The .exchange Domain: Where Things Change Hands
.exchange was recorded in the root zone on 17 April 2014 and is operated by Binky Moon, LLC. The nTLDstats page accessed on 11 August 2026 shows 25,319 registrations in the zone, 18,025 of which appear in the zone file. At roughly 71%, the publication rate sits toward the lower end of the group measured here.
The word spans several trades: securities and currency dealing, barter of goods and services, student and cultural exchange programmes, and a technical association with corporate mail server products. The rule follows directly — unless the label says which sense you mean, visitors arrive with the wrong expectation. Test your shortlist in a .exchange domain search.
A domain substitutes for no authorisation, and a visitor cannot tell the difference from the address alone. Where a regulator supervises your activity, put three things on the page: the legal entity name and company number, the authorisation reference, and a plain statement that the reference can be verified in the regulator's own register. Without them a visitor sees a claim and nothing more. Apply the same test yourself: before depositing anywhere, look the reference up on the regulator's site.
.EXCHANGE Domain at a Glance
- Sponsoring organisation Binky Moon, LLC
- Root zone record 17 April 2014
- Eligibility condition No verified restriction
- Registered names 25,319 (nTLDstats, 11 August 2026)
- Present in the zone file 18,025 names, about 71%
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .exchange domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
Related Domain Extensions
Registering the same name on more than one extension keeps someone else from taking your brand.
.exchange Domain Prices — No Surprise Fees
Registration, transfer and renewal fees are listed separately. The renewal price can differ from the first-year price, so you see both up front.
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New Registration
$12.90 /year -
Transfer
$38.99 /year -
Renewal
$41.99 /year -
Restore
$129.90 -
Late Renewal
$6.73
Included With Every .exchange Domain
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Free DNS management
Change A, MX, TXT and CNAME records yourself from the panel — no waiting on anyone when you move a site or mailbox.
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Domain lock
While the lock is on, nobody can move your domain to another registrar without your approval.
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Domain forwarding
Point the domain at your existing site, a campaign page or a social profile — at no extra cost.
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Free WHOIS privacy
Your name, address and phone stay out of public WHOIS records, which cuts down spam and scam calls.
.exchange Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .exchange domain is put on Client Hold on its expiry date, so the site and e-mail stop that same day. You can still renew during the first 20 days, but from this point a late renewal fee is added on top of the renewal price. On day 20 the registration is deleted and until day 50 only a paid restore brings it back. Nothing at all can be done in the 5 days that follow, and on day 55 the name is open to anyone. There is exactly one way never to enter this chain: keep auto-renewal on.
Domain Is Available (Available)
A .exchange address at this stage has not been taken yet, and it goes to whoever registers first. Check the name you have in mind — if it is free, it can be yours within minutes.
Domain Is Active (Active Period)
Once registration is complete, the domain is registered to you for the term you selected. You can renew at any point before it expires to keep it active, or switch on auto-renewal so you never have to watch the date.
Renewal Window (Client Hold)
On its expiry date your .exchange domain is put on Client Hold: the site and e-mail go down that day, but the registration is still yours. A single renewal within these first 20 days brings everything back exactly as it was — nothing is lost. The only difference is that a $6.73 late renewal fee is now added to the renewal price; renewing before the expiry date avoids that fee entirely.
Redemption Period (Redemption / RGP)
On day 20 the registration is deleted and the 30-day redemption period that ICANN requires of every gTLD registry begins. The name is not released to anyone during this time; only you can take it back, by paying the restore fee, until day 50. That fee is far higher than a renewal — renewing on time is always the cheaper route.
Pending Delete (Pending Delete)
Once the redemption window closes too, the domain enters its final 5 days and there is no way back. Neither renewal nor restore works here; nobody — your registrar included — can return the name to you. The registry uses this window as the last hold before the name goes back into the pool.
Open to Anyone Again (Released)
On day 55 the name .exchange returns to the pool and anyone can register it. Sought-after names are often gone within seconds, and there is no guaranteed way to get one back. Yet staying out of this timeline is entirely in your hands: leave auto-renewal on and the expiry date will never catch you off guard.
The timeline above is the schedule Atak Domain applies and publishes. The ICANN chart you will find elsewhere shows a renewal window of up to 45 days after expiry; ICANN's policy on expired registrations (section 2.2.1) lets registrars delete an expired domain at any time, provided they disclose their policy in advance. We apply that window as 20 days and publish it here in plain sight. Full text of the policy: ICANN Expired Registration Recovery Policy
.exchange Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.exchange Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .exchange domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.exchange Domain Support
- IDN Support No
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .exchange Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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Not to register. The registry asks for no documents at all.
Binky Moon, LLC defines no eligibility condition for this ending and names are issued first come, first served. Dealing in securities, currency or similar instruments does carry a permit obligation, but it arises from your own jurisdiction. The domain neither provides it nor removes it. Availability appears in a .exchange domain search.
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At least four distinct uses, and they have almost nothing in common.
Stock and currency dealing, second-hand barter, student and cultural exchange programmes, and a technical association with a corporate mail server product. A visitor cannot work out from the ending alone which of those you are. Putting a descriptive word in the label removes the ambiguity in a single stroke.
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It is. The ending is not limited to financial trading.
Communities swapping books, games, equipment or services read clearly on this address. On such a platform the decisive factor is not the ending but the trust mechanism: identity checks, a rating system and dispute handling. Plan for an SSL certificate from the start, since users exchange personal details with one another.
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18,025 of 25,319 names appear in the zone file, which works out at about 71%.
The remaining third are registered but not yet pointed at a server. In endings with a financial association, part of that group consists of names held for projects still to launch and defensive brand registrations. The measurement comes from the nTLDstats breakdown on the date of access.
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By checking the regulator's own register, never the address.
Take the company name and the authorisation reference printed on the page and search for them in the supervisor's official register. If the entry appears, the claim holds. If nothing appears, what the page says stops mattering. The test is independent of the ending and works identically everywhere.
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Yes. The move runs on an authorisation code with no supporting documents.
On a platform handling live transactions, schedule the transfer inside a maintenance window and rebuild the DNS zone identically on the receiving side beforehand. That keeps sessions and notification delivery intact through the switchover. Start from the domain transfer page.
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