The explosive growth in popularity of cryptocurrency around the world has been nothing but a pleasant surprise. The rise, albeit with MANY twists and turns of Bitcoin has brought a huge variety of new coins to the fore as well. And no matter how overwhelming it may all seem for a new investor, today’s top cryptocurrency exchanges have done one hell of a job of making buying and selling crypto simple, easy, and safe. Getting in on the action has never been more convenient.
Trading in crypto requires you to have an account with a cryptocurrency exchange. And each of these exchanges has its own set of policies, fee structures, and a list of offered features. Selecting the best one can often be slightly confusing. That’s why we have put together this article, to give you insights about crypto exchanges that will help you decide which one will be the best choice for your trading plans. Here goes:
Here is a simple list of top cryptocurrency exchanges that you can refer to while making your selection:
· eToro: One of the best crypto exchanges overall with a low trading fee and reliable services. One of the most interesting features it offers is copy trading which allows investors to copy trades of pros.
· Binance: The best exchange for traders of Bitcoin. The platform offers a simple form-based trading system that is pretty intuitive and includes a hold of powerful features and data insights.
· Coinbase: A robust crypto exchange that is known to be one of the largest, safest, and most respected platforms out there. Its fee structure may be a bit confusing but the services make it worth the cost.
· WeBull: For casual crypto traders who are just looking to test the waters, this platform offers the cheapest services out there. Use this cryptocurrency exchange to get a good feel of the market before committing seriously to crypto trading.
· Kraken: One of the oldest crypto exchanges out there, Kraken is now considered to be the best choice for traders who use Staking techniques to earn big. It offers a solid range of coins to trade in with low transaction fees.
One of the first things to look for in a cryptocurrency exchange is the liquidity it offers. The exchange must have a high enough volume of trade orders flowing through its order books on any given day to allow traders to capitalize on market opportunities with ease. Highly volatile market scenarios necessitate that traders should be able to buy/sell coins when they want in order to safeguard their investments. If there are only a small number of traders operating on an exchange or a low order volume, you might not be able to find anyone for buying/sell the coins you are looking to liquidate/acquire.
Not every exchange lists every currency that you are looking to trade-in. While the popular coins like Ether and Bitcoin will be available for trading on most exchanges, the exotic, lesser-known tokens might not always be accessible. Make an exhaustive list of assets that you are interested to trade in and double-check every cryptocurrency exchange you are considering. It should have the crypto listed and available for trade otherwise you will find your investment opportunities to be extremely restricted.
The need for security is self-explanatory. You do not want to trade on an exchange whose system leaves your money exposed to the dangers of fraud and hacking. If the exchange’s security features are not robust enough or an employee chooses to steal coins, it will be the investors who will be left empty-handed. The popular crypto exchanges usually offer insurance covers on their accounts as well to keep the interest of investors protected in case a system attack does occur.
Many exchanges offer lucrative schemes to users for earning a bit of income on the side as well. Look for an exchange that offers options like referral discounts, Farming, Staking Rewards, and other similar forms of passive income earning schemes to make trading on their platform even more attractive. A simple comparative study of the exchange’s features will give you a clear idea of how well you will be able to offset their transaction fees with the passive income you will be earning with these schemes.
Not every exchange offers its services in every location. There are geographical restrictions, country-based service conflicts and government regulations that will affect your trading experience. In fact, it may even be possible that your selected exchange may not be accessible in the country/state you are located in. These legal issues are still being sorted in the world of crypto. Make sure you verify a cryptocurrency exchange’s accessibility in your region before you create an account with them.
This point is important especially if you are a beginner in the world of crypto trading. Many platforms have a steep learning curve and might end up overwhelming you as a first-time trader. You may feel intimidated by order book displays, market charts, and complicated interfaces. If that is the case, choose a cryptocurrency exchange with ‘basic’ and ‘advanced’ views that give you the option of using a watered-down version of their interface when you are a beginner and a fully-loaded one when you have become comfortable with this form of trading.
P2P trading refers to buying and selling of coins directly between traders without the presence of an intermediary. Not every exchange offers this feature because of the risks that it carries. Specialized P2P services exist with added security features to help users take the most advantage of this form of trading without exposing themselves to the risks it carries.
The deciding factor for your choice of cryptocurrency exchange should definitely be their fee structure. Almost every exchange will charge you in some or the other way for the services they are offering. Even the ones that boast of Zero Transaction Fees will have hidden charges included in their trading system. These charges may be based on the size of the transaction, your level of activity, the type of coin you are trading, and so on. And it will have a direct impact on the overall profitability you can expect from your trading plans.
· Do you plan to be a highly active trader?
· Will you be making some transactions every day?
· What coins are you looking to trade in?
· Are you here as a long-term investor or a day-trader?
· What size of transactions are you expecting to make?
All the above points define your trading style and you must select a cryptocurrency exchange that offers the cheapest brokerage rates to go with it. Feature add-ons and security aspects will always come at a cost but these are necessary aspects to consider for providing you with a free hand to trade the way you want with safety and ease. A brokerage should therefore be the most important aspect for you to take into account while comparing top cryptocurrency exchanges.
Comparing the popular crypto exchanges can be a tricky task. But you cannot take this part of your investment journey lightly. Use the above checklist to equate different exchange platforms, compare services and fees and make the right selection to best suit your trading needs. Happy Investing!
