<p>Most exchanges use the double-auction market system for price discovery. Read more at
<a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/auctionmarket.asp">http://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/auctionmarket.asp</a></p>

<p>In economics-speak, the auction market converges where supply and demand intersect.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-14T07:23:37.183Z
Right now, I could buy a Bitcoin for $6.62133 US and I could sell a Bitcoin for 6.62121 US. So the exchange rate is $6.62 :)
David Schwartz
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-13T15:52:43.467Z
2012-01-13T15:52:43.467Z
nanotube
<p>The simple answer is that it is the price at which a seller and a buyer of the currency agreed on a price for it; i.e. the price at which the market clears.  The sold currency is, after all, a commodity.</p>

<p>It may help you to strip away any superfluous notions to think of it as a pound of coffee or somesuch.  Seller Sally has coffee but wants dollars.  Buyer Bob has dollars and wants coffee.  Sally will not part with her coffee for less than $4.  And Bob will not buy coffee for more than $3 dollars.  The market fails to clear at these prices.  A new seller, Sam enters the market and is willing to sell his coffee for $3.50.  And a new buyer, Bill, enters and is willing to buy coffee for $3.50.  Sam and Bill exchange coffee for dollars.  This fact is published to the rest of the market participants; who are thereby able to conclude that at some point in the recent past that two participants were able to transact at the price of $3.50.  As an entrant to the market, are you guaranteed to find another buyer or seller at that price?  No.  But it's a useful piece of data.</p>

<p>If you really want to know how this -- and economy in general -- works, you'll have to do a little reading.  As a start, I recommend:</p>

<p>Murray Rothbard, <em>Man, Economy, and State</em></p>

<p><a href="http://mises.org/rothbard/mes.asp" rel="noreferrer">http://mises.org/rothbard/mes.asp</a></p>

<p>Ludwig von Mises, <em>The Theory of Money and Credit</em></p>

<p><a href="http://mises.org/books/Theory_Money_Credit/Contents.aspx" rel="noreferrer">http://mises.org/books/Theory_Money_Credit/Contents.aspx</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-26T12:12:14.430Z
2012-01-26T12:12:14.430Z
Anonymous
<p>It is established by people posting buy and sell orders.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-15T23:57:37.720Z
This needs much more detail to be useful. How is it established by buy and sell orders?
Highly Irregular
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-15T07:28:41.993Z
2012-01-15T07:28:41.993Z
lamont cranston
<p>The MtGox exchange rate for bitcoin to USD is established in a 24/7 free market where bids meet offers to generate a last trade price. The bid/offer spread represents the distance that market participants are willing to buy or sell their bitcoin. This is no different than any other free market or any other free-market exchange-determined commodity price. See; <a href="http://mtgoxlive.com/orders" rel="nofollow">http://mtgoxlive.com/orders</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-14T10:19:34.903Z
Here's an example of this -- using the BTC/PLN market on Mt. Gox: http://bitcoincharts.com/markets/mtgoxPLN_depth.html
Stephen Gornick
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-13T21:04:00.473Z
2012-01-30T15:27:44.060Z
2012-01-30T15:27:44.060Z
matonis
<p>This is an old thread from 2012.. now 8/1/2017 bitcoin price is $4200.. how quickly things change</p>

<p>Coming back to the question - price of bitcoin is determined on exchanges. to understand how the price of bitcoin changes you have to understand how exchanges work. Only a small fraction of all coins in circulation are deposited on exchanges. The main reason of price fluctuation is the relation and volume of demand and supply. There are other factors too, technological advancement which can only be accessible with bitcoin give bitcoin a huge boost.</p>

<p>Bitcoin was the best performing (fastest growing) currency last year</p>

<p><a href="http://www.xrates.org/bitcoin-charts/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.xrates.org/bitcoin-charts/</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-18T08:02:30.097Z
2017-08-18T08:02:30.097Z
Pavel
<p>How is the exchange rate for Bitcoin is established based on <strong>supply</strong> and <strong>demand</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>Supply</strong>
Thee rules of Bitcoin, as they currently stand, say that this supply number will slowly go up and hit a limit of 21 million eventually.</p>
<p><strong>Demand</strong>
There are really two main sources of demand for bitcoins:</p>
<ol>
<li>Demand for investment</li>
<li>Demand for mediating fiat-currency transactions</li>
</ol>
<p>The actual price calculation can be done as explained here: <a href="https://medium.com/the-capital/how-is-the-price-of-bitcoin-determined-2789d7f2b166" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Model for calculating the exchange rate of Bitcoin</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-17T14:04:04.430Z
2020-06-17T14:04:04.430Z
Prajwol Gyawali
<p>Bitcoin exchange rates are determined by the forces of supply and demand. The more people who want to buy Bitcoin, the higher the price will go. The more people who want to sell Bitcoin, the lower the price will go.</p>
<p>The price of Bitcoin is constantly changing, as the market reacts to new information and events. You can find the latest Bitcoin exchange rates on a number of websites.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-31T08:26:06.920Z
2023-07-31T08:26:06.920Z
Kate Bowman
<ol>
<li>You have people that have BTC or currency already in their accounts.</li>
<li>Those people can claim: "I will buy/sell X amount of Bitcoins for Y amount of currency". If you divide one by the other, you have the exchange rate for that particular transaction.</li>
<li>If a buy and sell transaction overlap, they are executed and removed from the system.</li>
<li>After all such transactions are removed, you have a gap between the exchange rate at which people want to buy Bitcoins, and that at which people want to sell Bitcoins.</li>
<li>Average the closest buy-sell pair of transactions and you have the exchange rate, halfway between those two, or the price of the last trade may be used. In both cases, it's only an estimate of the price that the next trade will take place at.</li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-01-01T00:13:14.747Z
this would suggest that the exchanges "conspire" to set the index price. Whether they directly each other what the individual sale prices are or they set their own price based on the exchange rate API of their peers.
Richard
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-16T13:15:36.860Z
I'm not sure point 5 is correct, don't exchanges instead consider the actual "last price" for that? Otherwise you could have a *virtual* value with no real meaning, such as people constantly raising the buy and sell price without actually ever meeting them.
o0'.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-16T14:01:21.637Z
@Lohoris This is why you have the bid and ask price that are different from that. But if you want to show the current price as one number, you have to take something between those. It is just more convenient than using two numbers, but yes, it doesn't tell you everything if you want to buy/sell.
ThePiachu
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-16T14:33:21.553Z
maybe I wasn't clear: they *do* use only one number, only AFAIK it is not what you suggest, and it is the "last price" instead, which is a single number with an actual meaning (i.e. someone actually processed a transaction at that price). Look at the top-bar of mtgox.
o0'.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-13T15:20:13.427Z
2017-11-14T21:14:14.117Z
2017-11-14T21:14:14.117Z
ThePiachu
<p>I noticed that there are exchange rates for Bitcoin to other given currencies. How are these rates established?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-15T23:25:06.543Z
The answers to this question might help: http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/1405/what-happens-to-cash-used-to-buy-bitcoins
nmat
<exchanges><exchange-rate>
How is the exchange rate for Bitcoin established?
bugfixr
# How is the exchange rate for Bitcoin established?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-01-13)

I noticed that there are exchange rates for Bitcoin to other given currencies. How are these rates established?

**Tags:** exchanges, exchange-rate

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: The answers to this question might help: http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/1405/what-happens-to-cash-used-to-buy-bitcoins  

---

## 8 answers

### Answer by username_12 on 2012-01-13. Score: 12 | Accepted answer

1. You have people that have BTC or currency already in their accounts.
2. Those people can claim: "I will buy/sell X amount of Bitcoins for Y amount of currency". If you divide one by the other, you have the exchange rate for that particular transaction.
3. If a buy and sell transaction overlap, they are executed and removed from the system.
4. After all such transactions are removed, you have a gap between the exchange rate at which people want to buy Bitcoins, and that at which people want to sell Bitcoins.
5. Average the closest buy-sell pair of transactions and you have the exchange rate, halfway between those two, or the price of the last trade may be used. In both cases, it's only an estimate of the price that the next trade will take place at.

> **Comments:**
> **username_14**: I'm not sure point 5 is correct, don't exchanges instead consider the actual "last price" for that? Otherwise you could have a *virtual* value with no real meaning, such as people constantly raising the buy and sell price without actually ever meeting them.  
> **username_12**: @Lohoris This is why you have the bid and ask price that are different from that. But if you want to show the current price as one number, you have to take something between those. It is just more convenient than using two numbers, but yes, it doesn't tell you everything if you want to buy/sell.  
> **username_14**: maybe I wasn't clear: they *do* use only one number, only AFAIK it is not what you suggest, and it is the "last price" instead, which is a single number with an actual meaning (i.e. someone actually processed a transaction at that price). Look at the top-bar of mtgox.  
> **username_13**: this would suggest that the exchanges "conspire" to set the index price. Whether they directly each other what the individual sale prices are or they set their own price based on the exchange rate API of their peers.  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2012-01-13. Score: 6

Most exchanges use the double-auction market system for price discovery. Read more at
<http://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/auctionmarket.asp>

In economics-speak, the auction market converges where supply and demand intersect.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: Right now, I could buy a Bitcoin for $6.62133 US and I could sell a Bitcoin for 6.62121 US. So the exchange rate is $6.62 :)  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2012-01-26. Score: 5

The simple answer is that it is the price at which a seller and a buyer of the currency agreed on a price for it; i.e. the price at which the market clears. The sold currency is, after all, a commodity.

It may help you to strip away any superfluous notions to think of it as a pound of coffee or somesuch. Seller Sally has coffee but wants dollars. Buyer Bob has dollars and wants coffee. Sally will not part with her coffee for less than $4. And Bob will not buy coffee for more than $3 dollars. The market fails to clear at these prices. A new seller, Sam enters the market and is willing to sell his coffee for $3.50. And a new buyer, Bill, enters and is willing to buy coffee for $3.50. Sam and Bill exchange coffee for dollars. This fact is published to the rest of the market participants; who are thereby able to conclude that at some point in the recent past that two participants were able to transact at the price of $3.50. As an entrant to the market, are you guaranteed to find another buyer or seller at that price? No. But it's a useful piece of data.

If you really want to know how this -- and economy in general -- works, you'll have to do a little reading. As a start, I recommend:

Murray Rothbard, *Man, Economy, and State*

<http://mises.org/rothbard/mes.asp>

Ludwig von Mises, *The Theory of Money and Credit*

<http://mises.org/books/Theory_Money_Credit/Contents.aspx>


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2012-01-15. Score: 1

It is established by people posting buy and sell orders.

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: This needs much more detail to be useful. How is it established by buy and sell orders?  

---

### Answer by username_7 on 2012-01-13. Score: 1

The MtGox exchange rate for bitcoin to USD is established in a 24/7 free market where bids meet offers to generate a last trade price. The bid/offer spread represents the distance that market participants are willing to buy or sell their bitcoin. This is no different than any other free market or any other free-market exchange-determined commodity price. See; <http://mtgoxlive.com/orders>

> **Comments:**
> **username_8**: Here's an example of this -- using the BTC/PLN market on Mt. Gox: http://bitcoincharts.com/markets/mtgoxPLN_depth.html  

---

### Answer by username_9 on 2017-08-18. Score: 0

This is an old thread from 2012.. now 8/1/2017 bitcoin price is $4200.. how quickly things change

Coming back to the question - price of bitcoin is determined on exchanges. to understand how the price of bitcoin changes you have to understand how exchanges work. Only a small fraction of all coins in circulation are deposited on exchanges. The main reason of price fluctuation is the relation and volume of demand and supply. There are other factors too, technological advancement which can only be accessible with bitcoin give bitcoin a huge boost.

Bitcoin was the best performing (fastest growing) currency last year

<http://www.xrates.org/bitcoin-charts/>


---

### Answer by username_10 on 2020-06-17. Score: 0

How is the exchange rate for Bitcoin is established based on **supply** and **demand**.

**Supply**
Thee rules of Bitcoin, as they currently stand, say that this supply number will slowly go up and hit a limit of 21 million eventually.

**Demand**
There are really two main sources of demand for bitcoins:

1. Demand for investment
2. Demand for mediating fiat-currency transactions

The actual price calculation can be done as explained here: [Model for calculating the exchange rate of Bitcoin](https://medium.com/the-capital/how-is-the-price-of-bitcoin-determined-2789d7f2b166)


---

### Answer by username_11 on 2023-07-31. Score: 0

Bitcoin exchange rates are determined by the forces of supply and demand. The more people who want to buy Bitcoin, the higher the price will go. The more people who want to sell Bitcoin, the lower the price will go.

The price of Bitcoin is constantly changing, as the market reacts to new information and events. You can find the latest Bitcoin exchange rates on a number of websites.


---

