Isn't it amazing to see the prices of various exchanges almost synchronized in real time? It feels like they have all agreed upon it. In fact, this is quite interesting; there is no centralized control, it's entirely calculated by the market itself, mainly driven by three forces.

1. The core power: global 'arbitrage hunters' (arbitrageurs)

These people, mainly from algorithmic trading teams, keep their eyes on the prices across global exchanges. Their logic is simple and straightforward:

Identifying price differences: for example, Bitcoin sells for $90,000 on exchange A, while it is instantaneously priced at $90,050 on exchange B.

Flash trading: the program immediately buys at the cheaper exchange A while selling at the more expensive exchange B.

Instantly leveling: this operation itself will raise the price at exchange A a little and lower the price at exchange B a little, causing the price difference to vanish instantly.

Because there are thousands of such robots operating 24/7 doing this, the prices of mainstream coins are kept tightly controlled across platforms, essentially synchronized. You can think of them as 'automatic balancers' of the global market.

2. The 'lubricants' (market makers) within the exchange

The buy and sell orders (order book) you see at each exchange are often not placed by ordinary users, but by professional market makers. Their task is to ensure that the market 'has liquidity'—that whenever you want to buy, there is always someone to sell, and whenever you want to sell, there is always someone to buy.

When they quote prices, they also refer to the global average price, ensuring that prices are not quoted absurdly at one exchange.

They do not earn from directional price movements, but from the small price differences (spreads) between buying and selling. Therefore, maintaining a stable and reasonable order book is also beneficial for themselves.

3. The industry is building 'physical connections'

The first two points are market behaviors; now the industry itself is also trying to find technical ways to make liquidity 'flow' more directly, which is somewhat akin to true 'unification':

For example, some exchanges have tools aimed at large traders, allowing you to trade the depth of several exchanges with just one account.

For example, in places like Hong Kong, policies allow licensed exchanges to share order books with their overseas affiliated platforms, which essentially connects two pools into one.

Many trading apps use 'aggregated quotes', which combine quotes from several exchanges to show you the best prices directly.

Price synchronization is the result of the market operating efficiently. Arbitrageurs act as 'correctors' chasing price differences, market makers serve as 'lubricants' maintaining smoothness within each exchange, and new technologies and rules are attempting to create more direct 'pipeline connections'.

So, it is not centralized control; rather, decentralized global market participants collectively maintain this seemingly 'unified' state.