Gate’s incident once again tells us that exchanges must be big ones—don’t pick small ones, even if their volume is mid-to-upper.

Because the relationship between users and exchanges can change at any time. When you can continuously generate fee and profit for them, then you’re on the same side—on the same ship, wearing the same pants. At that point, your interests are tightly bound, and everything can be discussed and resolved smoothly.
But once your interests become opposed to theirs, you can’t avoid the back-and-forth and open conflict, and you get dragged into all kinds of messy relationships.
The benefit of choosing a big exchange is that it has enough money. Your capital is insignificant to them—just small change—so the likelihood and circumstances of your interests ending up in conflict are extremely low.
But if you choose a second- or third-tier exchange, don’t overthink it: even slightly larger accounts could very well become a major source of funds for them. At that point, your interests are completely opposed, so the outcome is definitely a fight to the death.