Cryptocurrency exchange or digital currency exchange is a business that involves exchanging cryptocurrency with other assets such as money or any other digital currency. It is a web service that provides electronic transactions in electronic forms and takes fees for them.
All transactions or operations on the digital exchange can be performed via debit and credit cards, postal money orders or any other type of money transfer. This article discusses 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 exchanges.
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 the non-technical person. It is also available for iOS and Android. Unfortunately, Coinbase does not offer cryptocurrency mining for beginners and is just an exchange.
For now, it 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 experienced any security breaches making it the perfect platform for exchanging digital currencies. In addition, Coinbase 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 via TradeView. Bitstamp offers coins such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and ripple. It exchanges digital currency with US dollars and euros. In this stock exchange you can apply all the latest cryptocurrency trading techniques.
It offers flat-rate deposits via bank transfers and supports debit / credit cards. Perhaps the only drawback that can be found in Bitstamp are the slightly high fees and the fact that it has suffered one security breach in 7 years of operation. Still, it is one of the most reliable exchanges. It is available for both iOS and android.
Twins
Gemini is a UK-based company started in 2015 by the Winklevoss twins. It is available in several countries including the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea. One of the disadvantages of this platform is that it is not particularly user-friendly. Therefore, beginners are not recommended to use this platform.
It offers two coins and 1 FLAT currency Bitcoin Cash, Echtereum and US Dollar. Gemini follows strict protocols when it comes to security and since 2018 has not encountered a single security breach, making it one of the most secure and reliable platforms for digital currency. However, it is important to have digital currency investment strategies before you start trading.
Digital Ticks
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 easier for anyone to start trading.
It has a unique feature called Single Portfolio View that would allow traders to see all positions in one portfolio. It would be easy for merchants 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 platforms for cryptocurrency exchange. Launched in 2011, Kraken is the largest stock exchange in terms of volume and liquidity for trading pairs in EUR. Serves worldwide including the United States.
Kraken offers a variety of coins including Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Monero, Augur, Litecoin and many more. It also supports deposit / withdrawal via bank transfers and cryptocurrencies. Having a not so friendly user interface, it also suffers from stability and performance issues, but is still a good platform for cryptocurrency exchange.
Bitfinex
Bitfinex is the largest cryptocurrency exchange platform. Launched in 2012, it has an easy-to-use interface and offers an advanced number of features such as margin trading, margin financing, etc. It is available for both iOS and Android platforms. It offers BTC, BCH, ETH, LTC, IOTA, XMR and NEO.
Like previous cryptocurrency exchanges, it supports payments in US dollars and euros through bank transfers. Bitfinex suffered two security breaches, the first being in May 2015, resulting in a loss of $ 330,000. And the second in August 2016, which resulted in a loss of 72 million dollars.
EtherDelta
EtherDelta is a decentralized exchange that directly supports peer to peer connection. It is very different from the cryptocurrency exchange platform we talked about earlier. Here the funds are kept in a smart contract on the Ethereum network for which you are solely responsible for the deposit and withdrawal. Currently, EtherDelta only supports Echtereum tokens.
EtherDelta has a rather confusing interface that makes it difficult for users to perform cryptocurrency exchange operations. On one occasion, someone tried to buy 750 Kyber for 0.007 ETH each, but eventually bought 0.007 KNC for 750 ETH.
Conclusion
After looking at different cryptocurrency exchange platforms, we can say with certainty that Coinbase and Bitstamp stand out for their good features such as security, user interface, multiple withdrawal / transfer methods and more.
I wouldn’t call them perfect, but I would recommend that it’s the safest bet you can make. Each cryptocurrency exchange platform is unique in its own way and has advantages and disadvantages. All we have to do is choose the one that suits our needs. We hope that this guide to basic cryptocurrency exchange and trading will give you an edge on your cryptocurrency trading journey.