4 Best Cryptocurrency Exchanges For Trading In 2024

Cryptocurrencies have become an inevitable part of our life now. People from all walks of life are trying their luck on it. Some people are betting their life’s savings, while others are trying to find innovative ways to make the most of the market.

Every investor has to start somewhere. Right now, if you look around the internet, you will find guides so advanced that they can easily overwhelm a newcomer. So this post is mainly targeted towards the newbie community. This post will help them choose a cryptocurrency exchange as per their taste.

But which is the safest cryptocurrency exchange right now?

Best Cryptocurrency Exchange

I have compiled a list of the top exchanges according to the points mentioned above. These are the Bitcoin exchanges that you can rely on –

Image	Exchange	Feature	Link
	Binance	Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. You can trade Spot, Futures & Leveraged Tokens.	Visit Binance
	Bitfinex	Bitfinex is one of the oldest cryptocurrency trading platforms. The exchange has been dominating in margin trading.	Visit Bitfinex
	Bitstamp	Situated in the UK & US, Bitstamp is pretty famous in European countries as a cryptocurrency exchange.	Visit Bitstamp
	Kraken	Kraken is one of the oldest bitcoin exchanges that started in 2011. You can easily buy major coins like Litecoin, Ethereum, Ripple, etc.	Visit Kraken

1. Binance

Originally launched in China, Binance is a multi-currency cryptocurrency exchange. Actually, it is the youngest exchange among all the picks on this list. But it has managed to find its way to the top because of obvious reasons. Currently, Binance is one of the most popular exchanges when it comes to altcoin trading.

There are several advantages of Binance that make it one of the best bitcoin exchanges to date.

Features Of Binance

The whole Binance platform is very well optimized and translated. Binance is trying to attract as many traders as possible. So the exchange is multi-lingual.

The Binance exchange is extremely responsive and fast. Plus, the device coverage is also brilliant. You can access Binance on your desktop, your tab, and even on your mobile phone!

The actual trading interface has two versions – a beginner version and an advanced version. This feature puts Binance in a league of its own. While exchanges like Bitfinex has a complicated interface, Binance’s beginner trading interface is straightforward to use.

Binance supports many cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Monero, Zcash, Neo, and the list goes on and on.

Binance is also trying to attract new users by offering an attractive fee structure. All orders on Binance requires you to pay only 0.1 as fees! But there’s more to this. You can easily halve this fee by using BNB or Binance Token to pay for your fees.

Binance also supports ICO projects. And with the launch of its Launchpad initiative, you can host your cryptocurrency crowdfunding projects on Binance too.

Binance is the only exchange that provides complimentary Gas for keeping your Neo on their exchange.

The company has even launched Binance US for US citizens and regularly keeps adding more cryptocurrencies from time to time. Binance US is the best bitcoin exchange in the USA that you can trade.

Drawbacks of Binance

Binance has tried to address the issues with most cryptocurrency exchanges. And they have been able to address most of them too. But that doesn’t mean Binance doesn’t have its own drawbacks.

In my opinion, the main drawback of Binance is the lack of a proper customer support system. The website doesn’t even have a support phone number to reach out to. But it does have a telegram group for interactions.

Binance also doesn’t support any traditional currencies. So on Binance, you are only stuck with the cryptocurrencies.

2. Bitfinex

Based out of Hong Kong, Bitfinex is currently the largest Bitcoin exchange platform. It controls around 17 of the total market volume of Bitcoin. And not only Bitcoin, but it is also within the top three for other cryptocurrencies. Bitfinex is an extremely professional cryptocurrency exchange. Tether (USDT), a cryptocurrency pegged to the US Dollar, is closely associated with Bitfinex.

Features of Bitfinex

Bitfinex is an extremely popular and trusted exchange. It has been operating smoothly since 2012.

The Bitfinex trading platform supports a whole lot of cryptocurrencies. From Bitcoin to newer cryptocurrencies like Decentraland, Tron, etc., you will find them all. In total, you can trade 37 different cryptocurrencies on Bitfinex!

The Bitfinex exchange platform is very responsive. Due to its massive user base and overwhelmingly large order book, the liquidity on this exchange is very high. So orders do not seem to take very long to get fulfilled.

Bitfinex fees are dynamic, just like many other exchanges. But for a normal user, the maker’s fee & taker fee is 0.1%.

Drawbacks of Bitfinex

The main drawback of the Bitfinex exchange is its overly complicated interface. There should be a dumbed-down version of the exchange interface for beginner traders.

Bitfinex is not the most secure of exchanges. It has been a victim of two terrible hacks where 1500 BTC and 119,756 BTC were stolen. But in Bitfinex’s defense, they paid back their customers, eventually using BFX tokens.

3. Bitstamp

Bitstamp is one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges right now. It is based out of Luxembourg since it moved its operations to that country in 2016. Bitstamp, Nejc Kodrič, is widely known in the Bitcoin community because of his involvement since Bitcoin’s early days. He, along with Damijan Merlak, started the exchange in Slovenia in August 2011.

Later they moved to the United Kingdom and finally settled in Luxembourg because of better financial and legal services. The Luxembourgish Government granted Bitstamp to operate as a payment institution in the European Union. Currently, alongside Luxembourg, Bitstamp also has offices in the UK and USA.

Features Of Bitstamp

Bitstamp supports five of the most popular cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin.

This exchange allows you to make deposits in both cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies. You can deposit traditional currencies via credit or debit card, SEPA, and international bank transfers.

The same applies to withdrawals. You can withdraw both cryptocurrencies and traditional currencies. Cryptocurrency withdrawals are free of charge, whereas fiat withdrawals attract a fee, a point to keep in mind. Bitstamp levies dynamic fees on its customers for trading. For 30-day trade volumes lower than $20,000, Bitstamp will charge you 0.25 for every order. Although it’s not the lowest in the market, it’s not the highest either.

Bitstamp is extremely transparent about its fee structures. So you can be assured that there will be no hidden charges or fees.

Bitstamp’s trading interface is straightforward to use and also extremely responsive. They also have mobile applications, which make using Bitstamp very convenient.

Other than a 2015 hacking incident in which hackers could steal 19000 Bitcoins, Bitstamp’s has a fairly good track record. Bitstamp has gone above and beyond to secure its platform. They store 98 of their funds in offline servers to protect them from theft. Bitstamp also undergoes yearly audits performed by one of the “Big Four.”

Drawbacks Of Bitstamps

The whole Bitstamp exchange is not well documented. There is an FAQ section, but it is extremely vague.

Bitstamp doesn’t have live chat support like many other exchanges. So you will have to either call them or email them to resolve your issues.

My other concern is the meager selection of cryptocurrencies. I believe adding new cryptocurrencies is a key task for an exchange to stay competitive over the years.

4. Kraken

Kraken is an extremely famous Bitcoin and altcoin exchange. Launched in 2011, Kraken is a US-based cryptocurrency exchange. It operates in the USA, Canada, the EU, and even Japan. According to CEO Jesse Powell, “Our mission is to provide an exceptional bitcoin exchange experience.” And Kraken actually does that! Not only for Bitcoin but also for other cryptocurrencies that you can trade on Kraken.

Features of Kraken

Kraken provides an extremely secure environment for trading cryptocurrencies. During its six and a half years of operation, Kraken has never been subjected to security breaches or hacks.

The Kraken exchange platform is reliable, and it performs very well as well. The first thing you notice about their trading platform is how simple it is.

Apart from normal trading operations, you can also do advanced margin tradings and also place advanced orders.

Kraken fees are usually on the lower spectrum of the graph. But currently, Kraken is not charging any fees. This will be revised in February.

Kraken is a pioneer in the field of cryptographically verified proof of reserves audits.

Kraken supports many cryptocurrencies – from the market veteran Bitcoin and Litecoin to altcoins like Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, EOS, Monero, Zcash, etc.

Drawbacks of Kraken

Although Kraken supports a handful of fiat currencies, it only supports deposits through bank transfer. This can be a let down for many customers. But then again, most banks today provide one-click fund transfer through the internet. So it’s not really a big deal.

What Makes Cryptocurrency Exchange Better Than The Rest?

In my opinion, an exchange must have the following qualities.

First and foremost, it should be trusted. For a new exchange, it is hard to gain trust. But an exchange should at least publicly show their contact information to gain the trust of its users. Plus, I expect a good cryptocurrency exchange to be transparent about their operations too.

Secondly, the platform should be efficiently built. A well-optimized platform will not only perform extremely well; it will also increase security. A prolonged cryptocurrency exchange is no good at all.

Fees also play a crucial role when choosing a cryptocurrency exchange. You don’t want to use a platform that charges outrageous amounts of money for using it.

A good exchange should also show intents to add newer cryptocurrencies.

If the exchange is a foreign one, it should be well translated. You don’t want to end up on an internal page written in a foreign language.

If the exchange has some customer support system, it will be a huge plus!

Finally, I also expect a good cryptocurrency exchange to have yearly audits.

Conclusion

Before I sign off this post, I want to answer a question because I know it will arise.

Why didn’t I mention Coinbase or Coinbase Pro?

You see, Coinbase is not really a cryptocurrency exchange in the truest sense. You don’t have a lot of options in your hands while using Coinbase. The price is pre-decided by Coinbase too. Plus, don’t forget about the high fees on Coinbase.

But what about Coinbase Pro?

Well, I don’t really like Coinbase Pro for a lot of reasons. First of all, it doesn’t support a lot of cryptocurrencies. You will only find Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin on Coinbase Pro.

To maximize your profits, you need to trade in other altcoins. Plus, Coinbase Pro has a taker’s fee of 0.25%, far more than most other exchanges. And since its launch, Coinbase Pro has not been the most responsive or the fastest. Coinbase Pro has always been a bit slow to my liking.

This was our list of best bitcoin exchanges that you can use right now for trading.

And this brings us to the end of another article. I hope this post was able to educate you on choosing your next cryptocurrency exchange. Thank you for reading this.