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Top 20 Bitcoin Exchanges – How To Buy, Sell, Trade & Use Cryptocurrency [GUIDE]

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An Exchange is a digital marketplace where traders can buy and sell cryptocurrencies using bitcoins, altcoins or different fiat currencies. It is an online platform that acts as an intermediary between buyers and sellers of the cryptocurrencies.

A bitcoin exchange is the currency’s equivalent of the services offered by banks or other regulated institutions that allow currency exchange. One may have an account at the bitcoin exchange where he holds funds in local currency and you use that account to trade for bitcoins. From that account, he can send the bitcoins to his preferred wallet and use the bitcoins as he likes, similar to the use of local fiat currency in traditional banks.

Bitcoin Exchanges: Buy & Sell Cryptocurrency Coins, Apps & Tokens

To date, some could argue exchanges are the biggest pain point of the bitcoin cryptocurrency ecosystem and that one day all of them will be decentralized and user-controlled marketplaces that don't allow for exchange hacks or shut downs to effect users cryptoasset portfolios.

Like a traditional broker in foreign exchange, cryptocurrencies’ exchange platforms match buyers with sellers so that traders can choose to buy and sell cryptocurrencies by determining the market order (only this is 24/7/365 not limited to holidays and weekends). When a market order is selected, the trader is authorizing the exchange, to exchange his/her cryptographic asset(s) for the best available price in the online marketplace. With a limit order set, the trader directs the exchange to trade coins for a price below the current ask or above the current bid, depending on whether he is buying or selling.

Like the normal bank transactions, most bitcoin exchanges have transaction fees that are applied to each completed buy and sell order carried out within the exchange. Whenever there is transfer of cryptocurrencies by means of a transaction on the blockchain, this transaction takes up space in a block and therefore incurs a transaction fee. Essentially, each sender that requests confirmation of their transaction attaches a bid for blockchain space to their transaction which a miner can collect when they include the transaction in their block.

Usually, the rate is always dependent on the volume of trading on a particular exchange platform. Since the Bitcoin exchange controls the funds when you withdraw to your wallet, the Bitcoin exchange is the sender of the transaction and decides what fee to attach to the transaction. Additionally, a withdrawal from an exchange may incur a withdrawal fee depending on the specific exchange's policy. To check for the rate at which a particular charge per withdrawals or deposits, it is essential to check for the user guide for information on the transaction fees, or to contact the support team.

It is essential to note that an exchange is different from a wallet. While the former offers a platform through which bitcoin buyers and sellers can transact with each other, the latter is simply a digital storage service for bitcoin holders to store their coins securely. To be more technical, bitcoin wallets store private keys which are used to authorize transactions and access the bitcoin address of a user. Most bitcoin exchanges provide bitcoin wallets for their users, but may charge a fee for this service. Although, some platforms offer both services.

Top 10 Cryptocurrency Exchange Things To Spotcheck:

When choosing an exchange (going from fiat to crypto or crypto to crypto), you’ve got plenty of service provider choices to select from many places around the world. Due to the history of bitcoin exchanges like Mt. Gox and others who have been hacked, lost user funds and closed up shop – these pathetic occurrences are experienced on many platforms, making it vital and critical to you as an obligation to carefully select the best ones to be used for buying and selling. In this bitcoin exchange guide, we’ll be visually showing you through the cryptocurrency trading platforms to use based on the following criteria:

  1. Reputation

This is a very important criterion. You need to verify the reputation of an exchange before going ahead with trading on the platform. You want to make sure the exchange has good customer reviews from traders on forums, social media platforms, and from industry experts.

  1. Security:

Security is predominant. Knowing the exchange is secure is very important and shouldn’t be overlooked. Bitcoin exchanges have often been targeted by hackers intending to steal BTC. And over the years, huge sums of cryptographic assets have been stolen, most of which can be attributed to a lack of adequare security on these platforms.

  1. Location by country:

It is important for you to know where the exchange is based. Different countries have different laws and regulations especially on the issue of cryptocurrencies. It is recommended for you to buy your cryptocurrencies on an exchange based in your country, to avoid the risk of violating the rule of law.

  1. Exchange fees

It is recommended that you choose an exchange that charges relatively low on transactions. Fees can change overtime and can vary from exchange to exchange. Some exchanges charge additional fees on top of bitcoin transaction fees. Very high fees could lead to significant loss.

  1. Order book volume

An order book is simply a list of buy and sell orders on the exchange that are being offered by traders. A higher volume order book is an indicator that many traders are using the exchange and the exchange has liquidity. It is recommended for you to consider exchanges with a decent customer base.

  1. Transparency

Transparent exchanges do publish audit information on how to verify their bitcoin reserves. Bitcoin audits are a good way for an exchange to prove to customers that they have liquidity and can cover all bitcoin exchange sales, and aren’t running a fractional exchange.

  1. Methods of purchasing Bitcoins

There are various options by which you can procure your bitcoin. Some of which include wire transfer, cash, credit cards, and PayPal. You need to find an exchange that have the list of available options that works best for you at your convenience.

  1. Speed of transactions

Now-a-days, it’s common to experience extensive delays in Bitcoin transactions. It’s good to know average time it takes a transaction to be completed before joining the ride, as delays in transactions may cost you market opportunities. It is also important to check if the exchange offers locked-in pricing, meaning that the price you buy at, is the price you will be charged, even if there has been a change in price before the transaction is complete.

  1. KYC (Know Your Customer)

You need to make sure the exchange follows Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws in your country. If they do, then some identity information will have to be sent to them before assuming trade. This will prevent illegalities that could happen in the process of transaction.

  1. Protection against fraud

Most exchanges scam people and exit. They pop up but quickly disappear, and then re-emerge with a different domain name later. You must make sure the exchange is HTTPS secured and not HTTP.

Now let's transition into the top bitcoin exchanges by looking at popularity, volume and trading activity.

Most Popular Bitcoin Exchanges: Top 20 List

Below are the best exchanges recommended based on the above properties:

Etoro Exchange

DESCRIPTION:

eToro, also known as “THE GLOBAL LEADER OF SOCIAL TRADING is known to be the world’s largest social investment network, connecting traders from around the globe and enabling them to share trading information and strategies freely and openly. It is a social trading and multi asset brokerage company that has registered offices in places around the world including Cyprus, Israel and the United Kingdom. EToro is the first global market place for people to trade currencies online in a simple, transparent and more pleasurable way. In terms of volume of users, eToro has a record of over 5 million global users.

The platform offers both web and mobile applications with nice-looking and interactive user-interface. The pages are visually attractive, this makes it easy for a newbie to interact with. Opening an account on eToro necessitates an initial deposit that varies from $50 to $2500. Such flexibility allows everyone to start with their own desired startup capital.

eToro supports a wide range of banking methods. These include credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Diner’s Club), China Union Pay, Giropay, Neteller, Skrill, WebMoney, Wire Transfer, Wirecard- Wire and Credit Card, Yandex and even PayPal. Such variety of ways for funding adds more convenience and lessens the traders’ hassles, this makes it easy to add and withdraw funds to, or from the account.

Unlike many other exchange platforms out there where most traders complain about the delays in the processing time of their withdrawal requests, eToro has proven to have a relative faster transaction time, both in withdrawal and deposit as long you have completed all the KYC verifications required of you.

GETTING STARTED WITH TRADING ON eToro

  • Sign-up for an account here.
  • Complete your KYC by clicking on the COMPLETE PROFILE button indicated below:

  • Deposit your trading fund by clicking on the ‘DEPOSIT FUND’ button as shown below:

  • Fill in all the required details and click the submit button

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Select the ‘TRADE MARKET’ option on the left panel, and select the type of cryptocurrency your are willing to trade.

  • Click on the ‘VIEW ALL’ to view all the available cryptocurrencies available and select your choice.

  • Choosing ‘BTC’ in this example, a pop-up that allows you to either ‘ORDER’ or ‘TRADE’
  • You can either choose to select ‘ORDER’ or ‘TRADE’ according to your need. If you are making and order, you select the preferred rate at which you intend to ‘ORDER’ for your ‘BTC’.
  • Enter the amount of BTC you are willing to buy.
  • If you have selected ‘TRADE’, you can toggle between the three buttons; STOP LOSS, LEVERAGE, and TAKE PROFIT.

‘STOP LOSS’ allows you to select the price at which you are willing to exit the trade at loss.

‘LEVERAGE’ allows you to increase your risk amount

‘TAKE PROFIT’ allows you to select the amount you are willing to exit the trade at profit

  • Click on the ‘SET ORDER’

  • You can also add a particular asset to watchlist by clicking on the ‘+’ button and select ‘My watch list

  • Click on ‘Portfolio’ on the left panel to monitor all you trades.
  • You can also choose to copy trades by selecting the ‘COPY PEOPLE’ from the left panel, and a list of professional traders will be shown. It’s left for you to choose your preferred trader based on the trader’s score as shown below:

Below are the major advantages of trading cryptocurrencies on eToro:

Copytrading

There are many professional traders on eToro who trade bitcoin and the other cryptos. Copy trading gives a user the ability to mimic the trades of professional traders with just few clicks. All you need do is to carefully select a particular trade of your choice based on his past records and portfolios, enter the amount you are willing to trade with, and press the COPY button. This option is a great way for the beginner to learn and earn at the same time.

CFD Trading

CFD stands for “Contract for Difference”. It is an agreement between yourself and a broker to pay each other the difference between the price of an asset at the moment the contract is made and its later price when you decide to terminate the contract. To make it simple, you don’t actually need to worry about holding actual bitcoin, you can trade the crypto using fiat currency (such as USD).

Easy to use interface design

It is very easy and straight forward to get started with trading on eToro, either as a beginner or a professional trader.  probably the most beginner friendly trading platform, and certainly much easier to use than most bitcoin exchanges.

Virtual portfolio

When you open an account on eToro, you have the chance to choose switch between a virtual and a real portfolio. As a beginner, you can choose to use the virtual mode to test and practice using virtual money under real life condition before going ahead with real trading.

Gdax Exchange

DESCRIPTION:

Global Digital Asset Exchange, GDAX, is one of the cryptocurrency industry’s largest, best-known, and most-trusted exchanges headquartered in San Francisco. The exchange offers a wide variety of digital currency trading pairs, including bitcoin, Ethereum, and other major cryptocurrencies over popular fiat (USD and EUR) currencies.

GDAX is owned by the same company as Coinbase and operates as a sister trading platform. If you are already a user at Coinbase and want to expand your trading capabilities, then working on the platform will be a simple treat for you. Coinbase account owners can use the same account to log into GDAX and start trading almost immediately. The fact that Coinbase accounts work on GDAX is super handy for any user who wants to cut costs.

GDAX claims to be a regulated company that insures customers’ funds with the FDIC. GDAX keeps 98% of cryptocurrency funds in cold storage which means each customer is entitled to up to $250,000 in remuneration in the event of a loss. The company is insured and backed by some of the biggest investors in the industry like the New York Stock Exchange, Andreessen Horowitz, and Union Square Ventures.

The following features make GDAX outstanding:

Easy-to-use User interface

GDAX offers an intuitive interface with real-time orderbooks, charting tools, trade history, and a simple order process so you can start trading immediately.

Security

GDAX undergoes regular IT security and financial audits. Plus, they keep 98% of users’ funds offline in cold storage.

Funds Insurance

GDAX holds its digital assets in fully-insured online storage. As stated above, the funds are covered by FDIC insurance, which means each customer is covered up to a maximum of $250,000.

API Support

To help develop secure, programmatic trading bots, GDAX offers a Websocket feed that lets programmers easily gain access to real-time market data.

Low Fees

Maker Fee: 0% (all volumes)

Taker Fee: 0.25% (volume-based discounts can drop this fee to as little as 0.1% for traders who trade more than 113,432 BTC in a 30-day period)

Multiple Currency Pairs

GDAX offers a wide variety of fiat and cryptocurrency pairs, including BTC/USD, ETH/USD, LTC/EUR, LTC/USD, ETH/BTC, LTC/BTC, BTC/GBP, and BTC/EUR, among others.

Margin Trading

GDAX offers margin trading with leverage up to 3x (on BTC/USD and ETH/USD pairs, up to a limit of $10,000), or 2x (for BTC/EUR pair up to 3,000 EUR, and for LTC/USD pair up to $500). This allows you to increase your risk-taking capacity.

GETTING STARTED WITH TRADING ON GDAX

  1. ACCOUNT SET-UP
  • Signup for an account on GDAX here.

  • Complete the sign up form, then click “Create an account”.

  • Click the verification link sent to your email address.
  • After verifying your email address, you will be asked to provide a phone number.
  • Specify whether you would like to create an ‘Individual’ or ‘Institutional’ account. Depending on the account type selected, you will need to provide information about yourself or your institution.
  • You have the option to link your bank account so you can fund your trading account with USD, GBP, or EUR. Alternately, you can skip this step and fund your account with BTC or ETH.​

2 – FUNDS DEPOSIT

Click on the DEPOSIT button as shown below:

  • Choose from the account you wish to buy your asset

  • Enter the amount of coins you are willing to buy. IN this case, we are buying LTC with USD as shown below:

  • Click on the place order button

3. UNDERSTANDING THE ORDER BOOK

The order book shows how many orders are present for each price point.

The Green wall shows the buy orders for different prices, while the Orange wall shows the sell orders for different price points. When the price goes down during a time interval (from O to C) the box is filled in orange, when the price goes up it is green bordered with black inside.

The exact colors are a matter of taste, as long as they are clearly different to the eye. The box has an up and a down spike giving the min L(low)and the max price H(high) during the interval. The box itself extends from O to C (or C to O) along the vertical dimension.

The spread in the middle shows the difference between the lowest sell order and the highest buy order. This generally shows the demand and volume for certain digital currency on a certain exchange. If the traded volume is high and more people are buying and selling, this spread will be very minimal.

So, this serves as an indicator for investors to decide whether an exchange is good or not, because not many people will trade on exchanges with less volume/demand as their orders won’t get filled as expected. Volume is how many BTC were traded during each time interval (looks to me like “time interval is 5 minutes, i.e. 12 an hour).

  1. STUDYING THE CHARTS
  • Depth Chart

Depth chart gives you a quick overview of the Demand and Supply. It gives a visualization of demand or supply of a particular stock or commodity or a cryptocurrency. A depth chart for a bid/ask market has two lines, one for BUY orders (also known as BIDs) and one for SELL orders (also known as ask). GDAX live chart has a Green line for BIDs (BUY orders), a Orange line for ASKs (SELL orders).

The lines on the chart are simply up by plotting dots. Each dot on the depth chart line represents how much can be traded at that point.

BIDs (BUY orders) are placed with the currency at hand you are willing to exchange with another. While,

ASKs (SELL orders) are placed with bitcoins. I would enter that I want to sell 3.0 BTC at $3500 or higher.

  • Price chart

Price chart helps you understand the pattern of the selected trading pair over the time with an option to select the intervals like 1m, 5m, 15m, 1hr, 6hr and 24hr respectively.

5. Open order section

Using the ‘Open orders' TAB, traders can see each order that is currently awaiting fulfillment.

The details of each order are available, and are updated as they are filled or cancelled. You can cancel an individual order from this panel, or select the ‘Cancel All' button to cancel all open orders. Each order shows the following details:

Size: The quantity of digital currency for this order.

Filled: The quantity of this order that has been filled. Orders may be partially filled depending on market availability unless you use a Fill or Kill order.

Price: The price set for this trade in your local currency (eg: USD, GBP, EUR).

Fee: The total fee for this trade in your local currency (eg: USD, GBP, EUR).

Time: A timestamp for when this order was placed.

Product – What currency pair is set for this trade.

Status: The status of this trade. You can also use this field to cancel an unfilled order or the remaining unfilled part of an order.

6. Trade History

The trade history displays the list of order getting executed every second. The orange color indicates the sell orders, while the green colors indicates the buy orders getting executed.

Bittrex Exchange

DESCRIPTION:

Bittrex is a US based exchange. Despite being based, several states have limited or no access to Bittrex due to the nature of cryptocurrency regulation in those states. At present, Bittrex has restricted at least some of its services to 29 states including the following:

AK, AR, CA, CT, FL, HI, ID, IA, KS, KT, LA, MD, MI, MS, NC, ND, NE, NH, NV, OH, OK, PA, SD, TX, VT, VA, WA, WY, and PR. The platform supports more than 190 cryptocurrencies, and it’s one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges offering a large number of trading pairs into bitcoin – including all the major cryptos such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.

The trading platform is created by a group of industry professionals with more than 50 years of experiences in various tech giants’ companies. It offers speedy transactions, high stability, and follows some risk management practices. Currently, Bittrex does not offer the direct purchase of cryptocurrency using credit, debit or Automated Clearing House (ACH) bank accounts, but promised to offer dollar-denominated credit and debit deposits in the future.

Although there are no fees for deposits or withdrawals, Bittrex charges 0.25% commission on all trades.

On request, the exchange also provides paper copies of electronic correspondence for a fee of $10, plus $1 per page for shipping and handling within the United States.

It is important to know that Bittrex places a hard cap on how much you can withdraw to your cryptocurrency wallet. Before you trade on Bittrex, after having completed the registration, it is advisable to complete the KYC verification. Unverified accounts have a withdrawal limit of only 1 BTC per day.

But, the verified account allows you to withdraw up to 250 BTC per day, or equivalent, to your cryptocurrency wallet.

In addition to 2-factor authentication, and the KYC verification, the platform also uses a multi-stage wallet strategy to ensure that 80-90% of client funds are held offline. Also, Bittrex provides very good customer support. It operates a Zendesk where users can read news articles and review FAQs.

The following outstanding properties has made Bittrex to be amongst the top exchanges in the world.

Secure platform – The team of engineers behind Bittrex have claimed to provide the most reliable security technologies available. These include utilizing an elastic multi-stage wallet strategy that ensures 80-90% of funds are stored offline and kept safe. In addition, two-factor authentication is required for all withdrawals and API usage.

Custom built trading engine – The trading platform was designed with scalability using elastic computing. As a result of the proper data structure used in order processing, the platform processes and executes orders as soon as they are placed. This does away with crossed order books or delay in processing of trades.

Fast deposits and withdrawals – Due to the high level of the degree of the system’s efficiency. Transactions are made super-fast enabling quick updates on balance, trade, and wallet information. You will never be left wondering where your funds are or if your deposits are blocked, as information is always up to date.

Accessibility– Bittrex provides quick access to vast number of cryptocurrencies in addition to a high trading volume. The site lists hundreds of cryptocurrencies and customers can easily trade the equivalent of 1 BTC a day with an unverified account. Up to 2 BTC a day can be traded with a basic account, provided two-factor authentication is enabled.

GETTING STATED WITH TRADING

  1. Sign up on Bittrex here
  • Fill all the required details and click the ‘SIGN UP’ button

  1. Deposit your fund
  • Click on WALLET from your dash-board

  • Type the currency you are willing to deposit into the search box and click on the search button.

  • Click on the + on to deposite funds. A new popup which allows you to generate a new address is displayed 
  • Click on the NEW ADDRESS

  • Copy the address generated and send your cryptographic asset into it.
  • Wait for the transaction to be confirmed on the blockchain

Note:

  • You can only send an asset into the likely wallet. Doing other than this will result into loosing your fund. For example, generating an LTC address for BTC.
  • If your account is not verified before making deposit attempt, the depositing address will not be generated.
  1. Select Your Preferred Trading Pair

  • Choose your desired number of “Units” and your desired Price. There’s no guarantee your order will be filled if it’s below “Ask” prices.  By placing a limit buy order, you’re committing to buying the amount of cryptocurrency you entered, at or below the price you entered.

  • Confirm the order

  • You can also place the sell order by following the same steps as explained above, in the sell section

Kraken Exchange

DESCRIPTION:

Kraken is a top European based exchange that offers a variety of fiat to bitcoin pairs. Started operation since 2011, today, Kraken Exchange is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges with the widest selection of digital assets and national currencies. Some of the currencies supported by kraken include: Bitcoin, Ether, Ether Classic, Gnosis, Litecoin, Augur, Melon, EOS, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, Monero, Dash,  and Stellar. The company is also based in San Francisco with offices around the world, including Canada and Japan.

Kraken is known to be the first exchange to display its market data on the Bloomberg Terminal, pass a cryptographically verifiable proof-of-reserves audit. Kraken also offers margin trading which provides traders the ability to leverage their account balance on specific trading pairs. Another important feature of kraken is the high security standard enhanced with the two-factor authentication. These features make Kraken to be trusted by an exchange platform of trust by majority of traders around the world.

Kraken accepts SEPA, Swift, JPY Bank Transfer, Cryptocurrencies as means of deposit and withdrawal. Withdrawals and deposits are variable depending on the method – although in general all fees are 0.19% with a $20 minimum. For JPY there is a minimum deposit of 5000 Yen and no transaction fee for deposit – but 20 Yen to withdraw.

Trading fees vary depending on the volume. For main trading pairs this is between 0.1-0.35%. However, for other less common crypto pairs the range can be as low as 0.05% or as high as 0.75%. There are also 0% fees for traders offering liquidity.

The table below summarizes the fees charged on each category of volumes.

It should be noted that Kraken does not operate in every state of the United States as a result of some regulations compliance issues.. This means that in some states Kraken isn’t an option.

GETTING STATED WITH TRADING ON KRAKEN

  1. Sign up for an account here and fill in all the required details.

This will take you to the account activation page. Check your email and you should have received an email with an activation code. Cut and paste the activation code here and click on activate account. Now you are registered!

After logging in, the page should look like this:

  1. Verification

There are different levels of verification (Tiers 1 to 4), and each level provides different features. Click on ‘Get Verified’ and the page will ask you to enter the following details (see below), then press on ‘Get Verified’ button.

Once you’ve completed the first Tier, move on to Tier 2

  • Click on ‘Tier 2’ and fill in the details requested and press on ‘Get Verified’

 

  • At this stage, you can click on ‘no thanks’ button, and you’ll be redirected to the verifications’ summary page where you can see your daily/monthly withdrawal/monthly limits.

  1. Link your bank account with Kraken for deposits and withdrawal
  • Click on ‘Funding’ tab

  • Click on the ‘Deposit’ button and then select the correct currency and deposit method (e.g. in EU use SEPA).

  • To withdraw, click on the ‘Withdraw’ tab

  • Click on withdraw button, select your bank account currency and click ’Add account’ button.

Enter your bank account details as requested, ensuring that your bank account name is the same as your Kraken account name. Then click on ‘Save bank account’ button.

GETTING STARTED WITH TRADING ON KRAKEN

To start trading cryptocurrency pairs on Kraken, you can either buy your cryptocurrency on the exchange using your fiat currency or you can transfer your cryptocurrency from an external wallet to the wallet provided for you by the exchange. In the example below, we’ll demonstrate simple trading using ETH.

  • Once you have levelled up your tiers to the required level for what you want to do, you can deposit Ether, Bitcoin or fiat currency. Kraken gives very easy to follow instructions on how to deposit with them which involves generating an address for your funds to be sent from.
  • Click on the ‘Funding’

  • Click on ‘Ether’ and make sure you follow all the instructions provided to make your deposit.

  • Once your transaction has been confirmed by the network and sufficient time has passed you are now able to trade. It is advisable for you to check out the orderbook to know the current bid and the ask price. You can place an order to sell Ethereum at whatever price you wish – if you enter it above the highest bid and below the lowest ask then your order is most likely to be the first order executed.

Bitfinex Exchange

DESCRIPTION:

BitFinex claims to be the most advanced Bitcoin trading platform. The exchange offers three major functions including:

  • Pure bitcoin to fiat exchange
  • Margin trading exchange
  • Liquidity provider.

The platform permits both unfinanced and financed transactions. That is, if a trader deposits $250.00 into her account on the Site, she may then purchase $250.00 worth of bitcoins in an unfinanced transaction. Purchases and sales of cryptographic assets on the platform, whether in an unfinanced transaction or a financed transaction, are settled by actual delivery of the full amount of the digital asset by the seller to the purchaser's account against payment in full by the purchaser to the seller's account.

Financed transactions in digital assets are permitted through the peer-to-peer financing functionality, such that financing providers may offer financing from their own account. Also, financing recipients may accept financing from financing providers for up to 70% of the value of a digital asset purchase. This means that, If a trader deposits $30.00 to the platform, he/she may obtain financing in an amount not exceeding $70.00 in order to buy $100.00 worth of bitcoins in a financed transaction.

Shorting is another type of financed transaction permitted on BitFinex. In a typical “Long sale” of bitcoin, the seller enters into a regular spot trade of bitcoin and settles the transaction by delivering bitcoin that she owns outright. In Short sale, the seller also enters into a regular spot sale of bitcoin except that the transaction is settled by delivering bitcoin that she has borrowed.

Digital assets can be borrowed for purposes of short sales through the platform's peer-to-peer financing functionality. The bitcoin borrower may seek offers or make a bid to borrow Digital Tokens on the Financing Order Book. Bitcoin borrowers are not permitted to borrow more than 70% of the bitcoins sold in a short sale. The fiat proceeds of any short sale serve as collateral for the borrowing of the bitcoins until those bitcoins are repaid.

Ever since Chinese Bitcoin exchanges were forced to charge trading fees, Bitfinex currently has the most volume of any Bitcoin exchange. The graph of monthly exchange volume for the first quarter 2017, illustrates Bitfinex's dominance.

Being a centralized exchange, BitFinex has experienced a hacking attempt that lead to the loss of 120,000 BTC. Ever since then, the security level of the exchange has been increased, most of their code and practices are kept secret for security reasons and so can’t be assessed. It can be hoped that Bitfinex have learnt their lesson and made security their utmost priority.

BitFinex has a tiered fee structure. Trading fees range from 0% to 0.2% depending on the trade volume over the previous 30 days, and whether you’re paying maker fees or taker fees. The table below summarizes the trading fees’ structure.

Depositing any cryptocurrency costs you 0%. However, Using Bank wire costs you 0.250% of the total  amount.

The table below gives a summary of fees charged during withdrawal.

GETTING STARTED WITH TRADING ON BITFINEX

  1. Account Creation
  • Signup for an account on BitFinex here
  • Check your email inbox. Verify your email address by clicking the link in the confirmation email.
  • To enable the 2-factor authentication for maximum security.
  • Click on the User icon

  • Find out the “Security” option available from the drop down list.

  • Click on the Two-Factor Authentication option and select the “Google Authenticator” option.

Note : You can select any of the available options.

  • Use the installed Google authenticator app to scan the QR code provided. Then, manually input the random code generated by the app into the space provided and click on the ’Enable’

  • Boom!!! 2FA is activated now.

Note: Now, whenever you Login BitFinex, you have to enter 6 Digit code available in your Google Authenticator mobile app.

  1. Funding your exchange wallet

To send any currency to BitFinex:

  • Click on the “Deposit” option available in top right corner and click on “Deposit

  • Select the coin which you want to transfer to BitFinex. Generate your exchange wallet address by clicking ’Click to generate address’ in Exchange Wallet option.
  • Agree to the conditions provided

  • Send your coin to that Generated address and wait until you receive that coin in Bitfinex.

Remember: Do not refresh your wallet address until the transfer is complete.

  1. To Buy/sell a selected pair
  • Select the coin combination and in “Order Form” fill the rate at which you want to buy/sell and the quantity (how many coins you want to buy/sell). Click Buy/Sell.

  • In case the rate you wanted to buy is not available, your order will go in the order book. Either you have to cancel that order or you have to wait for its execution until the rate drops.

Coinmama Exchange

DESCRIPTION:

Coinmama is the brand name of New Bit Ventures Ltd, an Israeli exchange started by bitcoin enthusiasts Nimrod Gruber and Ilan Schuster in April 2013. CoinMama covers about 200 countries, more than most of the other Bitcoin/cryptocurrency exchanges. The exchange accepts credit & debit cards from all countries around the world. However, the trading platform does not have any conventional trading interface or trading tools such as charts. The exchange platform charges up to 12% per transaction. Coinmama does not buy back your cryptocurrency, they only sell it to you. Like most exchanges, Coinmama requires identification to buy.

One of the most interesting things about Coinmama is the fact that it holds no user funds. Instead, sells bitcoins out of its own inventory, and they assure customers that credit and debit card information are not stored on the exchange server.

Also, the customer service section of Coinmama is always very clear, professional and quick when customers are in need of their service, and the primary channel to reach Coinmama support is through e-mail. In comparison with other major exchanges, Coinmama is among those that support the smallest number of cryptocurrencies,

Bitcoin purchases via debit/credit card, is limited to USD 520 worth of BTC per day. However, for purchases through cash, the limit per day is USD 1,500 or USD 2,500 which is dependent on the area of residence. It should be noted that the service is presently unavailable for residents in the U.S.

TRADING ON COINMAMA

  • Sign up for an account here.

  • Verify your account by providing all the required details from stage 1 through 4 depending on your intended daily volume of transactions.

  • Click on Buy Bitcoin tab, and the select the amount of BTC you intend to buy.

(Note: The value of with respect to $ is always changing, therefore, the value in image below will be different from the actual value on the platform)

  • Provide your BTC address as required

Gemini Exchange

DESCRIPTION:

Gemini is a New York based exchange launched in 2015 only allowed US citizens to on board – in 26 states and Washington DC. It welcomes individuals and institutions who want to trade bitcoins. The website is regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services. It holds the highest level of capital reserve and banking compliance standards. This means it is reliable, safe, and secure. The exchange is named after its two founders the Winklevoss twins.

The website focuses on Bitcoin as the only cryptocurrency, and the USD as the only supported fiat currency since the service is only available to the US citizens.

The interface of the platform is fully functional and simple, making it easy for newbies to quickly blend with it functionalities. Various functions like the limit and market order shows that the website needs the bare essentials to work. There are no advanced trading types like stop orders. It only focuses on importance of simplicity, and that makes the trading platform sought-after by many newbies and experienced traders.

Gemini requires 0.25 percent per trade. The fees are stable thanks to the liquid platform. This means you can concentrate on your trades and earnings without thinking of the additional costs. Deposit and withdrawal fees are 0 and trading fees are 0.25% off both sides of the trade. Gemini accepts wire transfer

For bot withdrawals and deposits.

The platform provides a dedicated support page where customers can send suggestions and queries where customer representatives make sure that all questions are answered promptly

TO TRADE ON GEMINI

  1. Account setup
  • Sign up for an account here and fill up all the required details.

  • Provide the activation link set to your mail and click on the ‘Activate’ button
  • Set up the 2- factor authentication with your phone number

  • As usual, copy the address provided or scan the QR code to the wallet from which you intend to withdraw
  • Wait for the transaction to be confirmed in your wallet
  1. Start Trading
  • Once you have deposited your Bitcoin to the exchange, you are ready to start trading.
  • Select Buy on the main menu bar, and choose which cryptocurrency you want to purchase — and if you want to use USD, BTC or ETH to complete buy it.
  • Near the top of the screen, it shows you how much money you have in your account — both in USD value and bitcoin value to give you a more complete perspective before making trade.
  • Before you click Buy and confirm your purchase, you can see the exact fee that will be charged and the total amount of USD, BTC or ETH that will be taken from your account to complete the transaction.

Click on the Buy button.

Bisq Exchange

DESCRIPTION:

Bisq is a decentralized, private, and peer-to-peer Bitcoin/altcoins-fiat currencies exchange. It’s an open-source cryptocurrency exchange designed with very high level of encryption with simple interface. If you regard financial transactions as a form of private entity that should be protected from surveillance by banks, governments, and other institutions, then Bisq is the best exchange you could ever choose. The platform gives you instant access with no registration requirement. Compared to other exchanges, Bisq has low fees in terms of transactions.

Bisq breaks the mold of conventional exchanges, in the sense that It doesn’t hold user funds in a centralized location, nor require users to be verified by a central authority nor hold onto any of the user’s information. All funds, private data, and transaction information is held on the user’s local system.

Features and Philosophy. In addition to its services, Bisq also offers arbitration.

Getting started with trading on Bisq

  1. Setup your account
  • Download the version of the app compatible with your operating system here

  • Launch the set-up
  • Agree to all terms and conditions

  • Launch the app

  • To add your fiat or cryptocurrency accounts, click on the account icon and select your preferred account type.

  • Click on the Add new account

  1. Fund your wallet

Click on Fund, copy the generated BTC address, and paste the address into the sending wallet

  • Follow the user interface to finalize the trade.
  1. Trade BTC with another currency pair.
  • Go to the offer book and select the currency pairs you wish to trade.
  • Place the order and click the BUY/SELL button depending on your side of trade.

Bitstamp Exchange

DESCRIPTION:

Bitstamp is a Luxembourg-based bitcoin exchange that promises to be a safe, simple, and licensed way to trade bitcoin. Bitstamp claims to be the first fully licensed bitcoin exchange in the EU. It offers transparent, volume-based pricing with no hidden fees, and funds are subject to quarterly audits. The platform is available on all major available operating systems.

Bitstamp holds user’s private keys on its platform. This means that users must trust the platform with their private keys. Bitstamp presents their security features from the moment you register an account. After you fill out the registration form, an email is sent containing a customer ID and password to your inbox. You use the ID as your username, and you should change your password immediately the first time you sign in.

Before you will be allowed to trade on the platform, you must also verify the account by providing your full name, postal address and date of birth. To authenticate this information, Bitstamp requires you to upload a government-issued ID and a no more than three-months-old utility bill to prove place of residence.

Bitstamp accepts debit and credit cards. Users can purchase cryptocurrencies using a Visa or MasterCard. You have to apply to the company for your credit card to be approved for use.

Note: Be aware that your country of residence must be on the list of countries supported by Bitstamp.

As regards trading fees, most traders pay a fee of 0.25% per trade. Volume discounts take effect when trading more than 18,000 EUR in a 30-day period. Discounts continue up a sliding scale, all the way up to traders who trade more than 18 million EUR in a 30-day period, in which case you pay a 0.10% trading fee. Meanwhile, EUR/USD trades have a flat fee of 0.20%.

Transferring funds from your Bitstamp account to your card comes with a flat $10 fee for amounts up to $1,000. For transfers above $1,000, you’ll be charged a 2% fee. Purchase fees (in-store or online) are set at $0.35, while SEPA deposits are free of charge (SEPA withdrawals are charged at 0.90 EUR).

Bitstamp charges three types of fees—on deposits and withdrawals, for trading, and for various services. Depositing and withdrawing is free for all cryptocurrencies. However, withdrawing using BitGo Instant will cost you 0.1%. Also transferring Ripple IOUs between accounts costs 0.20% of the value involved.

Charges for using credit cards to make purchases vary depending on the amount involved. It costs 8% for amounts less than $500, 7% for amounts between $500 and $1,000, and 6% for purchases above $1,000 but less than $5,000. It costs 5% for purchases above $5,000.

Withdrawing funds from your Bitstamp account using a credit card costs a flat fee of $10 for amounts not exceeding $1,000. For transfers exceeding $1,000, you are charged a fee of 2%.

Trading pairs cost a percentage ranging from 0.10% to 0.25%, depending on the volumes involved. The higher the amount traded, the lower the percentage cost you incur.

GETTING STARTED WITH TRADING ON BITSTAMP

  1. ACCOUNT CREATION
  • Open a Bitstamp account here

  • Enter the information provided in the email sent to your registered email address.

  • Use the provided user name and password to login to your newly created Bitstamp account

 

  • Change the password as prompted upon login.

Note:  For additional security, enabling two-factor authentication is recommended

  1. VERIFY BITSTAMP ACCOUNT

  • Enter the required information and upload your documents. Click ‘SUBMIT VERIFICATION REQUEST’ to proceed.
  • Verification request is now submitted. Bitstamp will review it and send the results to your registered email address.
  • Once successfully verified, you will be able to deposit funds and purchase
  1. DEPOSIT
  • Click here to deposit funds

  • Select the preferred bank transfer method in the left-side menu (SEPA or International wire).

  • Fill out the required information and press DEPOSIT to proceed.
  • On the next page, Bitstamp’s banking details will be provided. To deposit funds to your Bitstamp account, please send the transfer to the provided bank account from a bank account held in your name.
  • When the funds are credited to your Bitstamp balance, you will receive a notification to your registered email address.
  1. Buy Your preferred crypto currency

In this example we are considering XRP

  • Select the currency pair that suits your purpose, depending on which currency you wish to use to purchase.
  • Click on the Buy/Sell on the

  • Choose BUY XRP, Enter the amount you wish to spend into the ‘Instant Order’ window, and click on BUY XRP to confirm.

CEXIO Exchange

DESCRIPTION:

CEX.IO is also a Bitcoin/Altcoin-fiat exchange founded in 2013, as a mining pool, but later transformed into a full-fledged cryptocurrency exchange. The platform is regulated as a payment provider, in order to accept client funds, but not overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Cex has a very beginner friendly interface. The website has a superior design when compared with other exchanges. Beginners are easy able to navigate from the sign-in page to the trading panel and an excellent security initiative was taken by the operators to automatically enable SMS & email two-factor authentication (2FA).

In addition to the web, the platform supports both Android and iOS operating systems. Through the app, user can make deposit just by scanning the QR code. Users can also view balances, active orders and changes in price.

The social media team are very active and responsive on Twitter, Reddit, and their blog. Do reach out to them if needed. There are some very interesting articles that I would encourage everyone to follow:

Asides buying and selling cryptocurrencies, Cex has one of the best trading platforms. It supports margin trading for cryptocurrencies with 1:2 and 1:3 leverages. Features such as the automatic funds borrowing and negative balance protection make margin trading relatively accessible to beginners.

There are three types of fees on Cex: transaction fees, deposit/withdrawal fees, and margin trading fees. Cex charges users higher fees than most other exchanges. All transaction fees are paid by the buyer (a trader who responds to an offer). The trader (or seller) who puts up an offer on the platform does not incur transaction fees. The fees are a commission of the value involved and they range from 0.10% and 0.20%. The higher the volume involved, the lower the fee.

Depositing through bank transfer and cryptos is free. However, withdrawing using these two payment methods costs between $30 and $50 for bank transfer—depending on the fiat currency—and between 0% and 1% for cryptos.  Deposits made through Visa and MasterCard cost between 3.5% and 5% of the value involved. Also, Cex charges 0.2% to open a position with a leverage of 2 or 3, along with a rollover cost of 0.1%. However, the platform charges no fees for closing positions.

GETTING STARTED WITH TADING ON CEX.IO 

  1. Account registration
  • Sign up for an account here
  • Complete your profile and verify your account

  • Add a payment

  • Make deposit of your fiat currency

  • Confirm your deposit.

  • Click on TRADE from the uppermost bar

  • Place your order

Note:  Depending on whether you are buying or selling BTC/USD pair you can place your in either BUY or sell section

 

Cryptopia Exchange

DESCRIPTION:

Cryptopia is another digital asset exchange. The exchange is particularly popular for trading currencies you don’t find on other exchanges. It was made by a corporation registered in New Zealand. The platform has a clean UI that makes it easy for newbies to use. The platform is not just an exchange platform, but also offers varieties of other services including: Marketplace, Mineshaft, Lottery, Information about coins and Arbitrage.

The Cryptopia marketplace is an easy place to buy and sell products and services to anyone, anywhere in the world in exchange for cryptocurrency. You can buy and sell items free of charge, or setup an auction or classified listing.

Cryptopia’s Mineshaft is a mining platform designed for various cryptocurrencies. It supports all miners with different hardware ranging from CPUs to ASICs.

Cryptopia has a lottery where you can win cryptocurrencies daily. The lottery awards first, second, and third prizes to users. There are daily lotteries and monthly lotteries.

One of the useful parts of the Cryptopia website is its Coin Information page, where you can get detailed information about a wide variety of altcoins. You can view key facts about altcoins in some different ways including the algorithm used by the altcoin, the network, the number of connections, the block height, the wallet status, the listing status, and the overall rating.

Also, Cryptopia has an arbitrage section where you can view arbitrage opportunities across the internet. You can check this section to see which currencies are trading at which prices on different exchanges, and then take advantage of those price differences to make a bit of money. Obviously, arbitrage is tougher in high-liquidity currencies like bitcoin and all popular altcoins, but there may still be arbitrage opportunities for low-volume currencies.

GETTING STARTED WITH TRADING ON CRYPTOPIA

  1. Account Setup
  • Click here to sign up on Cryptopia

  • Fill all the required details and click on REGISTER button

Note: Don’t forget to se-up your 2-factor authentication from the settings

  1. Fund your wallet
  • Select Deposit from the drop-down list.

  • Select the currency you intend to deposit and click next.

Note: In this case, we are depositing BTC

 

  • Copy the address or Scan the QR code to the wallet from which you intend to send your BTC.

  1. Trading your currency pair.
  • Click on Exchange from the top bar, and select Market
  • Type the currency you are willing to trade against the four available options. (In this acse, we are considering ETN/BTC)

  • Place your order according to the amount of ETN you are willing to buy at the current rate, and click on the Buy ETN button. Good job! Your order is placed already

Note: You can reverse the process to by placing your order on the sell side.

Changelly Exchange

DESCRIPTION:

Changelly.com is a special kind of crypto currency exchange, which is focused mostly on exchanging one type of virtual currency for another. The platform supports a wide range of cryptocurrencies. It was established in 2016.  The platform was believed to have been built by the developers of MinerGate, a group that has a long history of work within the crypto industry.

The website is well organized and the interface is intuitive.  Changelly claims to offer the best exchange rates and secure transactions. The ultimate goal of Changelly is to remove technical barriers between customers and the world of cryptocurrency.

One of the major benefits of Changelly is its Crypto Currency Conversion and Instant Transfer from Wallet to Wallet. Besides conversion between various crypto currencies, the platform also provides instant transfer from one wallet to another.

Although Changelly is mostly crypto-focused, it accepts USD and EUR too, for which users can buy some 35 digital currencies. In regards to fiat currencies: Changelly only accepts bank-cards. PayPal is not supported yet, but Visa and MasterCard are currently accepted for deposits.

The other unique feature of Changelly is that it aggregates rates from other trading platforms across the internet, then suggests the best rate based on that information. This makes it easy for traders to get the best rates on their cryptocurrencies whether they’re buying or selling. Apart from other services, the platform operates flat rate fee structure. That is, there is only a charge of 0.5% on all trades. No exceptions, bulk discounts, or minimum purchase amounts. A simple rate of 0.5% at all times. There are no withdrawal fees or additional commissions.

To TRADE ON CHANGELLY

  • Visit changelly.com and click on sign-up

You can either use your Google, Facebook, or Twitter account to sign up, or use your email address.

In the example below, we’ll be demonstrating how to trade BTC for XRP

  • Select XRP in the drop-down list on the right, then BTC on the left, enter the amount you want to exchange, then press ‘Exchange!’.

  • Check the amount and the estimated rate, then go next.

  • Paste an XRP address (if you exchange XRP to BTC we require a destination tag).

  • Check all details attentively and proceed to the next step.

  • Now you need to send BTC to the address provided in this step.

  • Open your BTC wallet and send the amount requested.

  • Back to Changelly, open your history page and see the status of your payment. Wait a little before the transaction is finished.

  • When it’s finished, you’ll see a receipt with all information including the hash of your payment. Now you can check your Ripple wallet.

Bitmex Exchange

DESCRIPTION:

Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange known as BitMEX is a derivatives exchange, which offers leveraged trading on cryptocurrency-based instruments. The company behind BitMEX is called HDR Global Trading Limited. BitMEX offers several key specifics. Most importantly, users’ account balances and trading results are always measured in Bitcoin. Currently, the platform does not accept customers from US.

BitMEX (for now) ONLY accepts Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals. Deposits can be made 24/7 but withdrawals are processed by hand at a recurring time once per day. The hand processed withdrawals increase the security of your funds by providing extra time (and email notice) to cancel any fraudulent withdrawal requests, in addition to bypassing the use of automated systems & hot wallets which may be more prone to compromise.

One of the most sort-after feature BitMEX offers of the merging trading. BitMEX allows you to leverage up to 100x of your trading volume. It is usually not a good practice to keep a huge amount asset on an exchanger, but, in most cases traders would want huge volumes of assets to trade which is not possible except from keeping it on the exchange wallet. However, BiMEX empowers you to use your small volume of asset to leverage for a higher position without holding the actual BTC.

The fees on Perpetual Swaps (and some of the futures) are currently -0.025% for the market makers and 0.075% for the market takers. These terms refer to the different traders in relation to liquidity – those who place “passive” orders in the book will receive small rebates, while those trading at the market will have to pay a fee. Additionally, there is a 0.05% settlement fee for futures. All of these levels are very competitive, when compared to most crypto-exchanges.

One of BitMEX’s strength is its focus on security. To date there have been no hacks or major security breaches and the withdrawals are processed by hand once a day for an added layer of security. The mobile implementation is full featured and the desktop page blends usability with simplicity. For those who have experience with trading there is an ‘advanced UI’ feature that can be activated to make use of all of the platforms features, including an aesthetically pleasing ‘night-mode’.

GETTING STARTED WITH TRADING ON BITMEX

  • As usual, create an account here.

  • Fill all the required details and click on Register
  • Verify the link sent to your email and log in with your details.

Do not forget to set up your 2-factor authentication from the security section

  • Make deposit to your account by selecting The Bitcoin tab, Scan the QR code to the depositing wallet and wait for confirmation

  • Select Market from the left pane

Note: Use this option only if you are afraid the market may go against you. But, for large amounts it could buy or sell at a bad price

  • This option is used to extract your order (buy/sell) only if a certain stop price is triggered set the Stop Limit

Note: For using Stop Limit: If you short (SELL) – make sure limit price is always higher than the stop price, the opposite if you long (BUY). Also, tight stops are a good idea so you limit your loss, but keep in mind, in the volatile crypto market a position with a very close stop order can easily get terminated. You can always create a stop limit command for only part of your position.

  • Better still, you can select the LIMIT option close to MARKET option to buy at your preferred price

 

  • Set your leverage

Note: You have the chance to set 10x or more, but leaving the margin bar on Cross means: “use all the available balance in our account as collateral for our trading”. If you have enough funds on Bitmex it is best you use this option and not at a very-high margin level. This way your position will not get liquidated at some point. The disadvantage, in this option unless you’re using stop-loss, is that your loss is not limited or limited to the available balance on your account and not just to your position's used balance. Click here to learn more about leveraging on BitMEX.

  • Click on buy and confirm to open your position

  • Once you confirm your position (buy order), you’ll see a notification, and your order will be shown as seen below:

Note that you can also do the same for the SHORT POSITION (Sell). All you need do is to select SELL/SHORT when placing the order.

Bitpanda Exchange

 

DESCRIPTION:

BitPanda is a bitcoin exchange is based in Vienna, Austria. Its services are catered mostly to Europeans.

It is particularly popular with European bitcoin users. BitPanda lets you buy and sell bitcoin and altcoins securely. The company claims to use “state of the art technology and security standards.” The exchange lets you buy bitcoins and altcoins with 10 different payment methods, including popular European options like SOFORT, Skrill, Neteller, EPS/Giropay, SEPA, Amazon, and more. There are also conventional payment options like Visa and Mastercard.

The user interface of BitPanda is pretty sleek and very intuitive. Even newbies will have an easy time navigating through it and buying Bitcoins.

BitPanda tends to offer exchange rates that are higher than average due to the fact that you can buy bitcoins and altcoins with methods that allow chargeback – like credit cards and Skrill. Your fee will change between payment methods. BitPanda offers an exchange rate that’s about 2% higher than the market rate, while certain payment methods are subject to additional fees between 1 and 4%.

In order to buy Bitcoins with BitPanda you’ll need to verify basic verification. The lowest verification level requires only a phone number. This will allow you to buy 50 Euros’ worth of Bitcoins a month up to a total of 600 Euros. Higher verification levels require a government issued ID.

HOW TO BUY/SELL ON BITPANDA

  • Register for an account here. Fill the necessary details and Click on the REGISTER

Note the short notice pointed to by the red arrow

Fund your wallet by Scanning the QR and wait for the confirmation

  • Click on the BUY

Choose your preferred payment option and click Next Step

In this example, we consider Amazon Gift Card

  • Complete the payment option and click on Next Step

  • Finalize your payment order

  • Send the BTC to the address provided.

Binance Exchange

DESCRIPTION:

Binance is a popular cryptocurrency exchange currently ranked among the top 20 exchanges by volume.

It is worthy of being mentioned that Binance offers strong liquidity in a number of cryptocurrency pairs.

The exchange has particularly strong volume in pairs like NEO/BTC, GAS/BTC, ETH/BTC, and BNB/BTC. BNB is the exchange’s homegrown currency called Binance Coin.

Binance’s trading platform is web-based however it does feature two basic layouts for traders to use(Basic and Pro View). Casual Traders will certainly enjoy using the Pro Exchange Mode, that provides a more sophisticated trading interface whereas the Basic layout provides the necessary functions for the average user to begin trading. The main dashboard has several charts and graphs including the order books, a candlestick chart, as well as the trade history. There’s also a depth chart of the orders that you can view in a separate tab from the candlestick chart.

Execute a trade without having to worry about delayed time due to increased traffic. Binance uses a platform that is capable of processing 1.4 mil orders/second, which makes this platform one of the fastest exchanges in the market. Overall, Traders can expect a sleek and intuitive UI that conducts, perform and executes trades in real-time, not like the majority of Exchanges that can’t handle traffic during busy trading sessions.

Like most cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance promises to offer strong security, usability, and performance. To enhance maximum security, Binance uses a multi-tier and multi-cluster system architecture. The platform is accessible both on web and Android. Binance is also known for high speed of transaction. Unlike many other platforms, Binance offers multi-language support. Languages supported include Chinese, English, Japanese, and Korean.

When it comes to Fee’s, Binance charges an average fee of 0.1% on each trade that a user makes, making this a much cheaper alternative to Bittrex. Another built-in perk is that users have the choice to pay via the Binance token, the reason for doing so is to enjoy a 50% discount on the trading fee. Withdrawal fees varies for each digital currency. Deposits are free. However, there’s a charge of 0.1% trading fee. The table below summarizes the withdrawal fees on different currencies.

GETTING STARTED WITH TRADING

Follow this link to register on Bitnance

  • Fill up all the required details and click Register
  • Setup your 2-factor authentication.
  • At your dashboard (or the first page you see when you log-in), click on the “Deposit/Withdrawals” button under the “Funds” tab on the top right-hand corner.

  • Search the coin you want to deposit and press the “deposit” button

  • Transfer Your BTC(or any coin as the case may be) to the Generated Address

View Your History to verify the transaction

  • Click on exchange and choose Beginner or advanced (We are considering beginner)

  • Select the currency pair you are willing to trade (In this case we’ll consider a BTC pair since we only have BTC in our wallet.)

  • To place your order, you can either choose Limit or Market

Limit allows you to buy/sell instantly at the exchange price. While, Market allows you to buy at the market price, but it may take longer than time to be filled.

Kucoin Exchange

DESCRIPTION:

KuCoin is a cryptocurrency exchange based in Hong Kong. It was launched on September 15, 2017. The platform operates on a crypto-to-crypto basis, so no fiat currencies are supported. Nonetheless, its digital assets portfolio is pretty extensive and besides, KuCoin offers its own token KCS (KuCoin Shares) and uses it in a similar way to Binance.

KuCoin uses data encryption, dynamic authentication, multi-level risk identification control, and other systems to guarantee transaction security. It claims that blockchain-based assets will be added to your account within 2 minutes of your transaction, with withdrawals completed in 10 minutes.

KuCoin charges trading and withdrawal fees, while crypto deposits are free of charge. While this is the approach of many other exchanges, the fess of KuCoin are really competitive. It charges a flat fee of 0.1% per trade, while the average in the secctor is around 0.20% – 0.25%. Besides, for those who hold KuCoin Shares, there are attractive discounts. In addition, withdrawal fees applied by KuCoin are also reasonable. For example, Bitcoin withdrawals are charged with a fee of 0.0005 BTC.

Although it was launched in September 2017, KuCoin already offers a substantial number of coins for trade (around 80), and keeps adding new ones. On their website, pairs are grouped into 5 categories: BTC, ETH, NEO, USDT and KCS markets. It was even the first exchange to launch trading in the RedPulse token (RPX).

Kucoin aims to be a more user-friendly exchange than traditional exchanges available today. The platform shares 90% of trading fees with users, for example. They also offer 24/7 customer service and generous referral rewards. They have also been known for posting coin pairs before they hit other major cryptocurrency exchanges.

The KuCoin wallet includes multilayer encryption, offline storage in a bank safe, funds escrow, and regular auditing by the bank. They claim that blockchain-based assets will be added to your account within 2 minutes of your transaction, with withdrawals completed in 10 minutes.

KuCoin features a lot of crypto currency markets. KuCoin has an extremely powerful backend, which allows them to add any new crypto currencies within a short amount of time. They announced to release a mobile app for android and ios soon. KuCoin claims that its incentive policies “can sustain active users’ enthusiasm and make the business even more vigorous”. Their goal is to become one of the top 10 exchanges worldwide, and they believe their incentive and referral bonuses, among other features, will help drive that growth.

KuCoin uses “an advanced multi-layer and multi-cluster architecture”. They offer bank-level disaster-proof deployment with two locations and three centers capable of handling multiple tasks simultaneously. KuCoin’s system uses industry standard transfer encryption protocols. Overall, they aim to provide bank-grade encryption and security. KuCoin’s trading engine can handle two million order-making requests per second, and one million order requests per second in general.They have a super responsive Team that truly listens to the Community and implements features / coins which the community wishes. KuCoin also runs cool promotions & other community activities.

GETTING STARTED WITH TRADING ON KUCOIN

  • Click here to create your account.
  • Fill all the required details.

  • Activate your account via the mail sent to you

  • Once your account is confirmed, click on ASSET

  • Select Deposit on any of the assets you intend to deposit. In this case we are depositing BTC

  • If you are depositing for the first time, you’ll be walked through the activation of 2-factor authentication.

  • Navigate back to Deposit

  • Scan the QR code, sent your BTC to the address and wait for confirmation.
  • Select a trading pair of your choice

Re-enter your 2-factor authentication code

  • Place your order down below, click the Buy button, and you are good to go

HitBTC Exchange

DESCRIPTION:

HitBTC is a bitcoin exchange that offers 0.1% fees on every market trade while letting you trade a variety of cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies. It was registered in the UK in early 2015. The exchange offers USD, EUR, GBP to BTC as well as a collection of the most common crypto to crypto trading pairs. The volume has been steadily rising providing decent liquidity and a narrowing bid ask spread.

HitBTC provides two-factor authentication used for all logins and withdrawals. Another additional security feature is the ability to view recent activity at the bottom of the settings page. This lets you check if someone is attempting to access your account from some location maliciously. Other HitBTC security features include cold storage and advanced encryption technology – both of which are pretty standard across the exchange industry

HitBTC allows demo trading. Demo trading is surprisingly rare in the world of cryptocurrency exchanges. When asked about demo trading, most exchanges simply tell you to make minimum trades of $1 and treat that as your demo.

HitBTC has an information-packed terminal that displays recent trades, currency pairs, and movement over a set period of time. It’s not quite as beginner-friendly as other platforms we’ve seen. If you’re looking for a colorful, beginner-oriented UI filled with colorful buttons, then HitBTC may not be the right choice for you

GETTING STARTED WITH TRADING ON HITBTC

  • Create an account here

Fill in all the required details

  • Activate your account by confirming the mail dent to you.
  • Sign in using your details

    Click on deposit and select the coin you are willing to deposit.

  • Click on the deposit icon, as usual, the BTC address will be automatically displayed.

 

  • Scan the QR code or copy the address into the depositing wallet and wait for confirmation.
  • To trade your BTC(or any altcoin as the case may be) pair, click on Exchange

  • Click on any coin from the Instruments section

Note: You can only pair BTC, ETH or USD with any other coin. (In the example below, we are trading BTC/LTC pair)

  • Fill the BUY ORDER and click the Buy button
  • To Sell your LTC for BTC (or any other coin as the case may be) follow the above steps, but fill the SELL ORDER

Luno Exchange

DESCRIPTION:

Luno is a Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange/wallet Provider. Luno provides Bitcoin services that are similar to that’s of Coinbase, However, they were able to make their Bitcoin wallet and exchange services available in countries where Coinbase exchange services are not supported. Luno offers its services in more than 43 countries including: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom.

Luno allows users to buy and sell Bitcoin through bank Transfer, SEPA transfer, Interbank GIRO/IBFT and EFT. Before you can buy Bitcoin on Luno, you need to deposit money into your Luno wallet. You don’t need to buy an entire Bitcoin. You can buy a smaller amount, from as little as $1. Luno also provides a platform for a user to trade bitcoin.

The main payment method accepted on Luno is Bank Transfer. However, payment method depends on the country you are operating from. Transaction fee depends and on the payment method you use which also depends on your country. Once your account is funded in your local currency, you can convert it to bitcoin by buying bitcoin on the Luno platform. Your bitcoin wallet is funded instantly. The following fees apply to transactions on Luno. When you withdraw money from your Luno account to your bank account, a small administrative fee is charged for processing this payment independent of the withdrawal amount. The table below summarizes withdrawal and deposit fees.

GETTING STARTED WITH TRADING ON LUNO

  • Click here to sign up for a free web account or here for the mobile version.

  • Enter the required details and make sure you verify your email address.

  • Verify your account via the link sent to your email.

  • Click on Receive on BTC wallet tile

  • Add a label for the address and click on create.

  • Copy the address into the depositing wallet and send your BTC to Luno wallet.

  • Navigate back to the home page and click on Website.

  • Click on the slider image from the home page and select

    • There are two methods of buying and selling Bitcoin on Luno

    Instant buy/sell: In this case, once you have made deposit do Luno in your local currency, you click on ‘buy’. enter the amount of bitcoin you want to buy either in BTC or your local currency (depending on the amount you deposited). Your bitcoin wallet will be funded instantly.  Follow the same process to sell your bitcoin but in this case, you have to click on ‘Sell’

    Trade on Exchange: Here you can choose the amount you want to sell your Bitcoin when Bitcoin price rises or falls to that price, your Bitcoin will be sold. this also applied to buying Bitcoin.

    You can toggle between the BUY and SELL commands from the PLACE ORDER tab.

Shapeshift Exchange

DESCRIPTION:

ShapeShift claims to be the fastest cryptocurrency exchange and blockchain assets there is. Using this service, users can exchange cryptocurrencies in a matter of seconds. ShapeShift greatly reduces the risk of stolen funds and it increases privacy because it requires no account or personal data to use. ShapeShift has a strict “no fiat” policy meaning that it cannot be used to purchase cryptocurrencies with credit/debit cards or bank accounts. ShapeShift can be used everywhere except in New York and North Korea.

When using ShapeShift, users specify the currency they want to exchange and where to send the exchanged coins to. ShapeShift will send the exchanged coins once it receives the payment. The exchange rate used by ShapeShift is derived from several market sources and it always stays the same, regardless of the volume traded.

Users can also choose between Quick and Precise orders. Quick transactions refer to a transaction where the user inputs the receiving address and is given a deposit address from ShapeShift. Using quick order, the user is not required to specify how much of the wanted altcoin is required, as they can deposit whatever they like. The Precise transaction allows a user to receive the exact number

ShapeShift also provides a number of special tools and features like the ShapeShift Lens and Shifty Button. These tools allow users to buy items with any alternative cryptocurrency and to easily receive and exchange altcoin payments as a merchant.

  • Click here to go to ShapeShift

  • Choose between Quick or Precise and press continue

  • Click on either of the logos to change it to your preferred currency pair.

  • An address will be generated. Copy the address, and paste into the depositing address.
  • Send the your BTC and wait for the confirmation

That concludes our list of the best bitcoin exchanges to start using (we will continue to update the list as new ones emerge as power players based on the ranking criteria above. The ICO tokens seem to be expanding and much of what drives the volume of exchange is how well their platform and technology can incorporate a wide variety of cryptocurrencies (over 1,400 in 2018 already).

What To Do Next When Using Bitcoin Exchanges

Now that you know how to get accounts setup and start interacting with different bitcoin crytocurrencies and assets, next it is important to learn about the wallets, security and safety of storing and transacting with your coin portfolio.

We have guides and checklist review tips to make sure you follow everytime you get involved with an exchange, a trade and the storing/privacy of your bitcoin.

Please join our growing community today by receiving free updates as well as joining our private Facebook Group where we share news, updates and insights on the emerging world of blockchain cryptocurrency applications, coins and tokens.

 

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