Order books are often disconcertingly thin. When GDAX restarted with a configuration error only allowing sells, the price went from $1184 to 6 cents in about 10

Order books are often disconcertingly thin. When GDAX restarted with a configuration error only allowing sells, the price went from $1184 to 6 cents in about 100 BTC of trades. This quickly recovered of course, but that's how thin it is. http://www.newsbtc.com/2017/04/16/gdax-bitcoin-price-briefly-crashes-us0-06-system-maintenance/ http://www.newsbtc.com/2017/04/16/gdax-bitcoin-price-briefly... Large sales frequently cause $20-30 dips. http://www.coindesk.com/high-seas-bitcoin-trading-whales-still-make-waves/ http://www.coindesk.com/high-seas-bitcoin-trading-whales-sti... So you'll want to take it slowly, and across multiple exchanges if you can. Check Reddit that a given exchange isn't having (what's the phrase) "problems with the traditional banking system", i.e. you can get ActualMoney out. Also, don't go within a mile of Bitfinex - users still can't get hard currency out without a local Taiwan bank account (if even that still works).