Cryptocurrency has become increasingly more popular over the last few years. The main coins, like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin and more have been exploding to new all-time highs, drawing lots of attention to the industry.
If you want to start trading crypto, the best way to start is by using cryptocurrency centralized exchanges.
Why?
Well, crypto exchanges allow you to transfer fiat currency into cryptocurrency.
You simply pick one of the exchanges listed below, create an account, verify your identity, add your preferred payment method, then you can make crypto purchases directly.
Although it is a scary industry for newcomers, crypto is definitely here to stay, and exchanges are helping everyone to get involved. The best cryptocurrency exchanges today make investing in crypto easier than ever before.
There are quite a few options when investing in crypto. Today we will be looking at the best cryptocurrency exchanges out there. For those familiar with traditional investing, please be aware that crypto is its own beast and is very different to traditional investing!
After all, a lot of crypto is centred around decentralization, which makes it a totally different system from what most are used to.
Anyway, without further ado, let’s jump into your options and their benefits!
Coinbase
Coinbase is one of the best crypto exchanges available. They have been established for a long time and make for a good “all-around” crypto exchange. Their fees are manageable, they have a lot of coins to choose from, they have customer support and it can be accessed from most countries.
You can do everything you’ll need on Coinbase, like buying, selling, trading and storing digital assets on their platform. They want to be industry leaders in helping people digital currency in and out of their local currencies.
You can buy all the most popular cryptocurrencies on Coinbase, like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Doge, XRP, Bitcoin Cash, and hundreds more.
Coinbase, like most exchanges, has a good mobile app you can use to trade crypto, buy and sell crypto, store crypto assets and so on.
Coinbase offers a Pro version (Coinbase Pro), which is particularly useful for any users who will be doing a lot of cryptocurrency trading. Coinbase Pro will help you to save money on transaction fees and trading fees.
Pros of Coinbase
- All of the top coins are available to buy
- Two factor authentification for added login security measures
- Watch and earn from educational resources
- Trusted and secure exchange
- Home to the most popular crypto assets
- Lots of additional financial tools to take advantage of
- Stake your coins on Coinbase for yield (like getting interest from a bank account)
Cons
- Crypto transactions can cost more than other trading platforms
- Fee structure can also be confusing
- Spread pricing can increase transaction costs
- Not available to use in all countries
Do We Recommend You Use Coinbase?
Absolutely! If you need an exchange that can give you everything, Coinbase is a great choice. Most crypto exchanges usually have a few more cons than Coinbase. The only real issues they have are not operating in all countries (out of their control to a degree), and their complex fee structure. However, their fees are relatively fair and manageable, especially if you use Coinbase Pro.
Gemini
Gemini is a good crypto exchange for beginners. It has a simple interface, with plenty of popular coins to choose from for your first purchase. For experienced traders, you can enjoy their ActiveTraders platform with more sophisticated trading options, like charting tools and multiple order types.
Although there are cheaper options out there to purchase crypto, Gemini is considered to be safe with its insurance policies and other safety measures.
The Gemini mobile app is perfectly adequate. The fee structure differs from mobile app to desktop app, which is something to be aware of.
Pros of Gemini
- Low minimum trade. Get started trading crypto with only a small amount in your crypto wallet
- Available in all 50 U.S. States. Unlike some other crypto exchange competitors, Gemini is available everywhere in the U.S.
- Strong security. Gemini has always put an emphasis on the safety measures employed at their crypto exchange. They have sophisticated cyber safety and insurance policies on hot wallets
Cons of Gemini
- Some other crypto exchanges like Coinbase and Binance have more coins available to purchase
- Trading fees can be slightly higher than some of the other crypto exchanges
- Has low customer support ratings, citing 1.5 stars out of 5 on Trustpilot. Sometimes these review sites only attract the rare few who had a bad experience, so we would not take this totally at face value
Do We Recommend You Use Gemini?
Sure! We think Gemini is a good crypto exchange for anyone to use. They have a high level of security, and cool trading features. For someone looking to buy and sell rare digital currencies, perhaps one of the other exchanges is a better choice for you. Gemini mostly hosts the top cryptocurrencies out there. Also, their fees leave something to be desired but are manageable.
Crypto.com
Crypto.com is another great “all-rounder” exchange.
Crypto.com, or CRO, are an all-in-one platform if you want to buy, trade, store and earn interest on your crypto.
CRO offer all of the top cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Doge, XRP, Cardano, Bitcoin Cash, Tether and more.
Crypto.com also boasts its own blockchain, where lots of developers have been creating decentralized applications for users to interact with. For example, as a user, you could go onto a decentralized app (DApp) through crypto.com’s blockchain and stake tokens to earn interest on them. CRO chain is crypto.com’s equivalent of the Ethereum blockchain.
CRO also offer their own credit card, a standalone crypto wallet, and an NFT marketplace.
We expect CRO to keep growing both through their trading platform as well as their own blockchain.
Customer Support
CRO has pretty comprehensive customer support. Although they have no phone support, they have a help page, email, and live chat to help you with your problems. As usual, there are quite a few people moaning online about poor customer support.
This is to be expected to a degree as you can’t please everyone, and the minority are often louder than the majority.
Security Measures
Like Coinbase, Crypto.com stores a lot of their assets in a cold environment, so it should be extremely hard to be stolen. They also work with banks in America to provide up to $250,000 in FDIC insurance on U.S. dollar balances.
Trading with CRO
Trading is a pleasant experience on CRO.
CRO has a mobile app, which is available on Android and iOS devices. It is easy and straightforward to use, especially if you have used a trading platform on mobile before.
The app allows you to do everything with CRO, from checking your portfolio, buying and selling crypto, and signing up for a Crypto.com credit card.
Pros of Crypto.com
- Get a CRO card and unlock additional rewards
- Stake your crypto and earn an attractive APR
- Relatively low fees
- Popular and safe
- Trade the top cryptocurrencies
- Have their own blockchain
- Lots of benefits if you hold CRO
Cons of Crypto.com
- Higher fees if you don’t hold significant amounts of CRO
- The trading fee structure can be hard to navigate
- Some other exchanges have more coins that you can buy and sell (however, you can get virtually everything from their decentralized exchange, as opposed to their centralized exchange)
eToro
eToro has been building its reputation for over 15 years. They are an established player in all kinds of online investing. eToro is another full features platform where you can buy, sell, send, store and earn interest on your crypto.
CopyTrader Trading Feature
Interestingly, eToro offers a “CopyTrader” feature, which allows you to copy the trades of other users. This means you can copy the trades of the best performers on the platform. CopyTrader doesn’t cost any additional fees. The trader you copy gets compensated by eToro so you don’t have to. Who knows, one-day people will be copying your trades!
Demo Trading
Also, they have a demo platform for those who wish to try crypto with just play money to start. If you aren’t ready to buy cryptocurrency, using the play money account is a great way to start and see how volatile crypto is!
eToro is filled with all sorts of financial services. For example, you can buy stocks and shares, trade fiat currency, options and more.
Unfortunately, if you are in the states, eToro is blocked by about 10 states, so make sure it is allowed to be used in your jurisdiction.
eToro Fees
Some exchanges like Coinbase and Binance provide complex fee structures. Thankfully, eToro makes it quite straightforward.
With eToro you pay a relatively small spread on the purchase of an asset that counts for when you sell it too. Normally, you pay a spread on the purchase and a spread on the sale (as with most popular crypto exchanges). However, on eToro, you pay both sides of the spread at once. This can be problematic if the asset decreases in the future when you go to sell it and you were taxed while it was a higher price. Spreads are around 0.75% for Bitcoin (BTC) and as high as 5% for Tezos (TXS).
eToro also has a minimum $30 withdrawal fee.
Pros of eToro:
- Demo trading platform
- Social trading – copy others’ trades
- User-friendly mobile and web app available on iOS and Android
Cons of eToro:
- Minimum $30 withdrawal threshold
- Spread their efforts between cryptocurrency and other financial services, so have less coins available compared to Crypto.com, Coinbase etc.
- $200 is required to use their copy trade system
Overall, we believe that eToro is a good one-stop-shop exchange to use for beginners as well as advanced users. It’s a particularly good option if you are involved in financial investments outside of cryptocurrencies.
Binance
Binance is one of the leading exchanges in the world.
Like Crypto.com, Binance has its own blockchain (the Binance Smart Chain, or BSC), and is extremely innovative in the crypto space. Binance boasts one of the most sophisticated lists of cryptocurrencies you can buy.
Features
Again, Binance is also a one-stop shop with plenty of features. Their Binance Smart Chain is one of the most popular blockchains by gross volume and number of users.
More features include:
Futures Trading: Futures trading is leveraged trading. You can multiply the amount of money you are using for short or long positions and experience different sized wins/losses.
Staking: Binance offers various staking pools for most of the top coins, which will generate you a small percentage per year. Still more than a bank!
Peer-to-peer transactions: Binance’s peer to peer transaction service is useful for withdrawing money. Instead of withdrawing directly to your bank, you can send crypto to another user, who sends you money to your bank/Paypal/Revolut/Wise etc.
Three platforms: Binance.US has three trading platforms you can use. These are basic, advanced and OTC for peer-to-peer trading. Beginners and those new to the platform should start with basic, then you can work your way up.
Binance Launchpad: BNB holders (Binance’s native currency) can spend their BNB in the Binance Launchpad. The Binance Launchpad helps to promote new cryptocurrencies they deem to be useful or interesting. For example, STEPN (GMT) was a recent coin that exploded by being started on the Binance Launchpad.
Regulations
Binance is often falling under scrutiny by governments. Binance is constantly being targeted by rules and regulations which limits its usability in certain countries. Check to see if Binance is eligible to operate in your country.
Binance currently works well in most of Europe, Australia and Asia, but has limitations in America and Canada.
VPNs can be a workaround if Binance is banned in your country, but it might be a better idea to simply use an exchange which is accepted in your country.
Sign up Process
The Binance verification process is quite stringent. It can take a few days to verify your identity. However, AI is becoming increasingly popular, which helps to identify you through pictures of your passport etc.
Most other crypto exchanges are faster at verifying identities.
Once you finally get signed up, you shouldn’t have a problem after that point.
Trading Fees
The trading fee structure on Binance is quite complicated. To onramp fiat currency to Binance, it costs around 1% depending on the payment method you use. They also have trading fees ranging from 0.1% to 3.5%. Most trades are in the 0.1% region, which is very low.
Binance are not the cheapest exchange out there, but certainly not the most expensive either. They can also boast one of the most comprehensive lists of cryptocurrencies to justify their expense.
Binance also boasts the most trading pairs of any exchange out there. They have trading routes between all sorts of popular cryptocurrencies.
Pros of Binance:
- Leveraged futures trading
- 500+ coins to trade
- Peer-to-peer transactions
- Lots of transaction options
- Staking available
- They own the Binance Smart Chain, one of the top blockchains in the world
- relatively low fees compared to some of the other top cryptocurrency exchanges
Cons of Binance
- Binance is currently largely unavailable in America and Canada. It is often changing which states, if any, allow citizens to use Binance
- Customer service can be hard to get hold of. It seems to be easier now but during bull markets or times when they are extremely busy, customer support can be slow
- Customer issues can take a while to solve. For example, if you send funds to another Binance user but you select the wrong network, you might be waiting a while for Binance to come back to you.
Kraken
Kraken is a good choice of exchange. They have plenty of coins to choose to buy, as well as fair fees and interesting trading options.
A major benefit of Kraken is their 24-hour chat support, as well as 12 hours of phone support per day. Many other exchanges only have email support, which can be extremely tiresome waiting for a reply. Instant messaging is a great help when you inevitably run into a problem.
As Kraken uses Trustly, it can be an annoyance for US users to get money onto the platform. Not all banks sync with Trustly, meaning that you might need to call your bank to arrange a wire for a fiat currency deposit onto Kraken.
Kraken Fees
Kraken fees vary depending on the platform used and the trade you enter. In either case, prices are also subject to spread fees (like virtually all centralized exchanges).
Kraken Pricing
When instantly purchasing crypto with your preferred payment method, the fee is 1.5% for most coins. Stablecoins are charged at 0.9% for stablecoin purchases using U.S. dollars.
There are additional fees depending on how you buy your crypto. Prices vary from 0.5% for bank transfers to 3.75% + 25 Euro cents with a debit card or credit card.
Kraken Pro Pricing
Users should opt for Kraken Pro if they plan on doing a lot of crypto trading. Kraken Pro has much lower fees than the main Kraken platform. Kraken Pro pricing is based on your total trading volume over the last 30 day period. Usually, a trade is subject to either a 0.26% taker fee or 0.16% maker fee.
Kraken Coins
Kraken has over 110+ cryptocurrencies you can buy. Other exchanges like Binance and Coinbase have a lot more coins available to buy and sell.
Kraken has an NFT marketplace in development.
Trading Features
Kraken has lots of different trading features. Choose from futures trading (leveraged trading), margin trading, indices, staking, funding and more. Kraken also has a “Cryptowatch” feature which allows you to analyze the market conditions and gives you more data in order to make your trades.
Overall, Kraken is one of the best crypto trading platforms in the world. It is a secure crypto exchange, the trading fees are fair, and they are available in most countries. Kraken’s additional features make it one of the best choices in the crypto market.
So Which is the Best Crypto Exchange?
The best cryptocurrency exchange is subjective. Each exchange brings its own positives and negatives to the table.
For example, Coinbase incurs more fees than most exchanges, but they also provide more services than other exchanges.
Binance is a great choice of exchange, but they often have issues with regulators.
So, all in all, it’s best to simply pick an exchange and see if it is suitable for your needs. If the exchange is not suitable for you, you can always pick another exchange.
As a cryptocurrency trader, you need to be nimble, and that might mean switching to another exchange!
Overall, simply pick the exchange that suits you the most. Test it out, see if it works and go for it! If you are experiencing too many problems, it’s not much of an issue and you can simply switch platforms.
