Best Crypto Exchanges
In this chapter I'm going to take you through some of my top cryptocurrency exchanges. If you're just getting into cryptocurrency and buying your very first Bitcoin or if you're an experienced trader looking for the best cryptocurrency exchange for you, it can be tough. With so many things to consider in terms of liquidity, trading volume, fees, how safe they are and whether or not the platform is actually supported in your region. Well don’t worry because I am going to take you through some of the cryptocurrency exchanges that I've personally used over the years and run you through some of the factors that lead them to be part of my top picks. Just a word of warning though, no matter which exchange you use, nor how safe it's reported, you should never keep large amounts of funds stored on there. It's always much safer to withdraw your coins back to a secure personal wallet such as a hardware wallet like a Ledger or a Trezor where you have control over your private keys and therefore your funds. First up, let me talk about Binance. Binance currently dominates the global exchange space, making up a significant portion of crypto trading volume daily. In my opinion, Binance is one of the best cryptocurrency exchanges out there with a strong focus on altcoin trading. As a regular leader of the cryptocurrency spot exchanges, in terms of traffic, liquidity and trading volumes on the likes of Coinmarketcap, it really shows that people trust the platform and that there's going to be more competitive prices available. Binance offers hundreds of trading pairs between different cryptocurrencies and although it does offer some fiat to crypto pairs, most of its pairs are between cryptocurrencies. You can start by buying crypto with fiat from the site using third parties, bank transfers and credit or debit cards. They have some of the lowest trading fees of any exchange starting at 0.1 percent which can then be reduced further depending on trading volumes, promotions or you can get these even lower by using their own BNB coin. Binance not only have an exchange but they have a whole host of financial services including staking, liquidity pools and swaps as well as derivatives education and their own trust wallet. In terms of how safe Binance is, Binance did have a security breach in 2019 where it was hacked and resulted in 40 million dollars of Bitcoin being stolen. However Binance refunded all affected investors and is deemed as a safe platform since.
Next is Coinbase and Coinbase pro which in contrast to Binance can work out quite expensive in terms of fees. However Coinbase is very user friendly and most people getting into crypto do tend to start here. Especially with sign up offers such as their ten dollars of free Bitcoin. The interface is easy to use and ideal for newbies with their simple buying process. However these newbies will soon be aware that Coinbase has some of the highest fees in all the exchanges, ranging from 1.49 to 3.99% for trading on Coinbase and from 0.5 percent on Coinbase pro which has a wider range of tokens and is more aimed at experienced traders. Coinbase supports customers in over 30 countries including the united states most of Europe, Singapore, Canada and Australia with some very high volume and liquidity. Plus their Coinbase earn feature is one of the best ways to get your hands on some free crypto where you can earn up to 177 dollars in altcoins by taking some quizzes and learning about each crypto. Another thing that makes Coinbase one of the top crypto exchanges is the fact that the platform is very secure. While there have been multiple different attempts to breach the exchange's security, Coinbase is yet to suffer a huge hack and they store 97% of Bitcoins offline. Coinbase has however got quite a negative press in the crypto community and this is mostly due to their poor customer services and tracking of how and where you spend your Bitcoins which has led for Coinbase users to start to find alternatives.
Next we have Kraken which is another great option for newbies with a simple and basic interface to get started with. Whilst at the same time being a good option for more experienced traders too and one of the oldest exchanges and have been operating since 2013. It offers users more than 150 different cryptocurrencies to trade, buy and sell. Plus you can trade with different fiat currencies including USD, Japanese Yen, Canadian dollars, British pounds, Euros and Australian dollars, meaning you don't need to visit other exchanges before you start trading. In terms of fees, Kraken takes anywhere between zero up to 0.26 percent from your transaction which is pretty low in terms of cryptocurrency exchanges. But it will obviously depend on your trading amount. Their trading volume and liquidity is high too with a ranking on Coinmarketcap at number five, and they also have some great staking options and rewards too where you can stake the likes of polkadot, cosmos and tezos. Not only that, but in some countries you can even stake fiat currencies too such as Euros and US dollars. Kraken isn't only popular for being a cryptocurrency exchange with some of the lowest fees, but it's also considered to be a very secure space to trade crypto coins with most of its cryptocurrency being stored offline.
Next, let's take a look at KuCoin. KuCoin is one of the newer platforms on my list and they were created in 2017 and allow you to buy and sell 200 cryptocurrencies worldwide. They have a relatively high liquidity, a high number of users and a wide selection of supported assets and services. This exchange is another great option for low trading fees where you'll be paying 0.1 percent of the amount that you're buying. There are several trading options available to suit different trading levels, including spot trading, instant exchanges and margin trading. Plus you can earn crypto with KuCoin crypto lending, staking, soft staking and KuCoin shares bonus. KuCoin have not reportedly been hacked, however there are still quite a new exchange and they offer two-factor authentication as an extra level of security too. Additionally, it does not force KYC checks on all of its users which is great for those that are more privacy conscious.
That moves us on to Uniswap which is an automated token exchange based on the Ethereum blockchain that launched in 2018. Unlike centralized exchanges Uniswap has no order book for executing trades. Instead, it allows users to trade without a middleman or third party with a high degree of decentralization and censorship resistance. This may not be suited for the newbie first getting into crypto as you'll need an understanding of DIFY and already have some Ethereum in your wallet to get started. But DIFY platforms have certainly risen in popularity over the past 12 months. Although the volume and liquidity does not match the most popular centralized exchanges, its average daily trading volume can be up to about 200 million dollars making it the largest DIFY exchange. There are endless options of ERC 20 tokens available in Uniswap. Their trading fees are 0.3 percent but there are also Ethereum gas fees to pay which will depend on how congested the Ethereum network is. Uniswap also offer users to become liquidity providers and earn up to 0.3 fees on all of the trades, proportional to their share in the pool. Unlike a centralized exchange, with a decentralized exchange you are in control of your funds therefore it's pretty safe. However, because anyone can list a token on Uniswap and its decentralized nature means that there's no review process, it's easy for scammers to create a token with a name similar to a popular DIFY platform and trick users into purchasing worthless tokens. But Uniswap have tried to resolve this using token lists.
To check out these exchanges, please visit the following links;
-Binance → https://www.Binance.com/en
-Coinbase → https://www.coinbase.com/
-Kraken → https://www.kraken.com/
-KuCoin → https://www.kucoin.com/
-Uniswap → https://uniswap.org/
