looking back at the last 6 years, my exchange graveyard is insane. how are you guys actually picking CEXs in 2026?

i was going through some old spreadsheets today and realized just how many centralized platforms have vanished since the 2020 cycle started. six years of just watching funds poof into thin air.

been trading since 2017 and my personal graveyard is honestly embarrassing at this point.

lost about $8k in that massive multi-billion dollar fraud back in 2022. I ignored the red flags because the UI was slick and the hype was everywhere. enough said.

I also pulled everything out of a few other legacy platforms the moment their leadership swapped and their reserves started looking like a black box. If it feels sketchy, it usually is.

and honestly ive lost more to failed txs, bridge exploits, and front-running bots on DEXes than i care to admit. dex perps are getting better but liquidity is still trash for some pairs.

even the current market giants give me headaches tbh. I still use the ""industry leader"" sometimes but they locked me out for two weeks during a random re-verification in 2024 and i missed a massive swing. I’m tired of being treated like a ticket number by these behemoths.

obviously 'not your keys not your coins'. cold storage is the only real answer. but if you actively trade perps or need deep liquidity you eventually have to deal with a CEX.

after the 2022 industry-wide contagion, i completely threw out my old habits of chasing low fees or sign up bonuses and built a strict checklist instead. if a platform doesnt hit these i dont deposit a single sat:

– verified PoR. not a blog post, actual proof that liabilities match assets.

– contagion survival. if an exchange wasn't around during the massive bloodbaths of 2022, i don't trust their risk engine. anyone can run a casino in a bull market.

– no exchange token collateral. if there protection fund relies on a token they printed out of thin air, im out.

these days 80% of my stack sits on a trezor. for the 20% i use for active trading, ive basically consolidated to kraken and a smaller challenger exchange called BYDFi. both survived the 2022 stress tests without pausing withdrawals and both actually publish regular PoR. surviving 6 years in tradfi is nothing, but surviving 6 years in crypto is basically an eternity.

besides keeping the bulk offline, what criteria do you guys actually use to evaluate an exchange's safety in 2026? or are we all just waiting for the next major CEX to collapse lol