The cryptocurrency industry has come far since we learned of Bitcoin in 2009. However, if you need to get in on the action, you must understand how to buy crypto and store or even sell your assets. For that, you need the best crypto exchange.
What is a Crypto Exchange?
It is a marketplace that allows you to complete all your crypto transactions, from buying, staking, or even selling. It is a trading platform where you can buy crypto using fiat currencies, trade one crypto for another, or sell your coins for fiat currencies, among other trading features.
When you find the best crypto exchange, you will need to create an account, add funds, choose the crypto you want to buy, then start trading. You can fund your account through your bank account using ACH if in the USA or SEPA if you live in Europe. In addition, some of the best crypto exchanges can allow you to fund through your credit and debit cards.
Finally, you can choose between two main types of cryptocurrency exchanges for your needs; centralized exchanges (CEX) and decentralized exchanges (DEX). CEX exchanges are company-owned and the most common in the industry. They are easy to use, especially when buying crypto for the first time. On the other hand, DEX platforms need you to already own digital assets before signing up to use them.
Here are the best crypto exchanges to try out today.
Best Crypto Exchanges
Before investing in crypto, it is best to open an account with the best crypto exchanges to benefit from their trading features. Let’s look at the top six and their security features, fees, and coins you can trade to help you decide.
1. Binance
Binance is the best crypto exchange for beginners that supports over 600 cryptocurrencies globally but only just over 65 coins in the US. The platform is designed for users with a little trading experience, though newbies will find it easy to set up, get verified and fund an account.
In addition to account opening, Binance has a very good security structure to mitigate hacking risks. The platform requires two-factor authentication through SMS or Google Authenticator, address whitelisting, and device management when you open your account. If you are in the US, the platform provides FDIC insurance on your USD balances.
Binance, also accessible through a user-friendly mobile app, offers some of the best trading options in the industry, including spot trading, peer-to-peer trading, and margin trading. In addition, you can read a lot of data with a candlestick graph, and you can also choose different trading order types, from a limit order, market order, stop-limit order, and more.
Designed to make your crypto trading easier, Binance offers the lowest trading fees in the industry, starting at just 0.1%. However, the lack of a built-in digital wallet is a real dealbreaker, especially for beginners. In addition, the platform offers limited services in the US.
Pros
- Easy to set up and fund account
- Excellent security measures
- A wide selection of trading options
- Low trading fees
- It supports a large number of coins
Cons
- Services are limited in the US
- No built-in digital wallet
- It can be tough for beginners
Read The Full Review – Binance Exchange Review
2. Coinbase
Coinbase is a great exchange to start with as well. It is a publicly-traded, centralized exchange that offers many crypto trading options. Supporting over 150 cryptocurrencies, Coinbase is a great place to start trading.
When looking for crypto exchanges, you must understand their security structure to keep hackers at bay. Coinbase has one of the best security systems starting with your phone number verification and mandatory two-factor authentication (2FA). In addition, they store about 99% of all digital assets in offline cold storage.
Coinbase also has an easy-to-use interface for beginners, while experienced traders have the more advanced Coinbase Pros option. The only dealbreaker with Coinbase is its high fees of about 0.60%, depending on your trade volume.
Besides the high fees, a Coinbase account is easy to set up, and you can also easily fund your account with fiat currencies from home.
Pros
- User-friendly
- It supports over 150 cryptocurrencies
- Excellent customer service
- Easy to trade pairs
- High level of security
Cons
- High trading fees
Read The Full Review – Coinbase Exchange Review
3. Gemini
Though built with advanced crypto traders in mind, Gemini has one of the best security protocols in the industry. You start with opening an account, verifying your email address, confirming two-factor authentication, and confirming the number of devices you want to use with the account. In addition, Gemini is SOC 1 and 2-certified, so you can trust their security measures.
Besides security, Gemini supports over 75 digital currencies and tokens so that you can start trading right away. In addition, you can also use your digital assets to pay for goods using the Gemini cryptocurrency Rewards card.
Gemini has two fee structures, one for the active trader and the other for the primary platform. The active trader platform charges start from 0.4%, but the fees will reduce as your trading volume increases. On the other hand, the Gemini main platform will charge fixed amounts for small trading volumes, but the charges rise to 1.49% once your volume reaches $200. Sadly, these are both on the higher side.
Pros
- Easy to set up
- Excellent security features
- Offers hot wallet insurance
- Available everywhere in the US
Cons
- Very high trading fees
- It supports few cryptocurrencies compared to other exchanges
Read The Full Review – Gemini Exchange Review
4. Bisq
The reason cryptocurrencies bloomed so fast was that people were looking for a decentralized way to control their monies. If this is something you want to maintain, choosing a decentralized crypto exchange platform like Bisq is the way to go.
Bisq was launched in 2014 and is one of the best decentralized exchanges in the industry. The platform is ideal for experienced traders who can manage peer-to-peer exchanges, and it supports over 100 cryptocurrencies. However, when trading on the platform, you will need to use an escrow mechanism to send or receive payments, which means the trading times will be slower.
Besides the trading process, Bisq remains a secure platform for your trading needs and guarantees sovereignty and privacy. The only dealbreakers with Bisq are slower trading times, low trade volumes, and no active trading.
Pros
- Best decentralized crypto exchange
- Offers sovereignty and trading privacy
- It supports over 100 cryptocurrencies
- It supports many payment options
Cons
- Not ideal for beginners
- Slow, low-volume trading
- No active trading
5. Crypto.com
Crypto.com was launched in 2016 and now supports over 250 cryptocurrencies and works in over 90 countries. Its best advantage is that it is accessible through a mobile app that offers all the features you find on its website.
When you choose this crypto exchange, you will access its unique investing ecosystem consisting of the Crpto.org Chain blockchain, its CRO native token, a Crypto.com visa card, and other crypto products.
Recently, the platform announced that it had lost around about $30 million in a hack and thus, took its security measures to a higher level. Currently, Crypto.com stores its assets in cold storage and needs two-factor authentication upon opening your account. In addition, all US users get FDIC insurance on their dollar balances, and you can only withdraw your assets through a multi-signature wallet.
This platform also has high transaction fees that may start at 0.4% unless you trade higher volumes. Nevertheless, Crypto.com is worth the chance, considering you can trade comfortably from your smartphone.
Pros
- Easy to use mobile interface
- An impeccable investing ecosystem
- It supports over 20 currencies
- Available in 90+ countries, including the US
- It has a good security framework
Cons
- High trading fees
6. Kraken
Established in 2011, Kraken is a good platform for experienced traders. It offers many trading features, including a primary and professional trading platform. With the primary platform designed with beginners in mind, the pro platform is why we’ve included Kraken in our list.
It has a lovely dashboard providing tons of trading data from charts, insights into order books, spot trading, and more. Unlike other platforms, Kraken’s pro platform has lower fees than the main trading platform. However, these rates only go low with increased trading volumes. For example, you will incur maker fees of 0.16% and taker fees of 0.26% when trading volumes worth $50 000.
You will have little to worry about security, considering Kraken stores about 95% of crypto assets in air-gapped cold storage. In addition to that, you need 2FA authentication and email confirmations for withdrawals. The platform supports over 120 cryptocurrencies which you can purchase using fiat currencies.
Pros
- Excellent security framework
- Ideal beginners and experienced crypto traders
- It supports over 120 cryptocurrencies
- Low transaction fees
- You can fund through wire transfers
Cons
- It does not support ACH transfers
- Slow verification times
Read The Full Review – Kraken Exchange Review
7. Paybis
Founded in 2014, Paybis is also one of the world’s best and safest cryptocurrency exchange platforms. It is registered in the UK and has the required certifications to operate in other countries, including the US and Estonia.
Unlike the other exchange platforms on this list, Paybis does not offer a lot of trading options and, in fact, works as a brokerage site where no cryptocurrencies are stored. This makes the platform very safe from hackers and fraudsters who would gain nothing by hacking the registered accounts.
Available only through the official Website, you can buy and sell Bitcoin, while you can only buy other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, and Dogecoin. Currently, the exchange only supports 15 cryptocurrencies. The website also supports 9 languages, including English, Italian, and Dutch. In addition, you can access Paybis from over 180 countries as long as you are of legal age with a valid government-issued ID.
You can fund your Paybis account with over 40 fiat currencies through credit or debit cards, bank transfers, Skrill, Netteler, and Apple Pay. You can also use Bitcoin to purchase other cryptocurrencies.
While Paybis offers more funding options, its rates are somewhat on the higher side, especially when you use credit or debit cards. In addition, it lacks mobile support, which is quite the dealbreaker if you want to buy crypto on the move. Finally, the lack of trading options makes the exchange ideal for people looking to buy and hodl their crypto portfolios, so you may want to explore other options if you want to trade your crypto daily.
That said, Paybis is one of the safest exchanges with straightforward fees and an easy-to-use website layout.
Pros
- Easy to use website layout
- Secure platform
- Different funding methods and support for over 40 fiat currencies
- 24/7 customer support
- Available in over 180 countries
- Supports nine languages
- Ideal for beginners and people looking to hodl
- Easy wallet integration
Cons
- Few supported cryptocurrencies
- No mobile support
- You can only sell Bitcoin
- No trading options
- Relatively high transaction fees
Read The Full Review – Paybis Exchange Review
Frequently Asked Questions About the Best Crypto Exchange
a) Why do I need a Crypto exchange?
A crypto exchange is beneficial when you want to buy, sell, or exchange cryptocurrencies on a safe platform. You can be shielded from risks such as hacking and fraudulent cryptocurrencies with an exchange. In addition, an exchange is a good place to also hodl your crypto coins.
b) How do I fund my crypto exchange account?
In most cases, you can fund through your bank accounts using ACH and SEPA in the US and Europe, respectively. In this case, you will be trading fiat currencies for the equivalent value of the coins you want to buy. Where you cannot use a bank, you can buy coins from a Bitcoin ATM or through a peer-to-peer transaction that would have someone transfer their coins from their wallet to yours.
c) How can I choose the best cryptocurrency exchange?
Before using any exchange, understand their security framework, trading fees, and cryptocurrencies you can trade. In addition, look at how the coins are stored and how you can transfer your assets to your wallets.
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