Top Ten Cryptocurrency Exchanges
If you are involved with cryptocurrencies on any level — mining, investing, trading, normal transactions, etc. — having a cryptocurrency exchange account is essential.
A cryptocurrency exchange allows you to purchase and sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Most allow you to engage in this commercialization of cryptocurrencies in exchange for other cryptocurrency or traditional fiat currency.
When it comes to selecting a cryptocurrency exchange you want to choose one that:
- Is highly secure
- Deals with a broad selection of cryptocurrencies
- Has affordable fees or attractive bid/ask spreads
- Has a fast and easy to use platform
- Offers ease of purchase and a variety of traditional payment options (debit/credit cards, wire transfers, Paypal, etc.)
The following cryptocurrency exchanges have demonstrated themselves to be reputable and reliable. Their level of service, support, and execution are the best in the industry.
1- CEX.io
CEX.io has over 700,000 clients worldwide. It facilitates both the buying and selling of Bitcoin as well as Bitcoin trading. For the latter, they use a bid-ask model combined with advanced order-matching algorithms. This means that order execution is extremely fast and bid-ask price ranges are extremely tight. Both of these are characteristics that traders will appreciate.
When it comes to the simple buying and selling of Bitcoin, users can use credit and debit cards, other cryptocurrencies, and bank transfers to make the purchase.
In terms of coverage, CEX provides their services in 99 percent of the countries in the world. They even service 24 out of the 50 states of the United States.
Basic account holders can purchase up to $400 worth of Bitcoin per day with a $2,000 per month cap. It should be noted that basic account holders cannot use back transfers to purchase Bitcoin, they are limited to credit and debit cards.
Verified account holders can purchase up to $10,000 worth of Bitcoin per day with a $100,000 per month cap.
Visit CEX.IO Now2- Coinbase
Coinbase is the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange. It offers brokerage and exchange services. Bitcoin can be purchased using credit or debit cards as well as bank transfers. PayPal can also be used.
Credit and debit card purchases usually go through instantaneously. Bitcoin purchased via a bank transfer can take five or seven days to appear in your account.
Coverage includes 33 countries around the world. This includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore and the majority of the countries in Europe.
When you first set up an account, Coinbase requires all users to go through a full identity verification process. This includes submitting an image of your driver’s license or passport and of the credit card that you will be using to purchase your cryptocurrency.
Once an account is fully verified, U.S. customers can purchase up to $50,000 worth of Bitcoin per day. European customers are limited in the balance that they can keep in their account. This limit is set at 30,000 Euro.
Visit Coinbase Now3- Coinmama
Coinmama has been in operation since 2013. It allows you to buy and sell both Bitcoin and Ether.
In terms of payment options, Coinmama only accommodates purchases with credit or debit cards. Bank transfers and PayPal are not an option.
Coinmama requires all of their users to be verified. This requires uploading an image of a valid government ID along with a selfie of the new user holding the ID and a piece of paper containing the text “Coinmama.” Once a user is verified, they will be able to purchase up to $10,000 worth of Bitcoin with a credit card.
Visit CoinMama Now4- Bittrex
Bittrex has been in operation since late 2014. It is somewhat different from the other cryptocurrency exchanges on this list. It is primarily used as a trading platform. Its main strength comes from the fact that it offers trading pairs in over 190 types of altcoins. This makes it ideal for traders seeking exotic trading combinations.
In order to trade the majority of the cryptocurrency pairs offered by Bittrix, account holders are required to have a balance in either Bitcoin or Ether.
Bittrex does allow users to use fiat currencies to purchase Bitcoin or Ether through their platform in order to be able to trade the other cryptocurrency pairs. This option, however, is only available to those account holders who have been “enhanced verified” and that purchase more than $10,000 of Bitcoin or Ether at once.
Obviously, Bittrex is not well suited for those who wish to buy and hold small amounts of Bitcoin or Ether and hold them for the long-term. However, for active traders, especially due to the wide variety of cryptocurrencies that its platform supports, Bittrex can be an excellent option.
5- LocalBitcoins
LocalBitcoins is not so much a cryptocurrency exchange as it is a cryptocurrency escrow service. It brings together individual buyers and sellers of Bitcoin on their platform. This allows them to agree to trade terms and use the LocalBitcoins platform as a method to secure the funds involved with the trade. This is designed so the person selling the Bitcoin is assured that they will have the amount in fiat currency that was mutually agreed-upon secured in escrow before releasing the Bitcoin to the buyer’s wallet.
Due to the peer-to-peer aspect of LocalBitcoins, it has no buying or selling limits and can be considered one of the most discrete methods for purchasing Bitcoin. In some of the countries where cryptocurrencies are the most restricted, it may be the only platform upon which to purchase Bitcoin.
Specific conditions for a trade are never set by LocalBitcoins. Individual buyers or sellers may impose their own special conditions to any deal. As such, each deal posted on the LocalBitcoins platform may or may not include conditions such as identification verification.
Visit LocalBitcoins Now6- Kraken
Kraken has been in existence since 2011. It can be used to purchase Bitcoin, Ether, and Litecoin. Its main strength, however, comes as a cryptocurrency trading platform. It offers trading pairs in cryptocurrency combinations as well as in cryptocurrency and fiat currency pairs.
For trading, it offers a large number of trading specific features. Charting and analytics are available. Also, traders can trade long as well as short positions. This facilitates the use of hedging strategies. Trading strategy automatization is also provided and the platform allows for users to establish stop-losses on all of their trades.
Kraken’s platform is almost entirely geared toward cryptocurrency traders. It likely would not benefit those who simply wish to buy or sell cryptocurrency. If all of the trading jargon used in this specific description was confusing to you, then Kraken may not be the exchange for you.
7- Bitfinex
Bitfinex is a cryptocurrency exchange that offers very powerful trading features as well as more conservative storage functions. In other words, it provides its users with all of the fanciful benefits of a powerful trading platform without neglecting those users who are only interested in acquiring Bitcoin.
Users who wish to use it purely to purchase Bitcoin can do so via bank transfer. Bitfinex does not accept credit or debit cards.
When used for trading, Bitfinex offers a wide variety of trading pairs involving over 36 different cryptocurrencies. These can also be paired with the U.S. Dollar or Bitcoin. Also, for those who wish to trade on margin, Bitfinex accommodates trades leveraged up to 3:1.
The types of trading orders allowed by Bitfinex include standard market and limit orders as well as stop, trailing stop, OCO, and fill or kill orders. For even more advanced traders, algorithmic orders — such as iceberg and TWAP orders — are also allowed.
The trading platform itself is quite robust offering technical traders a wide variety of charting packages. Bitfinex even has an API that it makes available to its users who want to develop their own trading applications and tools.
8- Bisq
Bisq, similar to LocalBitcoins, is not a cryptocurrency exchange in the strictest definition of the term. It is another P2P platform that brings buyers and sellers of Bitcoin together. Bisq is based on an open-source platform. This makes it highly decentralized. For those seeking privacy and discretion, Bisq rates high in that regard.
Unfortunately, this same open-source and decentralized nature makes it difficult to get started if you are not tech-savvy. It requires the platform to be downloaded and installed on your computer. It then must be synched to the Bisq platform. This can be confusing to most people who only want to purchase Bitcoin.
Bisq uses a policy that requires both buyer and seller to have a security deposit in their accounts before engaging in any trade. They also use an escrow-style system to protect sellers before releasing their Bitcoin to buyers.
If you are comfortable installing open-source software, Bisq does offer a large P2P community that you can tap into when wishing to buy or sell Bitcoin. Non-technical people, however, may find it extremely difficult to get started.
9- Paxful
This cryptocurrency exchange offers a unique and beneficial twist. While it allows for the purchase of Bitcoin with debit and credit cards, it also allows for payment via cash deposits and gift cards.
When using credit or debit cards, the user is required to submit a copy of formal identification. However, for those wishing complete anonymity, the cash deposit option only involves the buyer having to deposit cash into a specified bank account. This can be done as a walk-up a deposit at a branch or through various third-party transfer services such as Western Union or MoneyGram.
The gift card option is the most unique. This allows users to utilize Amazon, Target, Best Buy, Walmart, One Vanilla, GameStop, and many more gift cards to purchase Bitcoin.
Paxful does not act as the direct seller of Bitcoin. It instead allows its platform to be used as a peer-to-peer marketplace for buyers and sellers of Bitcoin. Paxful only acts as the processor of payments and as an escrow service to safeguard buyers and sellers. If you do not already have a Bitcoin wallet, Paxful provides its users with one for free.
Visit Paxful Now10- Poloniex
Poloniex is another cryptocurrency exchange that is geared primarily for experienced traders. It is based in the United States and has been in operation since 2014. As such, it does not impose any limitations on account holders based in the U.S.
It is what is known as a crypto-to-crypto exchange. That means that you cannot use fiat currency to fund your account. It can only be funded with Bitcoin. As a result, Poloniex cannot be used by those who only seek to purchase Bitcoin and have it transferred to their wallet.
Once your Poloniex account is funded with Bitcoin, you can trade in over 90 cryptocurrency pairs. Margin trading is allowed and the charting package on its platform offers a wide variety of tools for technical traders. Trading fees are quite reasonable at 0.2%.