Cryptocurrency trading operates a little differently from other financial markets because of the more decentralized nature of the industry. There’s no overarching authority when it comes to crypto market hours, but rather a number of unaffiliated cryptocurrency exchanges all operating independently from each other (Coinbase, Binance, Poloniex, etc.). Unlike the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NASDAQ, and London Stock Exchange (LSE), traders and investors buy and sell cryptocurrency 24 hours a day everyday of the year. When looking at the stock market, investors and traders are able to tell what price point a stock closed the day at. However, cryptocurrency markets don’t have standard market hours like a traditional 9:30am - 4:00pm trading day so it can make things a little trickier.

Fortunately, that’s why the cryptocurrency community has come up with a market time frame of their own to help traders and crypto enthusiasts alike. Though trading takes place all hours of the day, the way traders measure how a cryptocurrency is performing is through a daily 24 hour time frame, this is the “daily close.” At the end of a full day of trading (12:00 UTC), traders compare the price of a cryptocurrency to what its price was exactly 24 hours ago. This is how the price movement and performance is calculated when looking at a percentage change in Bitcoin for example, as well as any and all other cryptocurrencies.

The daily close of a cryptocurrency is important for the same reasons the stock market daily close matters. Traders and enthusiasts don’t have the time to watch every cryptocurrency trading on the market for the entirety of the day, but when they look at the daily close in the market, they get a brief snapshot of how the cryptocurrency is performing. Looking at the daily close is a great way to stay up to date on the latest happenings in the markets and gauge how a particular cryptocurrency is performing compared to the day before. On a larger scale, investors use daily closings in the market to identify macro trends and make predictions about how certain assets are likely to perform in the future. Regardless of what you’re using it for, knowing the daily close in the crypto market is a great way to stay connected with what’s going on — subscribe to our different timers to never miss a close in the crypto markets again!