Lessons › Markets of the world › Crypto: the market that never sleeps

World 6 · Markets of the world · lesson 6 · level 2

Crypto: the market that never sleeps

Crypto trades every minute of every day on many different platforms, so there is no closing bell and no single price.

In one line

Crypto trades every minute of every day on many different platforms, so there is no closing bell and no single price.

Explained simply

Imagine a night market that never closes, with many stalls selling the same fruit at slightly different prices. Crypto works the same way: it trades all day, every day, on many separate platforms. Leaving your coins at a stall means trusting that stall to keep them safe.

The lesson

Crypto assets trade 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, on many separate platforms, so prices can differ slightly between them. A daily candle simply starts and ends at a chosen time, often midnight UTC, and weekend moves can be large while trading is thinner. Stablecoins are tokens designed to track a currency such as the US dollar, but some have lost their peg. Keeping coins on a platform means trusting that platform to keep them safe, and in November 2022 a large platform halted customer withdrawals.

A worked example

Illustrative example: with 5,000 you can buy 0.1 of a coin priced at 50,000 (5,000 divided by 50,000). If the price rises to 52,000, that is a 4% rise (2,000 divided by 50,000 times 100), and your 0.1 coin gains 200 (0.1 times 2,000). Because the market never closes, that move could just as easily happen at 03:00 on a Sunday.

The same idea at four levels

1. Beginner. Crypto never closes: it trades every hour of every day, weekends included.
2. Foundation. It trades on many separate platforms, so there is no single official price and quotes can differ slightly.
3. Intermediate. A daily crypto candle starts and ends at a chosen time, often midnight UTC, and one bitcoin divides into units as small as 0.00000001.
4. Advanced. Stablecoins are designed to track a currency such as the US dollar, but some have lost their peg, so stable is a goal, not a promise.
5. Expert. Experts set stops before they enter because the market never closes, and they weigh platform custody risk as seriously as price risk.

Mistakes to avoid

• Assuming there is one official crypto price.
• Assuming a stablecoin will always hold its peg; some have lost it.
• Leaving a trade without a stop overnight or over a weekend, as if the market would pause.

Goal of this lesson: Understand how crypto markets differ: 24/7 trading, many venues, stablecoins and custody.