Here’s a list of the most popular crypto exchanges in the world, and what makes them attractive to investors.
Crypto trading has become an exciting avenue for new investors entering the world of retail trading. With financial markets becoming more accessible to individuals through investment platforms and Bitcoin volatility constantly making headlines, retail investors have become increasingly curious about investing in crypto.
With crypto asserting itself as an asset class worthy to be on the retail investor’s portfolio, crypto exchanges have started to become wildly popular.
Here are five of the world’s most well received crypto exchanges, and what makes them such a hit amongst investors.
Binance
Binance (known as Binance.US in the U.S.) offers a low-cost platform for spot and general trading. Traders can also access a wider range of cryptocurrencies and trading pairs on the platform. Binance is also known to have a high cybersecurity ranking and positive user reviews.
Internationally, Binance supports 46 fiat currencies, features 369 coins, and has a 24-hour trading volume of over US$18 billion at the time of writing. Separately, Binance.US has just 54 coins with a 24-hour trading volume of $471 million.
At the same time, Binance.US has fewer crypto options than its global parent company, and is not available in some states such as Texas and New York. The platform itself is quite elaborate, so new investors will need support in terms of educations resources and beginner-friendly tools.
Coinbase
In contrast to Binance, Coinbase is relatively more friendly towards beginners and has an easier purchase process. Users have submitted strong reviews and security ratings for Coinbase as well, and the platform also provides an educational platform for new crypto investors.
It does, however, charge higher fees. Users need to use a separate and more elaborate platform, Coinbase Pro, if they’d like to opt for lower pricing. Moreover, users don’t own the private keys to the coins — these remain with Coinbase.
Coinbase offers a variety of alt coins and has high liquidity as well. However, it supports just three fiat currencies — the U.S. dollar, the Euro, and the Great Britain Pound. It features 67 coins, and has a 24-hour trading volume of over US$2 billion at the time of writing.
Huobi Global
Compared to the other exchanges, Huobi Global supports 51 fiat currencies and 333 coins. At the time of writing, it had a 24-hour trading volume of over $5 billion. While Huobi Global caters to an international audience, the company also has regional platforms in Korea and Japan.
Singapore-based Huobi caters to a largely Asia-based audience, and as such, many new coins from Korea, Singapore, and China end up listing on Huobi. It supports several altcoins and stablecoins, and also offers its own U.S. dollar-backed stable coin HUSD. The platform has also issued its own token, the Huobi token.
OKEx
This Seychelles-based exchange supports over 30 fiat currencies, with trading volumes of over $3 billion, and 265 supported coins. The platform allows spot trading along with high liquidity order-book and low spreads. It also offers margin, perpetual and futures markets with 100x leverage.
Like the other exchanges, OKEx also offers major crypto pairs including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple. It also allows investors to make direct crypto deposits from other exchanges onto their own hardware wallet. U.S. traders, however, are not allowed to trade on OKEx due to regulatory controls.
Kraken
Kraken is one of the oldest U.S.-based crypto exchanges, and offers high end trading features that appeal to advanced investors. Conversely, however, these may seem confusing, and therefore not suitable to new investors. Kraken also has high cybersecurity ratings.
Kraken supports seven fiat currencies and investors gain access to 69 coins on the platform. 24-hour trading volumes stood at $987 million at the time of writing. The platform is more suited for futures and margin traders. Its margin accounts allow investors to borrow up to 5x their account balance, and futures trading is available for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ripple.
These are just five of the most popular crypto exchanges available to investors. There are several other noteworthy exchanges such as CEX.io, Bittrex, and Gemini. While the top five have been selected based on trading volumes, investors are likely to have their own parameters for selecting a crypto exchange that meets their needs. When selecting a crypto exchange, it is best to ascertain your expectations as an investor (including safety mechanism), and assess which exchange will work for you.
