The Best Crypto Exchanges & Apps for Beginners of February 2024. We looked closely at twenty-five cryptocurrency exchanges, crypto trading applications, and brokerage platforms that let you trade cryptocurrencies. The trading fees for each cryptocurrency exchange or brokerage are the fees for the most straightforward platform with the lowest trade volume.
To evaluate the efficacy of each platform, the data covered ten critical factors:
- Basic Trading Features. The overall liquidity of the exchange, the number of fiat currencies accepted, the number of cryptocurrencies accessible for trade, and the trading costs were all essential criteria.
- They have advanced Trading Features. Complex trading features were examined, such as sophisticated order types and volume discounts for frequent trading.
- Margin Trading. Evaluation of margin trading rates, if relevant.
- Platform Availability. Some top cryptocurrency exchanges are accessible from any location, but others have feature availability that varies significantly by country and US state.
- Customer Service. Many forms of customer service are made available.
- Educational Resources. We compared the platforms based on the instructional content they provided.
- Crypto Rewards Credit Card. You can get crypto rewards credit cards from a couple of platforms.
- Security and Storage. Types of storage, security, and insurance are available, as well as evaluating any significant hacks each exchange has experienced.
- Staking and Rewards. Staking specific cryptocurrencies on specific sites might yield users interest payments.
- Crypto Lending. You can borrow cryptocurrency from other users on some crypto exchanges. We compared the crypto exchanges and brokerages we contacted using these ten criteria: industry standards for features and options.Each brokerage or exchange was given an overall rank based on the total of weighted values across all or some of these critical parameters. The top cryptocurrency exchanges for newcomers did not consider margin trading, platform lending, or advanced trading.
Please read our guide on How Forbes Advisor Rates Investing Products for more information about our editorial process and how we arrive at our ratings and reviews.
Guide to Crypto Exchanges
- What Is a Crypto Exchange?
- How Do Cryptocurrency Exchanges Work?
- Different Types of Crypto Exchanges
- Crypto Exchange Fees
- How to Choose a Cryptocurrency Exchange
- Crypto Exchange FAQs
What Is a Crypto Exchange?
Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin are just a few examples of cryptocurrencies that may be bought and sold on a crypto exchange. You might be familiar with other types of trading platforms; in fact, cryptocurrency exchanges function similarly. You’ll find the tools to buy, sell, and speculate on cryptocurrencies in these accounts.
While crypto exchanges more routinely offer futures trading and margin accounts, they are not always accessible to consumers in the United States. Other options, such as crypto loans or crypto staking, let you earn interest on your cryptocurrency assets. The top exchanges provide educational offerings to ensure you’re up-to-date on crypto.
How Do Cryptocurrency Exchanges Work?
In many ways, cryptocurrency exchanges are similar to brokerage websites. You can buy, sell, and speculate on cryptocurrencies with other users on each portal, offering different order kinds.
Centralized or decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges are possible:
- Centralized crypto exchanges. Crypto exchanges can be either decent sized, where no single corporate entity is in charge, or centralized, where multiple entities work together to ensure the safety of deals, like a brokerage firm.
- It decentralized crypto exchanges. Like Bitcoin blockchains, decentralized exchanges often allow anybody to join a network and validate transactions. If the firm operating an exchange were to go bankrupt, this might guarantee that the exchange can continue functioning and enhance accountability and transparency.
Different Types of Crypto Exchanges
Different Types of Crypto Exchanges Centralized and decentralized exchanges are the two main types in the cryptocurrency industry. The benefits and drawbacks of each gr up are as follows.
Centralized Exchanges
An organization is in charge of a centralized cryptocurrency exchange (CEX). Centralized exchanges simplify the process of entering the cryptocurrency trading market by facilitating the direct conversion of fiat currency (such as dollars) into cryptocurrency. Centralized exchanges facilitate the great majority of cryptocurrency trades.
Centralized exchanges are controversial among CRPO fans who believe they undermine the decentralized spirit of the coin. The fact that the business or group may insist that customers adhere to KYC regulations is, in the view of some crypto users, much worse. As with traditional bank account applications, these demand personal identification information from users to prevent fraud and money laundering.
The possibility of hacking is another issue with centralized exchanges. While transactions are processed on a CEX, the exchange temporarily stores the cryptocurrency that is being traded, which increases the likelihood of theft by hackers.
Centralized cryptocurrency exchanges have increased security measures in response to this threat. They have begun to insure their cryptocurrency holdings against hacker losses and keep most of their custom rs’ money offline.
You can mitigate the risks of using a centralized exchange by moving your cryptocurrency to a cold or hot wallet that is not connected to the exchange.
Decentralized Exchanges
The duty of enabling and validating cryptocurrency transactions is divided among participants in decentralized exchanges (DEX). In a DEX network, anyone can verify transactions, just like in blockchain technology for cryptocurrencies. This has the potential to make an exchange more accountable and transparent while also making it more resilient to changes in the financial health of the originating business.
The issue with decentralized exchanges is that they aren’t as user-friendly as centralized ones, which applies to both the UI and the conversion of currencies. For example, buying cryptocurrency using fiat money isn’t always possible on decentralized exchanges. You must possess or acquire cryptocurrency through a centralized exchange to use an EX.
Peer-to-peer transactions will also probably be a part of your routine. Because of this, finding a buyer for your wares could take more time, and if the market isn’t very liquid, you could have to lower your prices to make a speedy transaction with a low-volume cryptocurrency.
Global Crypto Exchanges
Inviting investors to trade digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum, there are over 600 cryptocurrency exchanges globally. However, there is a great deal of price, quality, and safety variation. According to Forbes Digital Assets, the top 60 crypto-to-currency exchanges globally prioritize regulatory compliance.
Crypto Exchange Fees
Crypto Exchange Fees Trading and withdrawal fees are the two main expenses of buying and selling cryptocurrency.
Trading Fees
An exchange’s trading fees can be a flat percentage of the total amount of cryptocurrency bought or sold, or they can charge varying percentages for maker and taker orders.
Maker orders, at their most fundamental level, do not fulfill standing orders but rather generate liquidity to an exchange. Meanwhile, takers eliminate exchange liquidity by fulfilling trade-pending orders. Maker fees are often lower than taker fees, though this does not always hold across exchanges.
Focusing excessively on the details of maker and taker fees might be detrimental, even though choosing an exchange with the lowest charges is recommended. Why? Because there’s no way for you to specify whether a maker or a taker will handle your order. Instead, you should consider the fees and any reductions available for trading a specific amount every month or keeping the native cryptocurrency of the exchange.
Please take note: it’s not true that some cryptocurrency investment applications say they don’t charge any fees. A spread, or the difference between their buying and selling prices for cryptocurrency, is what they trust instead of a flat rate. Spreads can and often become significantly more costly than a percentage trading fee.
Withdrawal Fees
Withdrawing cryptocurrency from many exchanges incurs fees. If you’d instead transfer your cryptocurrency to a trusted third-party wallet or another exchange, this can be a problem. Different cryptocurrencies usually have additional withdrawal fees.
Pick an exchange, like Gemini, that lets you withdraw a specific quantity of cryptocurrency without paying a charge if you transfer your holdings outside that platform.
Other Fees
Additional fees may be incurred when borrowing money for more complex trading tactics, such as margin trading. Coinbase and Gemini, two beginner-friendly exchanges, provide faster buy features but charge more. Mastering the ins and outs of an exchange’s trading platform will help you sidestep these problems.
The exchange and the card issuer may impose a fee on you when you pay using a credit or debit card. Therefore, using cash or wire transfers to purchase cryptocurrency is recommended.
How to Choose a Cryptocurrency Exchange
How to Choose a Cryptocurrency Exchange Consider more than costs when deciding on the ideal cryptocurrency exchange for your requirements.
- Security
- Trading volumes
- Educational resources
- If the exchange lists the cryptocurrencies you’re interested in buying
Security
Hackers now target cryptocurrency due to its increasing popularity and value. Hackers have stolen millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency from prominent exchanges, including KuCoin and Binance. Although many exchanges pay out victims of stolen Bitcoin, no one ever wants to be in that situation.
Diversifying your cryptocurrency purchases across different exchanges will help you reduce your risk. Alternatively, transfer your cryptocurrency holdings from the exchange’s default wallet to a secure “cold” wallet. The e are storage solutions that don’t connect to the internet. They’re practically hack-proof. Just write down your passcode correctly, or you might lose all your crypto forever.
An available Coins
Think long and hard about the cryptocurrency options on any particular exchange. A cryptocurrency exchange that deals in a small volume of transactions may be just what you need. On the other hand, if you’re really into cryptocurrency, you might want to use Gate.io to access all 600 of them.
Trading Volume
In the absence of transactions, the mere presence of coins is insufficient. If you want to trade your coins and dollars easily, you should ensure that your target coins have enough trading volume to guarantee liquidity.
You may incur sales losses in low-volume markets. You experience slippage if you place an order when there isn’t a lot of volume. The price you end up paying for anything could be higher or lower than what you hoped.
For experienced cryptocurrency traders, choosing an exchange that supports the trading styles and margin requirements that meet their needs is essential. For example, limiting orders can avoid slippage by setting a stiff price. Remember that the latter’s role in trades is still developing in the U.S. Thus, the types of trades offered by various exchanges may alter over time.
Educational Resources
If you’re new to cryptocurrency and aren’t sure where to start, it’s best to choose an intuitive platform that offers a wealth of educational tools.
Accessibility
Finally, just because an exchange has a website doesn’t mean it’s available in your nation or even your state. Cryptocurrency’s precise legal and fiscal implications remain a mystery to many state and federal agencies.
