Best Crypto Exchanges
Compare offerings and see reviews from the best cryptocurrency exchanges:
Before choosing a suitable cryptocurrency exchange, there are some key considerations which include supported currencies, fees, security and trading options. Here’s our 2022 round-up for the very best exchanges for cryptocurrency trading:
Best Crypto Exchanges of 2022
- Binance.com – Best Overall
- Coinbase – Best for Beginners
- Kraken – Best for Experienced Traders
- eToro X – Best for Copy Trading
- Crypto.com – Best for Institutional Investors
- Bittrex – Best for Security
- Gate.io – Best for Altcoin Traders
- CEX.io – Best Bitcoin Exchange
Binance.com – Best Overall
Founded in 2017 | Cayman Islands
Why we recommend Binance– Binance is renowned for its notoriously low fees, high liquidity and the range of discounts that traders can benefit from using the exchange’s native token– Binance Coin (BNB). Currently, traders have access to over 300 coins and 1112 pairs.
Added to this, Binance has a Visa card that allows traders to convert and spend their favorite cryptocurrencies at more than 60 million merchants around the world. The exchange is ideal for both new and experienced traders who are interested in Spot, Futures and Margin trading.
For the more advanced trader, who may have a keen interest in crypto projects, the Binance Launch Pad will allow traders to experiment with launching tokens and other innovative crypto projects. Another great way a trader can increase their profitability on the exchange is through their rewarding referral program. Traders can earn up to 50% commission on every qualified trade.
Coinbase – Best for Beginners
Founded in 2021 | Remote
Why we recommend Coinbase– Coinbase is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S and has one of the most secure platforms. It’s most notable feature is the user-friendly interface, which makes it ideal for beginners entering the cryptocurrency market. Traders have access to 74 crypto coins and 226 pairs, along with crypto, P2P and OTC trading features.
Coinbase is straightforward in its offering and offers all the basic trading features a beginner may need. We would recommend Coinbase Pro for traders interested in more advanced trading types.
Added features include the Coinbase Visa Card that allows traders to spend any asset in their Coinbase portfolio and earn rewards for each purchase, as well as Coinbase Earn, which enables traders to earn crypto by just watching a few videos about your favorite cryptocurrency and completing a short quiz or task to test your knowledge. We found Coinbase to be the ideal exchange for beginners.
Kraken – Best for Experienced Traders
Founded in 2011 | United States
Why we recommend Kraken– Kraken is one the most established, secure cryptocurrency exchanges on the market. One of its most significant features is the ability to ‘stake’ or loan out coins for rewards. This means, traders can agree to lock their cryptocurrency on Kraken in exchange for rewards.
Currently, traders have access to 73 coins and 340 pairs. In addition to this, experienced traders have access to spot, margin, futures and OTC trading. Kraken also offers a ‘instant buy’ option, which is more suited to entry level traders who decide to use the exchange.
eToro X – Best for Copy Trading
Founded: 2018 | Isreal
Why we recommend eToro X: eToroX is one of the top cryptocurrency exchanges on the market, renowned for its copy-trading feature, which allows traders to duplicate trading strategies from successful traders onto their own accounts.eToro X ideal for advanced traders and institutional investors.
eToro X offers advanced features, such as API trading, social trading and a fiat gateway, including some more common features such as spot, CFD and margin trading. As an added bonus, eToro X has an affiliate program which offers 25% revenue share and/or $400 DCPA opportunities for referral opportunities.
Overall, the exchange displays a huge leap forward in cryptocurrency adoption
Crypto.com – Best for Institutional Investors
Founded in 2016 | Hong Kong
Why we recommend Crypto.com: Crypto.com exchange is a fairly new exchange, based in Hong Kong. The exchange is powered by CRO, with high 24 hour volumes, low fees and the best execution prices. Crypto.com has a range of advanced trading features such as spot, margin, derivatives and futures trading. The exchange is ideal for institutional investors or experienced traders.
At present, traders have access to 91 coins and 172 pairs. Another great benefit of using Crypto.com is that the trading fees are volume-based. This means that traders will get more discounts as their trading volume increases. Another benefit is the Crypto.com Visa Card, specifically designed for cryptocurrency holders who want to easily access their crypto assets into a spendable currency.
Lastly, Crypto.com offers NFT tokens to VIP traders, which will allow them to discover exclusive digital collectibles and their non-fungible tokens.
Bittrex – Best for Security
Founded: 2014 | United States
Why we recommend Bittrex: Bittrex is ranked number 2, among exchanges for liquidity. Bittrex is a popular crypto exchange and the reasons for this are primarily based on its main advantages, which includes a competitive fee structure, a wide variety of cryptocurrencies and pairs, (388 coins and 760 pairs), with fast transaction execution.
Added to this, traders have access to spot, p2p and OTC trading. Bittrex does not offer margin trading, however, the exchange offers FTX Leveraged Tokens to traders outside the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA). This allows traders all the benefits of leveraged trading but in a simplified asset.
Bittrex can be considered an excellent exchange choice for traders looking for a robust and secure platform. Bittrex success is attributed to a combination of factors, chief amongst them being its almost impeccable level of security and safety.
Gate.io – Best for Altcoin Traders
Founded in 2013 | Cayman Islands
Why we recommend Gate.io:The Gate.io exchange is renowned for its impressive variety of altcoins and currency pairs. At present, Gate.io offers traders 781 coins and 1403 pairs, this includes advanced trading features such as spot, margin and futures trading.
One of the most notable features on the exchange is the margin lending feature, which enables traders to lend to one another to buy or sell securities. Using this feature traders are able to earn interest from money loaned.
Gate.io is not for beginners. Advanced traders or institutional investors may find the features more beneficial. Another bonus feature is the Gate.io referral program. Traders can earn up to 40% on all successful referrals.
CEX.io – Best Bitcoin Exchange
Founded: 2013 | London
Why we recommend CEX.io: CEX.io is one of the most secure Bitcoin exchanges on the market. The exchange is well-known for supplying both a trading platform and brokerage services for Bitcoin and 80 other coins, including 202 pairs.
CEX.io features are ideal for both beginners and advanced traders. The exchange features spot, margin, futures and OTC trading. Added to this, CEX.io offers crypto lending, which enables traders to capitalize on new investments, or release funds when they’re needed to cover costs. Crypto lending is a crypto backed loan. Traders can use this as security against the value of crypto-assets currently loaned.
CEX.io makes trading easy, especially for new investors who cannot invest large sums of money at once.
Best of the Rest:
| 📌 Headquartered | Cayman Islands | 🧱 Founded | 2017 |
| 🏙️ Public Company? | No | 🚀 Beginner-friendly? | Yes |
| 💲 Supports Fiat? | Yes | 🎌 Languages Supported | 
|
| 💼 Business Accounts | Yes | ✖️ Margin Trading | Yes |
| 👛 External Wallet | Yes | 🔃 OTC Trading | Yes |
| 🤝 Affiliate Scheme | Yes | 💰 Integrated Wallet | Yes |
| 🔮 Futures Trading | Yes | ⚪️ Spot Trading | Yes |
Crypto Exchange Reviews
We’ve curated some of the most reputable crypto exchanges currently available to consumers. We meticulously examine, test and review all exchange features – beyond your typical crypto exchange review.
Exchange Review Methodology
Our main goal is to help you find the right exchange by clarifying all the relevant specs and USPs for you. All of our exchange research you’ll find is unbiased, reliable and not influenced by any degree of financial compensation.
We strive to regularly update Exchange information as frequyently as possible, to make sure you have the best evaluation experience. Added to this, we employ automation and scraping, maintaining fresh data in our ever-expanding review methodology.
Comparing the Best Crypto Exchanges
Choosing between cryptocurrency exchanges is no walk in the park.
There is a wide array of decision-making factors to consider, with some of the most important being:
- Cybersecurity
- Verification
- Wallet Storage
- Withdrawal & Deposit Fees
- Trading Fees
- Coins/Markets Available
- Trading Types
- Country Availability
We’ll explain all of these aspects in greater detail below:
Cybersecurity
Crypto’s popularity has attracted many hackers over the years, although exchanges have reimbursed customers in these scenarios. While security has improved ten fold over the years, always seek out an exchange with high-grade private key security and a stellar reputation.
Verification
Verification is a very important feature to consider when signing up on a crypto exchange, especially because you are providing your personal data.
‘Centralized’ exchanges require a longer verification process (a.k.a ‘Know Your Customer’ or ‘KYC’) to ensure information provided by you is authentic and that the you are who you say you are. Once successfully verified you will typically gain authorization to start trading cryptocurrencies or buy cryptocurrency on their platforms.
‘Decentralized’ exchanges are more anonymous by nature, so are less stringent with verification. However, you won’t be able to buy currencies using fiat on these exchanges.
Wallet Storage
One way to increase your portfolio’s security is to carefully consider safe storage of your crypto assets.
Integrated Wallet (Hot Storage)
Typically, exchanges offer a built-in or ‘Integrated Wallet’ solution for their customers to store their assets on the trading platform. This is classed as Hot Storage, meaning the wallet is online. However, since Hot Storage is more susceptible to hackers, most exchanges store all coins offline in Cold Storage to greatly minimise these risks to customers.
Hardware Wallet (Cold Storage)
Most exchanges advise users to offload their coins into their own digital wallet. Offline storage is regarded as the safest storage discipline. As ‘Cold Storage ‘is not connected to the internet, this makes it closer to impossible for hackers to access.
Withdrawal & Deposit Fees
Another key deciding factor in choosing your crypto exchanges is to consider any withdrawal and deposit fees while transferring funds.
Fiat Currency Exchanges
Always check what (if any) fees – whether fixed or % – apply to your deposits and/or withdrawls at an exchange. This information should be freely available from the exchange’s help/support section
Also, note if there are any differences in banking methods when depositing (or withdrawing) Fiat, e.g. debit cards for deposits and wire transfers only for withdrawals.
Most importantly – check that your bank account or financial institution currently supports funds transfers to and from popular centralized exchanges.
Crypto Exchanges
It’s unusual to have any fees associated with digital currency deposits. Withdrawals can typically carry higher fees, which often vary from asset to asset – and are sometimes free to your crypto wallet. For the majority, most cryptocurrency exchanges usually charge very low fees for withdrawals.
Some cryptocurrency exchanges will also allow you to use their own stable coins to get discounted transactions, like Binance is an example of an exchange that allows users to use their own branded stable coin for transactional fees.
Trading Fees
It makes no sense to execute trades in an exchange where you will be liable to pay exorbitant trading fees. Typically Exchanges carry a flat fee/% for all trades, so be sure to investigate what level of fees you are comfortable with, in line with your expected trading volumes.
Note that certain exchanges will also allow you to use their own stable coins to get discounted trading rates, like with Binance‘s own coin: (BNB).
Coins & Markets Available
It is crucial to know what coins and markets are available to buy and sell on the given exchange.
Typically, having access to a wider array of coins/markets can present you with more profitable opportunities in the longer term – Take advantage of market price beyond the norms.
For example, if you were looking for the best bitcoin exchanges, one would consider the overall selection of BTC pairs and markets available, in addition to how ‘liquid’ the specific exchanges are (i.e how easy it is to buy and sell BTC at the best prices). Look out for our Coin Insider ‘Liquidity Rank’ for help in comparing crypto exchange liquidity.
Trading Types
For experienced traders, different trading types lend more options to manage trading risk.
- Limit orders: can often prevent slippage. Most crypto exchanges prioritize limit orders as a feature.
- Market orders: this type of orders allows you to purchase or sell Bitcoin(BTC) at the best average market quote.
- Stop Loss order: triggers a limit order to buy or a limit order to sell as soon as the market reaches the stop price level.
For inexperienced traders on the crypto market, it is more important to find a platform that is easy-to-use, has a mobile platform and the educational resources for support.
Country Availability
Lastly, make sure you choose an exchange that is available in your country. There are countries that have banned bitcoin and crypto exchanges completely. Having access to a website or mobile app does not always mean that you are able to trade legally on the exchange.
Some exchanges are considered to be ‘decentralized’ and many state and federal governments are still very critical whether these are viable.
You should be able to access key legal/residential/tax information easily on any exchange’s help/support section.
FAQs
What is a crypto exchange?
An exchange is a platform where you can buy and sell cryptocurrency assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
How does an exchange work?
A exchange is similar to a brokerage platform. Each platform offers a portal where you can create different order types to buy and sell crypto and even speculate on cryptocurrencies along with other users.