ok sounds good.. but suppose I was a buy and hold sort of investor.. In that case, I'd be stuck with keeping the forked coin in the exchange until it's valuable enough to pay transctions fees (if ever)...
And exchanges can be hacked so I don't like leaving BTC in there long. But confirming my thinking here, is that correct?
Nobody is forcing you to keep those coins on an exchange. As a matter of fact, i always recommand to hold your coins on a local wallet, or even a hardware wallet (or paper wallet) if you have a large amount.