A cryptocurrency exchange or digital currency exchange is a business that involves exchanging cryptocurrency for other assets, such as money or another digital currency. It is a web service that provides electronic transactions in electronic forms and collection of fees for them.
All transactions or operations to Digital Currency Exchange can be done by debit and credit cards, postal money order or any other type of money transfer. This article is to discuss the various cryptocurrency exchanges that facilitate cryptocurrency trading for beginners and what they offer in terms of availability, ease of use, security, deposit/withdrawal methods, and fees. We hope this cryptocurrency trading guide can help you get started with cryptocurrency trading.
Coinbase/GDAX
Coinbase is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges based in San Francisco, California. It is available in 32 countries and currently serves over 10 million customers. Launched in 2012, it has an easy-to-use interface that makes Digital Currency Exchange an easy task for a non-technical person. Also available for iOS and Android. Unfortunately, Coinbase does not provide cryptocurrency mining for beginners and is only an exchange.
It currently offers four coins, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin. It exchanges digital currency with US dollars, euros and British pounds. With minimal transfer fees, Coinbase has never had a security breach, making it an ideal digital currency exchange platform. In addition to this, Coinbase also offers a fully developed advanced exchange called GDAX. It offers more advanced features and different and better trading fees than Coinbase.
Bitstamp
Bitstamp is another platform that provides digital currency exchange. It is relatively easy to use and offers more advanced features through TradeView. Bitstamp offers coins like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and ripple. It exchanges digital currency with US dollars and Euros. You can put into practice all the latest cryptocurrency trading techniques on this exchange.
It offers fixed deposits through bank transfers and supports debit/credit cards. Perhaps the only downsides to be found with Bitstamp are the slightly high fees and the fact that it has suffered one security breach in 7 years of operation. However, it is one of the most reliable exchanges. It is available on both iOS and android.
Gemini
Gemini is a UK-based company founded in 2015 by the Winklevoss twins. It is available in several countries including the US, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea. One of the disadvantages of this platform is that it is not very user-friendly. So it is not recommended for beginners to use this platform.
It offers two coins and 1 FLAT currency Bitcoin Cash, Ehtereum and USD. Gemini follows strict protocols when it comes to security and has not encountered a single security breach as of 2018, making it one of the most secure and reliable digital currency platforms. However, it is important to have digital currency investing strategies before you start trading.
Digital bookmarks
Digital ticks is a modern crypto exchange that aims to change the game in this sector. They have implemented many of the latest techniques that make it easy for anyone to start trading.
It has a unique feature called Single Portfolio View that will allow traders to view all positions held in a single portfolio. It would be easy for traders to make informed decisions about cryptocurrency exchange using this unique feature. It also supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Dashcoin.
Kraken
Kraken is one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchange platforms. Launched in 2011, kraken is the largest exchange in terms of volume and liquidity for euro trading pairs. Serves worldwide, including the US.
Kraken offers a variety of coins including Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Monero, Augur, Litecoin and many more. It also supports deposits/withdrawals via bank transfers and cryptocurrencies. Having a not so friendly interface, it also suffers from stability and performance issues, but it is still a good cryptocurrency exchange platform.
Bitfinex
Bitfinex is the largest cryptocurrency exchange platform. Launched in 2012, it has an easy-to-use interface and offers advanced number of features like margin trading, margin financing, etc. It is available for both iOS and android platforms. It offers BTC, BCH, ETH, LTC, IOTA, XMR and NEO.
Just like previous cryptocurrency exchanges, it supports withdrawals using USD and EUR through bank transfers. Bitfinex suffered two security breaches, the first in May 2015, which resulted in a loss of $330,000. And the second in August 2016, which resulted in a loss worth $72 million.
EtherDelta
EtherDelta is a decentralized exchange that directly supports peer to peer connection. It is very different from the previously discussed cryptocurrency exchange platform. Here, funds are stored in a smart contract on the Ethereum network, from which you are fully responsible for depositing and withdrawing. Currently, EtherDelta only supports Ehtereum based tokens.
EtherDelta has a rather confusing interface that makes it difficult for users to perform cryptocurrency exchange operations. In one case, someone tried to buy 750 Kyber for 0.007 ETH each, but ended up buying 0.007 KNC at 750 ETH.
Conclusion
After looking at the various cryptocurrency exchange platforms, we can safely say that Coinbase and Bitstamp stand out in terms of their good features such as security, user-friendly interface, multiple withdrawal/transfer methods and much more.
I wouldn’t call them perfect, but I would suggest that this is the safest bet you can make. Each cryptocurrency exchange platform is unique in its own way and has both advantages and disadvantages. We just have to choose the one that suits our needs. We hope this guide to basic cryptocurrency exchanges and trading will give you a head start on your cryptocurrency trading journey.