Slowly and steadily, Bitcoin and altcoins are getting attention from more investors all around the world.
And why not? These cryptocurrencies are time and again proving themselves to be a safe haven against government's inflationary policies.
That's why some people are even securing cryptocurrencies as their retirement funds, while some are doing pure speculation with short-term trading (i.e. buy low, sell high).
And let's not forget about those who are just starting off by looking around to find the answer to questions like:
Where do I buy such currencies?
What are the best cryptocurrency exchanges?
But before we talk about the best exchanges out there, I need to tell you that it's not too late to get invested in cryptocurrencies. At the time of this writing, the Bitcoin and altcoin market is at an all-time high, with a market cap of $166 billion. I believe we will cross the $250 billion mark later this year.
So now that you know you should invest, here's where you need to go to do that.
Here is a consolidated list of best cryptocurrency exchanges with my comments:
Binance – Offers mobile app and probably the fastest growing exchange
Changelly: Perfect for quick crypto exchange. Easy to use and great for beginners.
Binance is a rapidly growing exchange that concluded its ICO a few months back.
Though it is based out of China, it doesn't serve its native country but is open to almost all countries around the world.
Since its ICO to till date, it has grown tremendously and is now placed in top 10 cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. It now has more than 140 altcoins listed on it which are only increasing as the days are passing.
Binance being a centralized exchange has taken a unique take to expand its business and also provides a decent discount for day traders if they use BNB coins. BNB is Binance Coin which is the native currency of this platform.
Binance's fee structure is also unique. To start with they have 0.1% standard trading fee which is already quite less than other peers. You can even reduce your fee further if you pay your trading fee in BNB according to the below-shown structure.
To get started with Binance you need to register using your email ID and the process is quite simple & fast. Moreover, you get 1 QTUM coin as a kind gesture for registration which is limited to 10,000 QTUM coins on first come first basis. Binance is one of the few exchanges that offers mobile app for iOS and Android. Being using it for a while, I find it too easy to trade cryptocurrency while on the move.
They also have aggressive plans like multi-lingual support, mobile apps for both iOS and Android users, Binance Angel Program, and the Community Coin Per Month etc for more adoption of their platform.
Changelly is one of the easiest ways to get ahold of various cryptocurrencies.
Changelly is a product of the mining pool, MinerGate, which has a proven track record of consistently good products being put out into the crypto-space.
One of the best things about Changelly is that you don't need to go through any lengthy verification or registration process. You just log in with your email ID (or any email ID) and start exchanging!
Currently, it supports more than 35 cryptocurrencies along with fiat pairs such as USD/EUR. It is one of the best and easiest to use exchanges out there. If you want to know more, check out Harsh's review on Changelly.
When you use Changelly to exchange cryptocurrency, Changelly bots connect in real time to some of the best and busiest cryptocurrency exchanges in the market to get you the best price.
Usually, when using Changelly, a crypto-to-crypto exchange takes 5 to 30 minutes.
They charge a commission fee of 0.5% on each trade, which I think is minimal in exchange for the volatility and risk that they bear on behalf of their users. In addition to the commission, a miner's fee is also paid by the user and is deducted directly from their crypto balance.
But all you need in order to buy from Changelly is a VISA/MasterCard (credit/debit card) or any Changelly-supported cryptocurrency and a wallet where you want to receive your new coins.
Note: Though this guide shows how to buy Ripple in exchange for BTC, the process is exactly the same to buy any other Changelly-supported cryptocurrency.
And if you want to buy cryptos using a VISA/MasterCard, then here is their official step-by-step guide on doing that. (Even though this guide is for buying BTC using a VISA/MasterCard, the process is the same for buying any other Changelly-supported cryptocurrency.)
Bittrex is a US-based cryptocurrency exchange that provides you the option to trade more than 190 cryptocurrencies at a time. They are well-regulated and compliant with all of the current US rules, so crypto users need not worry about the safety of their funds.
Bittrex handles one of the largest BTC trading volumes out of all the exchanges in the world.
Here, the users (buyers/sellers) decide the rates in which they want to trade, and Bittrex charges them a small service fee for providing this platform (0.25%).
To get started with Bittrex, you need to register and log in through your email ID, but to withdraw funds, you need to do a KYC by submitting your ID documents and phone number, as well as enabling two-factor authentication for higher limits.
But one good thing about Bittrex is the account verification happens quite fast.
Bittrex supports two types of accounts:
Basic Account – withdrawal funds worth up to 3 BTC/day.
Advanced Account – withdrawal funds worth up to 100 BTC/day.
Bittrex is a "crypto-only" exchange, meaning it doesn't allow you to deposit fiat currencies such as USD, EUR, GBP, etc.
They provide access to advanced trading tools like candlestick charts and crosshairs, but the user interface is quite clean and intuitive, so newbies should have no problems.
ShapeShift is another easy and hassle-free cryptocurrency exchange started in August of 2014 by Erik Voorhees, a pioneer Bitcoin investor. ShapeShift has a strict "No Fiat" policy, which means they don't deal in national currencies such as USD/GBP/EUR.
To get started with ShapeShift, you also do not need to go through any lengthy ID verification or registration process. But unlike Changelly, with ShapeShift, you don't even need to log in with your email ID.
To buy cryptocurrencies from ShapeShift, you only need to have any ShapeShift-supported cryptocurrency and a wallet address of your desired crypto.
Currently, they support 40 cryptocurrencies, so if you already own one (or some) of them, you can get started trading right now.
The process is simple.
While ShapeShift is really good, I prefer using Changelly for better exchange rates and a better transaction history feature to track my funds.
If you need to know the step-by-step process of exchanging cryptocurrencies on ShapeShift, see our guide here. Though this guide is for exchanging ETH to BTC, the process is the same to buy any other ShapeShift-supported cryptocurrency.
Founded by Tristan D'Agosta, Poloniex has been operational since January 2014 and is undoubtedly one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world.
It is based out of the United States and offers +100 cryptocurrencies to its users to trade.
When you talk about trade volumes, nothing beats Poloniex. In 2017, Poloniex had the highest volume for ETH because it supports an independent Ethereum market as well as a BTC market.
It is a crypto-only exchange, but you can start trading easily by depositing USDT (Tether dollars).
Poloniex also has zoomable candlestick charts for 5-minutes, 15-minutes, 30-minutes, 2-hours, 4-hours, and 1-day, along with a stop-limit feature for advanced cryptocurrency traders.
Poloniex charges a fee of 0.15% to 0.25% on all trades depending upon whether you are a maker or a taker.
So if you are looking to trade a variety of altcoins, then you should give Poloniex a shot.
To get started with Poloniex, follow this official guide.
Remember: As soon as you sign up for Poloniex using your email, do make sure to enable two-factor authentication!
Bitfinex is another one of the largest and most popular cryptocurrency exchanges out there.
Based out of Hong Kong and operational since 2014, it gives its users the option to trade the following 13 cryptocurrencies in exchange of USD or BTC:
Bitcoin
Bcash
Dash
Ethereum
Zcash
Monero
Litecoin
Ethereum Classic
OmiseGO
EOS
IOTA
Santiment
Ripple
Unlike Bittrex and Poloniex, you can trade using USD (with a wire fee of at least $20). Also, users will need to pay a trade fee which varies from 0.1% to 0.8% (details here).
Also, whenever you withdrawal or deposit anything, you are charged a certain fee:
On Bitfinex, if you are a pro-trader, you will find advanced trading tools such as limit orders, stop orders, trailing stop, fill or kill, TWAP, and others, along with different market charts.
To get started on Bitfinex, you need to register, verify your ID, and authenticate yourself. It typically takes 15-20 business days after submitting valid ID proof before you're accepted into the platform.
And whenever you get bored with the web version or want to trade on-the-go, you can use Bitfinex's Android and iOS mobile apps.
Cryptopia is another popular cryptocurrency exchange that supports buying/selling more than 400 altcoins.
They have aggressively grown to this stature and have the record of listing many cheap coins.
By cheap I don't mean that those coins are fake or scam but yeah they do list those coins that you will not find on other popular exchange.
Thier this approach makes it possible for so many cryptocurrencies to acquire good liquidity for themselves.
It is a centralized exchange based out of NewZealand that allows you to buy/sell cryptos in almost any part of the world.
Getting started here is quite easy & simple. You just need to register yourself using your email ID with a strong password. Always two-factor authentication is recommended when you are using centralized exchanges.
Here you will find some important official guides to get started with cryptopia.
Their fee structure is not fixed that keeps an eye while trading because they do show the fee in a tiny little corner and have not other hidden fees apart from the shown one.
Using the above cryptocurrency exchanges will allow you to buy almost all of the cryptos you could ever want to buy. However, there are a few more cryptocurrency exchanges that you should have an account with, as there are a few coins that are only available there.
I will update this post as I find other trustable and feature-rich cryptocurrency exchanges. For now, you can consider joining our Telegram channel to stay updated with all the latest info.
I hope these insights help you in choosing the best cryptocurrency exchange for you to use.
But one word of caution:
Don't use these exchanges as a wallet to HODL your cryptos.
If you are storing cryptocurrencies on these exchanges for a few hours or even a few days for the sake of trading, then it's probably OK. Otherwise, this is a bad practice.
Large-scale hacks like Mt. Gox can happen at any time. I would strongly recommend you to use the Ledger Nano S or a wallet like Exodus, where you can store a lot of different cryptos and control your private keys.
So now it's your turn to tell me: Which one of these exchanges do you like the best? Also, what's another great exchange that I haven't listed here? Let me hear your thoughts in the comments below!
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