A price differs from the exchange’s own
The site compares the middle of each order book, converts stablecoins and currencies at live rates, and shows each price as it arrives. Any of these can make a figure differ from the exchange’s.
The middle of the book, not the last trade
An exchange’s own page often leads with its last trade, which hops between its bid and its ask as orders fill. A coin page here shows the middle of each order book, marked mid, which holds still between trades. On an index the price is the side you choose: the ask while Buying, what a small market buy would pay, and the bid while Selling.
Stablecoins
Markets priced in USDC, USDT and USDG are converted to dollars at Kraken’s live rates for them, never taken as exactly a dollar. Until a rate has come, those prices aren’t shown.
Your currency
With Local currency conversion set to EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD or CHF in Settings, amounts are converted from US dollars at Kraken’s live rate, while the comparing is still done in dollars. Without a fresh rate for 2 minutes, amounts go back to dollars, and say so, rather than use an old one.
Another issuer’s token
Where an exchange has no token of a share from the issuer the others list, another issuer’s token of it stands in, and a note at the foot of the page says whose it is. Two tokens of one share can trade a little apart.
Timing
Each exchange’s price shows as it arrives, and an exchange’s own page refreshes on its own clock, so two screens a second apart can differ. Prices are late, greyed or missing says how fresh each page is.
If a figure still looks wrong, report it from the page it’s on.
On the site
Related articles
- How to read a coin’s page
A coin’s page puts every exchange’s price side by side: the middle of each order book, the spread, the depth, what a market order would really get, and the books merged into one.
- Report a wrong number or a problem
Report a wrong number, in every page’s footer, starts a post to @coinsmash_ on X with the page’s address in it. Send it from the page that’s wrong, and say what you saw.
- Settings, one by one
What each of Settings’ choices does: language, currency, theme, price colours, flashing prices, compact coin pages, page introductions, shortcuts and Reset everything.
From the blog
- Why we compare prices at the middle of the order book
The last trade is what someone paid a moment ago. The middle of the order book is where the market is now, so it's the price each coin's page compares.
- Why one coin's price differs across exchanges, and when the gap is real
Every exchange is a market of its own, so a coin's price is never quite the same on two of them. Where the gap comes from, and when it's worth acting on.
Still stuck?
Report a problem or send Feedback & feature requests: each starts a post to @coinsmash_ on X, which you can change before you send it, or not send at all.
The site never messages you first, and never asks for keys, seed phrases, passwords or money.