How do you set up your own cryptocurrency exchange?

Blockchain and financial software are pretty intricate, and you need to decide how you want to tackle the initial development. The average cost of developing a crypto exchange may vary from $5k to $50k on average. The cost differs due to the technical infrastructure your software developer is using, where they are, how many developers are needed to complete the project and most importantly how fast they can launch.  

In-house development

If you want to develop your software in-house, you should have some technical and programming knowledge and experience. You should also assemble a team of highly skilled engineers and developers who have experience with financial transactions and/or blockchain application development.

Open source and white label solutions

However, if you do not have a technical background and want to get your exchange off the ground as quickly and safely as possible, you may want to consider white label exchange script and open-source solutions.

Having some technical experience, but you do not want to go through the hassle of building your exchange from scratch, where you can find code that will help you get to where you want to go that’s already been written by another developer. If you choose to go this route, you may wish to audit the software and code to ensure no malicious data may steal money or user information.These exchanges have a third party that helps conduct transactions to make sure they go through as similar to a brokerage.

This might seem counterintuitive since one of the tenets of cryptocurrencies is that they are decentralized, they are not issued or regulated by a government or other central authority. But a centralized cryptocurrency exchange can make it easier to buy your intended crypto with regular currency.

The inherent risk in some centralized exchanges is that these exchanges, being held by a single entity, are more vulnerable to an attack.

Checklist for starting an exchange

1.Where does the exchange do business?

Before you choose an exchange to trade on, make sure it covers your jurisdiction. Some exchanges are limited to specific locales. An exchange’s jurisdiction reflects not only their target market, but also where they’re allowed to do business due to certain cryptocurrency regulations. Some exchanges have website addresses specific to each country.

2.How much liquidity does it have?

Exchanges that have a higher volume of trades and more money changing hands tend to work in an investor’s favor. In order to access that higher liquidity, look for an exchange with many users, or users who hold large amounts of assets on the exchange and trade frequently. Of course, some cryptocurrencies tend to be more liquid than others.

If there are only a small number of orders, there might not be enough people willing to buy or sell the coins an investor wants to acquire or liquidate. Lower trade volume could drive prices up for down for sellers.

3.Which types of crypto can you trade?

In general, the higher-market-cap coins are more likely to be traded on most exchanges. Investors looking for more exotic, lesser-traded coins might have to search out smaller exchanges. It is easy to find out what coins are available, so just check the list to find your desired crypto.

The Takeaway

A crypto exchange sounds simple it is a platform where you can buy and sell different types of crypto but like most things in the cryptoverse, exchanges can be complicated and may require a little more scrutiny from users than traditional stock and bond exchanges do.

The main thing to remember is that the coins, the platforms, the blockchains, the exchanges, the wallets are unregulated. That means the consistency you may be accustomed to in the ordinary financial world, in terms of how investments are structured and how investment firms work, is less common in the world of cryptocurrency. Thus it’s important to invest some extra time to understand basics like whether a certain exchange can do business in your state or country, what fees they charge as well as more complex topics like choosing the right wallet.

Originally published here.