Crypto price: how it forms and how to read its change
The price of a cryptocurrency on an exchange is the price of the last trade on a pair, such as BTC/USDT. Nobody sets it: it forms in the order book, where some traders place buy orders and others place sell orders. A trade happens when someone accepts the price offered by the other side.
A buyer who takes more at market than sits at the nearest level eats through the orders one by one, and price jumps higher. An illustrative example: the book offers 1,000 coins at $2.00 and 2,000 coins at $2.02. A market buy of 3,000 coins takes both levels, and the last trade prints at $2.02 — a $6,040 order moved the price by 1%. Bitcoin has millions of dollars sitting at its nearest levels, so its price wouldn't notice a buy like that.
In short
- The price on an exchange is the price of the last trade. In a thin order book one market order moves it by several percent.
- A coin has no single price: it differs on every exchange, on spot, and on futures.
- “+8% in 24h” compares with the price exactly one day ago. It doesn't tell you when the move happened.
- A sharp move isn't a forecast. Before drawing conclusions, traders check turnover, other exchanges, and open interest.
Why the same coin has different prices on different exchanges
Every exchange has its own order book and its own traders, so a coin has no single price. Arbitrage traders close the gap: they buy where it's cheaper and sell where it's more expensive. On liquid coins they keep up quickly; on thin coins and during sharp moves they don't.
An illustrative example. BTC/USDT at one moment: $64,250 on the first exchange, $64,262 on the second, and $64,240 on the third — a spread of 0.03%. A small coin: $0.4890, $0.4885, and $0.4775 on an exchange where it barely trades — 2.4% below the rest. A spike like that on one venue doesn't mean the whole coin moved. You can see price and volume by exchange on a coin page, for example Bitcoin.
Spot and futures: one contract, three prices
The same pair is also priced differently on spot and futures — more in the article on spot and futures. A perpetual future can trade slightly above or below spot, and the funding rate ties it back to spot. On the future itself, the exchange shows three prices at once:| Price | What it is | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Last | The price of the latest trade on that exchange | What the chart and the order book show |
| Index | The coin's average price across several large spot exchanges | A reference that doesn't depend on one venue |
| Mark | The contract price the exchange derives from the index | Used for liquidations and unrealized PnL |
An illustrative example: someone sells big at market on a futures exchange, and the last price drops from $2.00 to $1.90 for a few seconds. The index and mark prices barely move, so a long with a liquidation price of $1.95 usually survives: the exchange checks liquidations against the mark price, not the last trade.
What “+8% in 24h” means and where it's counted from
The 24-hour change column compares the current price with the price exactly one day ago. The window is rolling: every minute its start moves forward. Some exchange apps let you switch the base to the start of the day, such as 00:00 UTC — and then the number at the same moment is different.
An illustrative example. Yesterday at 15:00 the coin cost $2.00; now it's 15:00 and the price is $2.16 — that's +8%. The whole rise may have happened overnight, with price flat for the last ten hours. An hour later it's still $2.16, but yesterday at 16:00 it was already $2.10 — so the column shows +2.9%, even though nothing happened in that hour.
- The reverse happens too: if a coin first fell 3% during the day and then rose 3% in the last 5 minutes, the daily column shows −0.1%, even though the move is happening right now.
- A short-interval change answers “what's happening now,” the daily one “what happened over the day.” You need both.
- The day's top gainers and losers are on the prices page and the market heatmap.
Percentages up and down aren't symmetric
Percentages are counted from the current price, so a 50% drop followed by a 50% rise doesn't bring it back. A coin at $2.00 falls 50% to $1.00, then rises 50% to $1.50 — still 25% below where it started. After halving, it takes a 100% rise to get back to $2.00.
How to tell a real price move from noise
The same +5% weighs differently on different coins. Four checks that take a minute.
Compare with the coin's usual range
Some coins usually move within 2% a day, others within 15%. An illustrative example: for a coin that typically travels 15% a day, +3% in an hour is ordinary. For a large coin with a usual daily range of 2%, the same +3% in an hour is more than its whole normal day. The most volatile coins of the day are on the volatility page.Check turnover
A move on high turnover went through large amounts; on thin turnover one order could have made it. An illustrative example: +10% on a pair with $80,000 of daily turnover may be a single buy worth a few thousand dollars. The same +10% on $300m of turnover went through trades worth millions. How to read turnover is covered in the article on trading volume; pairs are ranked on the 24h turnover page.Check other exchanges
If price rose on every large venue, the coin itself is moving. If only on one while the rest stay quiet, that venue most likely has a thin order book. An illustrative example: +6% on one exchange against +0.3% on three others is a reason not to rush to conclusions.Don't mistake a wick for a move
A candle's wick (shadow) shows how far price went within the period before coming back. An illustrative example: a 1-minute candle opens at $2.00, dips to $1.80, and closes at $1.98. The wick is −10%, the candle's result is −1%. Price spent only seconds at $1.80, yet stop orders between $1.80 and $2.00 could have filled in that time.
What a sharp price move tells you — and what it doesn't
A sharp move is a fact: someone traded a large amount, or the order book turned out to be thin. Where price goes next doesn't follow from it. An illustrative example: +5% in 5 minutes can be the start of a rise that lasts hours, or its end, with price back where it was within the hour.
On futures, open interest fills in the picture. Price rising together with OI means new positions are entering the move; price rising while OI falls means shorts are closing. Every combination is covered in the article on open interest.
The real difficulty is elsewhere: moves like these happen on hundreds of pairs at once and last minutes. By the time you open one coin's chart, the move on another is already over.
How the screener helps
Every minute the price screener compares the price of every pair across 10 exchanges, spot and futures, with its value over the interval you pick — from 1 minute to 4 hours. When the change passes your percentage threshold, you get an alert — one per move, not one every minute while price stays past the threshold. You can also catch a break of the 24-hour high or low, and screen out thin pairs with a minimum 24-hour turnover filter. The alert shows the exchange, the price change, on futures also the open interest change and funding, and the 24-hour price range. No need to pick a coin.
Crypto price FAQ
Why is the Bitcoin price different on different exchanges?
Every exchange has its own order book and its own traders, so the last trade price differs everywhere. On liquid coins the gap is usually hundredths of a percent, because arbitrage traders close it quickly. On thin coins and during sharp moves it can be wider.
What time is the 24-hour price change counted from?
Usually from the price exactly one day ago: the window is rolling and moves every minute. Some exchange apps let you switch the base to the start of the day, such as 00:00 UTC, so the number for the same moment can differ between places.
What is the mark price?
The futures contract price that the exchange derives from the index price, which is the coin's average price across several spot exchanges. Liquidations and unrealized PnL are calculated from it, so that a brief spike in the last price on one exchange doesn't close positions.
Why does the futures price differ from spot?
A future has its own order book, and demand for longs and shorts in it can be lopsided. The funding rate ties a perpetual future back to spot: when it trades above spot, longs usually pay shorts, and the gap narrows.
What is a candle wick?
The part of a candle beyond the open and close prices: price reached that level within the period and came back. A long wick means price stayed at that level only briefly, but stop orders and liquidations there could still have triggered.
Why does a 50% drop need a 100% rise to recover?
Percentages are counted from the current price. A $2 coin that falls 50% is worth $1, and a 50% rise from $1 only gets it to $1.50. To get back to $2, the price has to double.
How can I tell a price rise isn't random?
Compare the move with the coin's usual range, check turnover and the price on other exchanges, and on futures check open interest. That shows whether the move ran on real money or was a spike in a thin order book. These checks won't tell you where price goes next.
Which thresholds and intervals suit which scenario is covered in “Price screener use cases.” How to read an alert is explained in the price screener guide, and every form field in its settings.
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