An exchange closes deposits or withdrawals
A venue temporarily switches off taking a coin in, sending it out, or one particular network. The reason is usually mundane: a chain upgrade, a wallet problem, congestion. The consequence is not mundane at all.
- Network
- The blockchain a coin travels on. One coin often exists on several, and an exchange switches them on and off separately.
- Arbitrage
- Buying where it is cheaper and selling where it is dearer at the same time. Arbitrage is what keeps prices on different venues roughly equal.
- Spot
- Buying the coin itself, like at an exchange window: you paid, it is yours, you can withdraw it.
- Capacity
- How much money actually fits into a given trade before the price runs away. The main question behind almost any find, and the least pleasant one.
- Pairs checked
- 7,000+
- State snapshot
- hourly
- Last change
- 18 minutes ago
Why it happens
Start with why prices on different venues are roughly equal in the first place. Arbitrage keeps them there: somebody buys where it is cheaper, moves the coin where it is dearer, and sells. As long as that is possible the difference stays small, because it gets eaten quickly.
When the door is shut there is nothing to move it with. A coin locked inside a venue lives by its own rules: it can only be sold to the buyers who are already in there, and it cannot be brought in from outside. There is physically nobody to close the difference, and it can stand for days.
Which door is shut matters. Deposits closed means nothing can be brought in from outside, and the price inside can run up. Withdrawals closed means money and coin are stuck in there, and that usually trades at a discount. Sometimes only one network out of several is down — then the door is ajar, and the difference is smaller.
The reopening is its own moment. Everything that piled up inside gets an exit, and the price comes back into line quickly rather than gradually.
How people use it
- First of all this is a warning: do not send money somewhere you currently cannot take it out of.
- A closed withdrawal explains why the price here is not the price everywhere: it is a locked door, not bad data.
- The reopening matters more than the closing — that is where it all happens.
- Look at what exactly is closed and on which network: that is what decides which way the price goes.
Where it breaks
The difference may never close at all: sometimes the door is shut right before a coin is removed for good. And waiting for a reopening can take weeks, with your money sitting inside the venue the whole time, carrying the venue's own risk.
What we track here
- Polls deposit and withdrawal status for every coin and every network on the venues we cover, and records each flip with its timestamp.
- Notices when one network is closed while the others stay open, because a half-open door moves the price far less.
- Watches for the reopening, which is the moment the difference actually closes.
- Keeps the history, which no exchange publishes — they show you the current state and nothing else.
- Before you move funds you know whether you will be able to get them out again.
- A price that looks wrong on one venue gets an explanation instead of a theory.
- If you hold a bag somewhere that just froze withdrawals, you hear it from the tracker rather than from support.