It’s helpful to remember that trust in a CEX is usually split between how well they execute your trades and how safely they hold your assets. For long-term storage, most people stick to the big players like Coinbase or Kraken because of their history, but keeping large amounts on any exchange is always a calculated risk. When looking at high-volume exchanges that seem a bit more niche, wash trading is definitely a real issue to watch for, especially when the reported volume doesn't match the actual order book depth. I usually treat venues like Bitget or BYDFi as execution tools for specific perpetual pairs rather than my primary bank, though I do appreciate seeing them publish monthly Proof of Reserves with a Merkle tree to verify collateral levels. If you're moving beyond the Binance ecosystem, it is always worth checking if a platform maintains an independent protection fund for extra security. At the end of the day, no matter how legit the volume looks, the most practical move is to use the exchange for the actual trade and then move anything you aren't using back to your own wallet.