Bittrex User’s Review: Best Cryptocurrency Exchange For Bitcoin Trading?

As multitude number of people worldwide continue to understand the need to invest in digital currencies, so also is the need for competent and secured exchanges capable of providing users with quality services in their digital currency transactions. There exist a lot of exchanges at the moment, and it is necessary for users to be aware of the pros and cons of every exchange before getting started with trading on the platform.

In this review, we’ll discuss the features, and provide a short guide on setting up and verifying an account on Bittrex, as well as a brief introduction to trading on Bittrex.

What is Bittrex?

Bittrex is a cryptocurrency exchange based in Seattle, USA. It has been in business since its inception in 2014 and is currently ranked among the top 3 best exchanges in the world, and currently experiences the daily trading volume of about $155,296,834.

Bittrex Exchange is well known for its ease-of-use and the security it offers users. The platform was built by industry experts with wealth of experiences from major tech companies of the world.

The Co-founder and CEO, Bill Shihara had worked as a security manager at Amazon and Blackberry Limited, and as a lead program developer at Microsoft. Other technical members of the team including Rami Kawach built his expertise in system security at Qualys, as the director of engineering. The unrelenting efforts of these talented fellows governing the operations of the exchange have made Bittrex stand out from other exchanges in the market.

One of the outstanding features of Bittrex is its support for a wide variety of altcoins, and as a security measure, new coins on Bittrex are subjected to an intensive assessment process that places a strong emphasis on the security of users. To cap it all, unlike other exchange platforms, Bittrex is available in many countries, making it one of the most popular digital currency trading platform.

Bittrex Exchange Features

Security

Till date, there has never been any security breaches or hacks recorded. This is due to the high level of security offered by its development team, who leverage experiences with companies such as Microsoft, BlackBerry et al.

Like some other platforms, Bittrex ensures Two-factor authentication (2FA) is mandatory for all users, using the Google Authenticator. Also, to ensure user’s funds are not at risk in any way, Bittrex uses an elastic multi-stage wallet strategy that ensures more than 90% of all user funds remain offline in cold-wallet.

It should be noted that Bittrex freezes some wallets in case of automatic wallet-maintenance or blockchain hard-forks. However, any fund sent to these wallets during maintenance will be automatically displayed after maintenance, and this should not cause any panic nor alarm.

Scalability

Bittrex’s order matching algorithm of Bittrexis extremely agile. The platform was said to have been from the ground up to deliver massive scalability by incorporating elastic computing methodologies. As a result, matching orders almost as soon as they are placed.

The scalability of the platform is also extended to withdrawals and deposits. The relatively higher fees in withdrawals and deposits are inclined to the speed of transactions experienced by traders, as higher fees result in quick processing of transactions.

Compliance

Bittrex is widely known for its extreme position on regulatory compliance. It ensures that every customer completes the KYC process before any withdrawal can be made. This effort towards making sure the regulatory compliance is met can be attributed to its measure against Money Laundering.

However, the negative effect of this position is that low-level verification accounts are only able to access low withdrawal and deposit limits. Therefore, to avoid horrible experiences, it is important for customers to complete the whole verification process in order to access unlimited withdrawal limits.

Customer support

At the moment, Bittrex does not offer any phone support. The only method of lodging complaints to the customer service is via tickets which sometimes cause delays in responding to users. However, and Bittrex provides a comprehensive FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section that covers common questions and issues.

Friendly user interface

Bittrex’s market view is intuitive, allowing users to quickly select a trading pair and then rapidly switch between viewing the order book or market timeline. A variety of charting options is available as well a highly complex range of advanced studies that can be applied to market timelines.

Automated Monitoring Platform

A major feature offered by Bittrex is the option to perform bot (or algorithmic) trading. Using the Bittrex API, experienced traders can program trading bots to automatically make trading decisions on the current market conditions based on the algorithm employed by the trader.

Web Socket Integration

The addition of WebSocket support allows for instantaneous order book updating. Users are able to browse a customizable, intuitive interface that makes locating their desired trading pair easy, and benefit from notifications when orders are either partially or fully filled.

Supported Currencies

Bittrex markets pairs do not support any fiat trading. However, the platform supports 11 different USDT, trading pairs. However, The Bittrex platform can be said to be the most diverse altcoin trading platform. It supports more than 450 cryptocurrency trading pairs, all of which can be viewed via Bittrex Markets.

Bittrex Fees

The simplicity of the Bittrex fee structure attracts many beginners to intermediate traders but can become expensive when placing large orders. Understanding Bittrex trading fee is quite simple to understand. All Bittrex trading fees are set at a flat rate of 0.25%.  Bittrex does not charge fees on deposits or withdrawals. However, transactions in some blockchain networks incur a transaction fee for sending digital assets. This is the reason why Bittrex does charge the above-mentioned fee, to cover incoming and outgoing transactions (as the case may be), which can be viewed in Bittrex wallet management.

Getting Started With Bittrex

Make sure you are in the right domain

It’s essential to ensure that you’re on the right Bittrex website before you get started. To ensure this, make sure you look for the green “Secure” icon, and that you can see protocol label to be secured (HTTPS not HTTP) in the address bar of your browser as shown below, Making sure you are on the right Bittrex website will save you from entering your details to a cloned Bittrex website common with Phishing attacks.

Another solution to the phishing problem often used in the industry is Cryptonite by MetaCert. Using Cryptonite, you must ensure the shield turns green when you’re on the website.

As shown below:

Get started

Once you’re sure you’re on the right page, you’ll need to click the “Get Started Now” button on the Bittrex landing page, and you’ll be redirected to New Account Set-ups page.

Create an Account

Note that Bittrex is currently accepting new account requests from corporate and selected invitees.

Once Bittrex registration is open, the signup process is relatively simple. A page will appear telling you to enter your e-mail and password. You will need to provide a valid email address and a strong password then agree to the terms of service in order to get started.

Random password generator machines like strongpasswordgenerator.com can help greatly in setting a strong password. Setting a very strong password helps reduce hacking attempts into your account. Do not use a password from the accounts on any other platform to ensure maximum security to your account.

After submitting your details, you’ll need to verify your email address and solve a reCAPTCHA to prove you’re not a robot.

Verify your identity

The Bittrex sign up process is relatively simple, involving basic email verification, but identity verification is split over two different account types:

1. Basic and
2. Enhanced accounts.

Both account types require two-factor authentication in order to withdraw capital. To complete the verification process, navigate to “Settings” and fill out the Basic Verification form. Here, you’ll need to submit your full name, date of birth, and residential address.

Note that Basic accounts are restricted to a maximum of 0.4 BTC worth of cryptocurrency per day. In order to achieve basic account verification, users are required to submit details that include name, date of birth and residential address. Bittrex’s verification engine will check this information against public records and, if it matches, allows users to access basic account functionality.

After submitting your details, Bittrex will check them against public records. You’ll receive a processing notification that looks like this:

If Bittrex is unable to verify your basic identity information against public records, you’ll need to verify your phone number to gain access to a basic account. To do this, a new window will appear requesting your active phone number for SMS verification. If you don’t receive a verification SMS from this process, you may need to log out of Bittrex, log in again, navigate to the verification center under settings, and fill out the phone verification panel:

After you’ve completed phone verification, you’ll be able to see the status of your account under “Summary” in the settings section. If you’ve achieved basic verification your Summary page will look like this:

Bittrex Trading, Deposits & Withdrawal

Unlike some other exchanges, Bittrex does not support fiat currencies. This indeed has made Bittrex help users avoid unnecessary KYC and AML complications.  However, it is possible to purchase USDT (Tether) via wire transfer when purchasing a minimum of $100,000 USD, which is apparently impossible to casual or intermediate traders.

Making A Deposit To Bittrex

The process of making a deposit into your Bittrex account is simple and easy. The following are the required steps to making deposits into Bittrex accounts. As a rule of thumb, you must be sure the 2-factor authentication has been enabled before making any deposit. Sometimes, one might notice a delay in time for the deposit to be confirmed. It is important to understand that the pending deposit time frames are largely dependent on the network state of the cryptocurrencies used to fund Bittrex wallets.

Generate Your depot address

• From the top tab click on Wallets, and a list of assets will be displayed.

• Click on the + Symbol

• An alert box will be displayed on the screen displaying the address generated for you.

• Copy the address generated and paste it into the depositing wallet.

Trading On Bittrex

Trading on Bittrex is simple. Depending on the asset you deposited, you can make an exchange of that asset with another asset. The process of changing one asset with another is simply called TRADING.

To start trading, navigate to the markets page and select your preferred trading pair.

In this example, we’ll consider exchanging BTC for BTG (i.e. BTC/BTG)

Select Your Preferred Trading Pair

Choose your desired number of “Units” and your desired Price.

Note that: 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:

Note:  You can also place the sell (i.e. Changing your BTG back to BTC) order by following the same steps as explained above, in the sell section.

Making A Withdrawal From Bittrex

As all exchanges’ wallets are defined to be HOT wallets, it’s advised to store your cryptocurrency in a cold wallet, so that, if the exchange is hacked, you’ll be safe from losing your funds. Check out our reviews on Trezor, KeepKey & Ledger Wallets.

The process for withdrawing cryptocurrency from Bittrex is similar to funding. To withdraw your asset:

• Click on the – symbol

• An alert will be displayed on the screen displaying the address generated for you.
• Paste your wallet address into the available box, and click on the SEND button