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What are the spreads like in cryptocurrencies?


Sam Button

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Spreads between bid and offer prices vary from market to market and also from broker to broker. The general trend is that those in cryptocurrency markets are relatively wide. You may be looking at trading crypto in the CFD markets, directly on an exchange or as a spread bet. Each has their perceived advantages, and each will see a fee charged for your trading activity. The volume of crypto currencies traded is much lower than for some other markets. Markets in major currencies are still the default destination for those looking to carry out most commercial activity. One of the consequences of relatively low volatility is that the trading of a relatively small position can cause the market price to fluctuate. Bid offer spreads in all markets (not just cryptos) widen when price volatility increases. The broker buying or selling the crypto wants to have enough room to off-load the position to another party before price moves against them and potentially leaves them holding a loss. Then factor in that there are a wide range of crypto currencies to choose from and you can see how a newly developing market that keeps fragmenting will result in each crypto market being less liquid. (Broker Plus 500 makes markets on the following CFD crypto currencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum,  Litecoin, NEO, Ripple, IOTA, Monero, Stellar, EOS, Cardano and Tron). Plus500 is regarded as having some of the best pricing in the market. Their Bitcoin bid/offer spread is currently 3940.26 / 3978.24 = 0.00964% EURUSD by comparison, at the same broker 1.13452 / 1.13458 = 0.0000529% Traders of cryptos would of course like to see tighter spreads but crypto is a market unlike any other. The fundamental opportunities and challenges of a crypto currency system have yet to fully materialize. With potential value being so diverse a relatively high bid offer spread becomes increasingly less important if the asset you’re trading could double or halve in value overnight.
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