Mysteries of cryptocurrency exchanges

Cryptocurrency exchanges are often accused of overstating trading volume to look more attractive.

THE SILICOIN collects historical trading data for over 7,000 pairs on 40+ exchanges. We found many trading pairs with weird trading volume patterns — we present our findings below.

In this article we are not making any statements. We just show trading volume charts with patterns that we struggle to explain.

We hope that data provided below will provoke additional research in the field. We are happy to provide data for independent research — please contact us in Twitter or by email.

1. Bibox

1.1 Litecoin to Tether (LTC/USDT)

Volume spiked on September 30 and suddenly fell on December 23.

1.2. Litecoin to Bitcoin (LTC/BTC) and NEO to Tether (NEO/USDT)

As can be seen, volume dynamics in both pairs are somewhat similar and weird.

One may find additional examples such pattern in the following pairs: DASH/USDT, ETC/USDT, QTUM/BTC.

1.3. Other pairs with weird volume dynamics on Bibox

• Bibox Token to Ethereum (BIX/ETH)
• Ethereum Classic to Ethereum (ETC/ETH)
• EOS to Tether (EOS/USDT)
• Qtum to Tether (QTUM/USDT)
• Litecoin to Bitcoin (LTC/BTC)
• Bibox Token to Tether (BIX/USDT)
• Litecoin to Ethereum (LTC/ETH)

2. RightBTC

2.1. EOS to Bitcoin (EOS/BTC)

Trading on this pair fell almost to 0 on November 30 and then recovered on December 13.

At the same time trading volume on EOS/ETH pair did not increase to reflect fall in EOS/BTC volume (see volume chart for EOS/ETH pair here).

2.2. Metaverse ETP to Bitcoin (ETP/BTC)

Trading volume spiked on December 24 and fell on December 30.

2.3. Other pairs with weird volume dynamics on RightBTC

• Bitcoin to Tether (BTC/USDT)
• Litecoin to Bitcoin (LTC/BTC)
• Metaverse ETP to Ethereum (ETP/ETH)
• Ethereum Classic to Bitcoin (ETC/BTC)
• EOS to Ethereum (EOS/ETH)
• Ethereum to Tether (ETH/USDT)

3. ZB.com

3.1. Stellar to Tether (XLM/USDT)

Trading volume fluctuated around low to mid thousands level for a long time. On December 6 trading volume spiked.

3.2. Other pairs with weird volume dynamics on ZB

• Hshare to Tether (HSR/USDT)
• Golem to Bitcoin (GNT/BTC)
• Status to Tether (SNT/USDT)
• Cardano to Bitcoin (ADA/BTC)
• Golem to Tether (GNT/USDT)

4. EXX

4.1. Bitcoin to Tether (BTC/USDT)

Trading volume fluctuated around low to mid thousands level for a long time. On December 16 trading volume started climbing up to reach $366 million.

4.2. Other pairs with weird volume dynamics on EXX

• United Bitcoin to Bitcoin (UBTC/BTC)
• Exchange Union to Ethereum (XUC/ETH)
• Whitecoin to Tether (XWC/USDT)

5. Bit-Z

5.1. EOS to Bitcoin (EOS/BTC)

Trading volume increased suddenly on November 14 after a long period of fluctuating around low thousands USD per day.

5.2. Other pairs with weird volume dynamics on Bit-Z

• Tron to Bitcoin (TRX/BTC)
• Nuls to Bitcoin (NULS/BTC)
• Ontology to Tether (ONT/USDT)

6. BitMart

6.1. Bitcoin to Tether (BTC/USD)

On October 24 trading volume fell almost to 0 while it was around $50–80 million around this date.

6.2. Other pairs with weird volume dynamics on BitMart

• Ethereum to Tether (ETH/USD)

7. Bitbank

7.1. Bitcoin Cash to Japanese Yen (BCH/JPY)

Trading volume exhibits 2 similar looking spikes.

Conclusion

To us many trading volume patterns shown above look as if trading was switched on or switched off at some point in time.

Obviously there are many more pairs that deserve a close look.

We hope there is a logical explanation for all these patterns — please let us know in the comments if you can add clarity.

Transparently yours,
THE SILICOIN team