How Crypto Markets Actually Work

Every exchange has an order book — a live list of everyone who wants to buy (bids) and everyone who wants to sell (asks). The current price is simply where bids and asks last matched. When you place a MARKET ORDER, you're saying 'buy/sell right now at whatever price is available.' You get filled instantly, but you pay the spread — the gap between bid and ask. When you place a LIMIT ORDER, you specify your price. If the market reaches it, you get filled. If not, your order sits in the book waiting. For most of your trading, use limit orders. You get better prices and you avoid slippage on larger orders.

At its core, price goes up when there are more buyers than sellers, and down when there are more sellers than buyers. But what drives those decisions? SHORT TERM (hours to days): News, whale movements, liquidations, funding rates, tweet from Elon Musk. Noise, mostly. MEDIUM TERM (days to weeks): Technical levels (support/resistance), market sentiment, BTC dominance shifts, exchange inflows/outflows. LONG TERM (months to years): Bitcoin halving cycles, regulatory clarity, institutional adoption, macro environment (interest rates, USD strength). As a trader, you mostly care about the medium term. Learn to filter out the noise.