1. There are more than 1 exchanges and price tanked everywhere. 2. If you bought low, did you get your trade busted? 3. If it was normal market behaviour, due to a thin order book and a big sell order, why reimburse anybody?
1) indeed about 10-20% but not to nearly zero as GDAX did. And this is just the same like any flashcrash on any of the Stock/Futures markets which happens equally as common: the fat finger-trade itself is (regularly) turned-back, but all other derivative products and markets aren't. 2) read that link! If you bought low you keep that very profitable entry. 3) Don't know exactly. But my guess is that they see this a good spend promotion. They (Coinbase/GDAX) want to keep growing exponentially (which they do with 300.000 new customers in just one week). They have all licenses and are even fully ensured. So this "free gift" gives them huge confidence.
Because that doesn't happen in normal liquid markets and no investors will touch it with that level of risk which hurts everyone with a vested interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
1. Not 10-20% but 50-60%, what is still very "noticable". So where did they draw the line, which trade to bust? 2. You can't bust sell trades without busting the corresponding buy trades. So if I had a buy order at $50 and they busted the sell order, whom am I buying from? 3. I dunno, but if I accept that my broker might have a thin order book and I am fine with it, the broker shouldn't bust trades on willy-nilly for the greater good....
Same answer as #3 above. I don't care about my broker acting for the greater good, I want him to act as a market maker, executing legal orders according to the order book. I though cryptos were without regulation, but you seem to promote regulation here... What if I was shorting and they busted my perfectly timed short or I couldn't cover at a nice low price? Fuck the greater good, I want my profits...
1) not correct! The hour that the flashcrash happened other exchanges reacted within the range of 10-20%. I just calculated that Kraken did -17% 2) you still didn't read the link, heh? They (the exchange) paid it from their OWN funds. 3) agree. The exchange shouldn't play Santa Claus. It's a "normal behavior" with risks for the traders themselves. This will give a precedent for the next time.... which might result in more problems.
1. I remember seeing a $150 lowest price on the 22nd, but maybe that was the weighted price of several exchanges. That would explain it... 2. That is nice. So basically they bought the whale's coins up on the cheap? Or at least they averaged down like crazy... Or was the whale's order busted too?
Regulation means "in the same way as" your Stock Broker/Exchange is regulated. Covering: KnowYourCustomer & AntiMoneyLaundering, as well as the FDIC coverage ($250.000) and of course Taxes.