<p>On "real" exchanges Trading Against Yourself or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wash_trade" rel="nofollow">Wash Trades</a> are usually forbidden. Either by a real time check when you enter the second order or after the fact with fines by the oversight agency.</p>

<p>As Bitcoin Exchanges are not regulated, it's their choice to either block you from doing it or not (earning fees for the exchange).</p>

<p>The spread is pretty wide, so it will probably cost you quite a bit of money to do this on a meaningful scale.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-21T19:47:10.813Z
2015-12-21T19:47:10.813Z
Jannes
<p>Depends on which exchange you use. Those are all internal policies not used by the Bitcoin network.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-21T13:23:22.387Z
2015-12-21T13:23:22.387Z
MrPHP
<p>The proposed scenario doesn’t make sense to me. If you would make a buy and sell order as market orders at the same time, you would lose money. If they were matched with each other, you’d buy from yourself, paying what you earn and losing the trade fee. If they were not matched with each other, your buy order would be the best for the moment, and your sell order would be matched with a lower buy order afterwards (or vice versa).</p>

<p>So, if you’d have a buy and sell order open as limit orders at the same time, you’d open them at a spread: e.g. buy for $5 and sell for $6. Those two orders would be unmatchable though. For them to be matchable, you’d have to open them at e.g. buy for $6 and sell for $5. Then you’d lose money on every trade though, and that would be stupid.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-28T11:19:43.083Z
One example of a case where you would want to make buy and sell orders that match is if you benefit from the market being liquid. In this case, you don't want your offers to match each other, you want them both to stay on the books so that liquidity is improved. (Another example is if you want to peg an asset at a specific price relative to another asset.)
David Schwartz
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-21T14:33:59.087Z
2015-12-21T14:33:59.087Z
Murch
<p>If one user made a buy and a sell order at the same time, would they be matched with each other or remain pending?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-21T14:28:46.827Z
Welcome to Bitcoin.SE. I edited your question to make it a bit clearer and added more tags. I’ve also removed your additional questions, because only one topic should be asked about in each question. You can find an answer to your other questions here: [How do bitcoin exchanges set prices?](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/20383/5406)
Murch
<exchanges><trading><exchange-order>
Will buy and sell offers from one trader be matched with each other?
Veera Sarma
# Will buy and sell offers from one trader be matched with each other?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-12-21)

If one user made a buy and a sell order at the same time, would they be matched with each other or remain pending?

**Tags:** exchanges, trading, exchange-order

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Welcome to Bitcoin.SE. I edited your question to make it a bit clearer and added more tags. I’ve also removed your additional questions, because only one topic should be asked about in each question. You can find an answer to your other questions here: [How do bitcoin exchanges set prices?](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/20383/5406)  

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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2015-12-21. Score: 1

On "real" exchanges Trading Against Yourself or [Wash Trades](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wash_trade) are usually forbidden. Either by a real time check when you enter the second order or after the fact with fines by the oversight agency.

As Bitcoin Exchanges are not regulated, it's their choice to either block you from doing it or not (earning fees for the exchange).

The spread is pretty wide, so it will probably cost you quite a bit of money to do this on a meaningful scale.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2015-12-21. Score: 0

Depends on which exchange you use. Those are all internal policies not used by the Bitcoin network.


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### Answer by username_1 on 2015-12-21. Score: 0

The proposed scenario doesn’t make sense to me. If you would make a buy and sell order as market orders at the same time, you would lose money. If they were matched with each other, you’d buy from yourself, paying what you earn and losing the trade fee. If they were not matched with each other, your buy order would be the best for the moment, and your sell order would be matched with a lower buy order afterwards (or vice versa).

So, if you’d have a buy and sell order open as limit orders at the same time, you’d open them at a spread: e.g. buy for $5 and sell for $6. Those two orders would be unmatchable though. For them to be matchable, you’d have to open them at e.g. buy for $6 and sell for $5. Then you’d lose money on every trade though, and that would be stupid.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: One example of a case where you would want to make buy and sell orders that match is if you benefit from the market being liquid. In this case, you don't want your offers to match each other, you want them both to stay on the books so that liquidity is improved. (Another example is if you want to peg an asset at a specific price relative to another asset.)  

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