]

1) Trust.
2) Low fee.

1) How exactly do you define "trust"?
2) What qualifies as low fees for the community? 

1. Identity of the owners being public. Enough accountability to know that if the coin disappear (hack/theft) the owner of the exchange will make sure every user will get their balance back.

2. Lower than the competitors. About 0.20% (with discounts at first the draw in users and a referral bonus)

[josiah__Coinsetter]

1) Trust.
2) Low fee.

1) How exactly do you define "trust"?
2) What qualifies as low fees for the community? 

1. Identity of the owners being public. Enough accountability to know that if the coin disappear (hack/theft) the owner of the exchange will make sure every user will get their balance back.

2. Lower than the competitors. About 0.20% (with discounts at first the draw in users and a referral bonus)

We're actually the first bitcoin exchange to offer insurance on customer deposits (via Xapo). It's on our blog here: http://www.coinsetter.com/blog/2014/07/01/coinsetter-bitcoins-now-protected-insured-xapo-vault/

In terms of fees, we've been heavily discussing this around the office recently. It's part of the reason we're doing this research--we want to know what the community is comfortable with. 

[edwardspitz]

I would never trade at an exchange that charge a 0.50% fee  When I was trading at Kraken I was paying 0.06%. Their fee structure means that you get lower fee if you trade more (over a 30 day period). I also like Krakens order types and user interface in general.

The most important things for me are:
- Trust, audits, and insurance
- Advanced order types
- Option to sell short
- An API that is easy to work with
- Volume (not fake )
- Uptime