Cryptocurrency Exchange or Digital Currency Exchange is a business that involves the exchange of cryptocurrency with other assets such as money or any other digital currency. It is a web service that provides electronic transactions in electronic forms and takes fees for them.
Any transaction or operation at the Digital Currency Exchange can be done with debit and credit cards, postal order or any other type of money transfer. This article is about discussing the various cryptocurrency exchanges that facilitate cryptocurrency trading for beginners and what they offer in terms of availability, ease of use, security, deposit/withdrawal methods and fees. We hope this guide to cryptocurrency trading can help you get started with cryptocurrency exchanges.
Coinbase/GDAX
Coinbase is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges based in San Francisco, California. It is available in 32 countries and currently serves more than 10 million customers. Launched in 2012, it has an easy-to-use interface that makes exchanging digital currency an easy task for a non-technical person. It is also available for iOS and Android. Unfortunately, Coinbase does not provide cryptocurrency mining for beginners and is only an exchange.
As of now, it offers four currencies, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin. Exchange digital currency with US Dollars, Euros and Great British Pounds. With minimal transfer fees, Coinbase has never experienced any security breach which makes it a perfect platform for digital currency exchange. In addition to this, Coinbase also offers a full advanced exchange called GDAX. It offers more advanced features and different and better trading fees than Coinbase.
Bitstamp
Bitstamp is another platform that provides digital currency exchange. It is relatively easy to use and offers more advanced features via TradeView. Bitstamp offers coins like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and ripple. Exchange digital currency with US dollars and Euros. You can put into practice all the latest crypto currency trading techniques on this exchange.
It offers Flat deposits via bank transfers and supports debit/credit cards. Perhaps the only disadvantage that can be found in Bitstamp is the slightly high fees and the fact that it suffered a security breach in 7 years of its operation. However, it is one of the most reliable exchanges. It is available on both iOS and Android.
Gemini
Gemini is a UK company launched in 2015 by the Winklevoss twins. It is available in few countries including USA, Canada, Hong-Kong, Singapore and South Korea. One of the disadvantages of this platform is that it is not particularly user friendly. Therefore, beginners are not recommended to use this platform.
It offers two coins and 1 coin FLAT Bitcoin Cash, Ehtereum and US Dollars. Gemini follows strict protocols regarding security and as of 2018, has not encountered a single security breach, thus making it one of the most secure and reliable digital currency platforms. However, it is important to have digital currency investment strategies before starting trading.
Digital ticks
Digital Ticks is a modern crypto exchange that aims to be a game changer in this sector. They have implemented many of the latest techniques that make it easy for anyone to start trading.
It has a unique feature called Single Portfolio View that allows traders to view all the positions they hold in a single portfolio. It would be easy for traders to make informed decisions regarding cryptocurrency exchange using this unique feature. It also supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Dashcoin.
Kraken
Kraken is one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchange platforms. Launched in 2011, kraken is the largest exchange in terms of volume and liquidity for EUR trading pairs. Serves worldwide including the United States.
Kraken offers a variety of coins including Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Monero, Augur, Litecoin and many more. It also supports deposit/withdrawal via bank transfers and cryptocurrencies. Having a not so friendly user interface, it also suffers from stability and performance issues, but in any case, it is a good platform for cryptocurrency exchanges.
Bitfinex
Bitfinex is the largest cryptocurrency exchange platform. Launched in 2012, it has an easy-to-use interface and offers a number of advanced features such as margin trading, margin financing, etc. It is available for iOS and Android platforms. It offers BTC, BCH, ETH, LTC, IOTA, XMR and NEO.
Like previous cryptocurrency exchanges, it supports withdrawals with US dollars and euros via bank transfers. Bitfinex suffered two security breaches, the first was in May 2015, which resulted in a loss of $330,000. And the second in August 2016 that resulted in a loss of value of $ 72 million.
EtherDelta
EtherDelta is a decentralized exchange that directly supports peer to peer connection. It is very different from the cryptocurrency exchange platform discussed earlier. Here, the funds are held in a smart contract on an Ethereum network from which you are solely responsible for depositing and withdrawing. Currently, EtherDelta only supports Ehtereum based tokens.
EtherDelta has a rather confusing interface that makes it difficult for users to perform cryptocurrency exchange operations. On one occasion, someone tried to buy 750 Kyber for 0.007 ETH each, but ended up buying 0.007 KNC at 750 ETH.
Conclusions
After looking at the various cryptocurrency exchange platforms, we can safely say that Coinbase and Bitstamp stand out in terms of their good features such as security, user-friendly interface, multiple withdrawal/transfer methods and much more.
I wouldn’t call them perfect, but I would recommend that it’s the safest bet you can make. Each cryptocurrency exchange platform is unique in its own way and has advantages and disadvantages. Just select the one that suits our needs. We hope this guide on cryptocurrency exchange and trading gives you a head start on your Cryptocurrency trading journey.