Saw a few people here debating exchange costs, so wanted to add some clarity from a dev/planning perspective.
Pricing swings a lot depending on scope. A simple spot-trading MVP is the cheapest route. But things scale quickly once you bring in margin trading, staking modules, a high-throughput matching engine, KYC/AML checks, and liquidity connections.
Main things that push the budget up or down:

Build type — going custom gives full control but costs more; white-label gets you live faster at lower cost
Security spend — cold storage architecture, audits, and pen testing are non-negotiable if you want user trust
Compliance scope — depends heavily on which regions/markets you’re licensing for
Liquidity setup — self-built order book vs plugging into existing liquidity providers

For anyone who wants the full cost breakdown with actual ranges, this covers it well: cost of crypto exchange development
If anyone here is actively scoping a build, happy to share more specifics on what typically eats up the budget first.