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BITCOIN EXCHANGE PRICE GAP

Do the exchanges agree on the price?

How far apart the exchanges' closing prices sit, month by month, and why the biggest gap is not between exchanges at all.

How far apart the exchanges’ closing prices sit, month by month

110 monthly readings since 2017

Each month is the average, over its days with at least three exchanges reporting, of the gap between the highest and the lowest closing price as a share of the middle one. It takes in the token-priced exchanges too, so a month when the token drifts from a dollar reads wider. It is monthly rather than daily because a single day’s gap flickers with one exchange’s maintenance window. In Aug 2017, with 3 exchanges reporting on a typical day, the gap averaged 0.682%; in Sep 2026 so far, with 5, it averages 0.040%.

Follow this line
Inspect and compare dates

Pick two to four dates to compare the monthly gap and the number of exchanges behind it. A date reads the month it falls in.

The gap between the exchanges’ closing prices in the months you picked
MeasureChange
Average daily gap between closes0.040%0.040%+0.001 points
Exchanges reporting on a typical day45+1
1 Sep 2026 to 20 Sep 2026: Average daily gap between closes 0.040%.

Right now

0.040%

In Sep 2026 so far, the gap between the highest and the lowest closing price averaged 0.040% of the price.

That is 40 cents on a thousand dollars, on a typical day, across the 5 exchanges reporting. The exchanges are not quoting different prices for the same coin in any way a buyer would notice.

Which exchanges is this comparing

0.001%

Take each exchange’s average closing price over the last 81 days. The three that price Bitcoin in dollars, Bitstamp, Coinbase and Kraken, sit within 0.001% of each other, 1 cent on a thousand dollars. Binance and OKX price it in a dollar-linked token and sit within 0.002% of each other.

The chart above is the wider measure of the two: it takes in the token-priced exchanges, so it reads a little further apart than the dollar exchanges do among themselves.

Where the bigger gap is

The bigger gap is not between exchanges at all. It is between the dollar and the token. Over the last 81 days the dollar exchanges’ average close sat 0.063% below the token-priced ones’, about 54 times the gap inside the dollar group and 37 times the gap inside the token group.

That is the token drifting from a dollar rather than any exchange being out of line, which is why a premium measured against a token-priced exchange mostly measures the token.

More on the Coinbase premium page

Has it always been this close

No. In Aug 2017, the first month on this chart, the gap averaged 0.682%. Its widest month was Dec 2017 at 2.935%, which is $29 on a thousand dollars, about 73.0× today’s.

What closed it was not the exchanges agreeing to agree. Firms that make their money buying on the cheap exchange and selling on the dear one got faster and better funded, and a gap that used to last hours now lasts seconds. The page keeps drawing it because the day it stops being boring is worth seeing.

What this means for you

For an order of ordinary size, which exchange you use is not a price decision. A 0.040% gap is 40 cents on a thousand dollars, which almost any difference in trading fees will dwarf.

Where the exchange you pick does start to matter is on a large order, and then what matters is how much trading is actually there to meet it, which changes by the hour.

See the market hours page

Understanding
The Bitcoin Exchange Price Gap

Where it stands today

The major Bitcoin exchanges have been closing within 0.040% of each other as of .

What does this page measure?

Bitcoin trades in many places at once, and none of them is the official one. Each day, this page takes the exchanges’ closing prices, measures the gap between the highest and the lowest as a share of the middle one, and averages those daily gaps over the month. Only days with at least three exchanges reporting are counted, because two exchanges are not a market. In Sep 2026 so far that average is 0.040%, or 40 cents on a thousand dollars.

Why a month, and not a day?

A single day’s gap flickers with one exchange’s maintenance window, a thin hour, or one exchange posting a late close. A month of days is the smallest window where the shape you see is the market rather than an outage. The number of exchanges behind each month travels with it, so a month built on three is never mistaken for a month built on five.

Why do the token-priced exchanges read wider?

Some exchanges price Bitcoin in dollars and some price it in a dollar-linked token, and the token is not always worth exactly a dollar. Over the last 81 days the dollar exchanges closed within 0.001% of each other, while the gap between them and the token-priced ones was 0.063%. That is the token moving, not an exchange being out of line, and it is why a premium measured against a token-priced exchange mostly measures the token. For that gap, see the Coinbase premium page.

Why has the gap almost disappeared?

Because closing it is somebody’s business. When one exchange sits above another, a firm can buy on the cheap one and sell on the dear one, and that trade pushes the two back together. Those firms got faster, better funded and more numerous, so a gap that used to last hours now lasts seconds. The measure stays on the site because it is a live check on that machinery: the day it widens again is the day something in the plumbing has broken.

The numbers
behind the chart

What has the gap between the exchanges been each month?
The average daily gap between the exchanges’ closes: 110 monthly readings
MonthDays coveredAverage daily gap between closesExchanges reporting on a typical day
to 0.682%3
to 1.421%3
to 0.487%3
to 0.928%3
to 2.935%3
to 1.126%3.68
to 0.666%4
to 0.325%4
to 0.176%4
to 0.231%4
to 0.148%4
to 0.130%4
to 0.124%4
to 0.174%4
to 1.933%4
to 2.299%4
to 0.886%4
to 0.640%4
to 0.907%4
to 0.454%4
to 0.874%4
to 0.723%4
to 0.456%4
to 0.227%4
to 0.172%4
to 0.181%4
to 0.198%4
to 0.184%4
to 0.163%4
to 0.174%4
to 0.165%4
to 0.275%4
to 0.182%4
to 0.107%4
to 0.085%4
to 0.095%4
to 0.088%4
to 0.081%4
to 0.242%4
to 0.524%4
to 0.096%4
to 0.155%4
to 0.145%4
to 0.068%4
to 0.091%4
to 0.157%4
to 0.058%4
to 0.065%4
to 0.089%4
to 0.075%4
to 0.059%4
to 0.083%4
to 0.093%4
to 0.085%4
to 0.084%4
to 0.068%4
to 0.046%4
to 0.126%4
to 0.120%4
to 0.082%4
to 0.054%4
to 0.032%4
to 0.028%4
to 0.113%4
to 0.038%4
to 0.040%4
to 0.034%4
to 0.211%4
to 0.071%4
to 0.061%4
to 0.042%4
to 0.027%4
to 0.067%4
to 0.033%4
to 0.046%4
to 0.057%4
to 0.049%4
to 0.062%4
to 0.056%4
to 0.078%4
to 0.054%4
to 0.051%4
to 0.068%4
to 0.045%4
to 0.043%4
to 0.028%4
to 0.062%4
to 0.081%4
to 0.106%4
to 0.048%4
to 0.046%4
to 0.042%4
to 0.046%4
to 0.035%4
to 0.055%4
to 0.043%4
to 0.033%4
to 0.040%4
to 0.051%4
to 0.054%4
to 0.053%4
to 0.100%4
to 0.072%4
to 0.038%4
to 0.039%4
to 0.074%4
to 0.116%4.57
to 0.097%5
to 0.074%5
to 0.040%5
What is included in this reading?

The monthly gap runs from Aug 2017 to Sep 2026, the last month still under way, 110 readings in all. Each one averages that month’s days with at least three exchanges reporting.

The two group readings compare each exchange’s average closing price over the last 81 days, from 2 Jul 2026 to 20 Sep 2026. The dollar group is Bitstamp, Coinbase and Kraken; the token-priced group is Binance and OKX.

maketo2017202020232026

When is the Bitcoin market busiest?

BITCOIN EXCHANGE TRADING HOURS

The same exchanges, by the hour: when the trading actually happens.

maketo2015201920222026

Is Coinbase paying more for Bitcoin?

BITCOIN COINBASE PREMIUM INDEX

The Coinbase gap, and why the published version is bigger.

Compare the exchanges

The venues side by side, on the measures that separate them.

maketo2011201620212026

How much Bitcoin actually changes hands?

BITCOIN SPOT TRADING VOLUME

How much changed hands, rather than at what price.

Source: Maketo’s own record of the exchanges’ daily closing prices. Reading for .

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