An exchange is where you buy crypto, not where you should keep it long-term.
A crypto exchange is where you convert regular money into crypto. It is the on-ramp. You need it to get started.
It is also one of the most dangerous places to leave your crypto long-term.
An exchange is a tool. You use it to buy. Then you move your crypto to your own wallet. That is the process. Skipping the last step is where most beginners make their first serious mistake.
Think of a currency exchange at an airport. You walk in with dollars. You walk out with euros. You do not live at the airport. You do not store your money there permanently. You use the service and leave.
That is how to think about a crypto exchange. It is a conversion service. It is not a bank. It is not a vault. It is not a safe place to park your assets long-term.
Use it for what it does well. Move on.
Bank accounts are insured. In the U.S., the FDIC insures deposits up to $250,000. If your bank fails, you are protected.
Crypto exchanges are not insured in the same way. If an exchange gets hacked, goes bankrupt, or gets shut down by regulators, your funds can disappear with it.
This is not a hypothetical. FTX collapsed in 2022. Celsius froze withdrawals. Mt. Gox was hacked and lost 850,000 Bitcoin. Every one of those cases involved people who left their crypto on an exchange and assumed it was safe.
It was not.
Use exchanges as a tool. Not a home.
Buy what you need. Verify it arrived. Move it to your own wallet where you hold the keys. That is the protocol.
The phrase you need to remember: Not your keys, not your coins. If the exchange holds the keys to your crypto, they own it in the most practical sense. You are trusting them the same way you trust a bank, except without the insurance.
That is a choice you can make. Just make it consciously, not by default.