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Exponentially decayed double power-law distribution of Bitcoin trade sizes

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  • Li, Mu-Yao
  • Cai, Qing
  • Gu, Gao-Feng
  • Zhou, Wei-Xing

Abstract

Bitcoin is the most important cryptocurrency that leads the cryptocurrency market. The 776,629,356 Bitcoin trades from 3 January 2009 to 31 December 2017 are retrieved. It is found that the medium and large trade sizes comply with the exponentially decayed double power-law distribution. The tail exponent α1 of the medium trade sizes fluctuates in 2009, increases during the period from 2011 to 2014, and then converges to a stable level at α1=0.266±0.127. The tail exponent α2 of the large trade sizes fluctuates more and we have α2=1.752±1.688.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Mu-Yao & Cai, Qing & Gu, Gao-Feng & Zhou, Wei-Xing, 2019. "Exponentially decayed double power-law distribution of Bitcoin trade sizes," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 535(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:535:y:2019:i:c:s037843711931369x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2019.122380
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