The Most Popular Crypto Exchanges In The World

The Four Big Crypto Exchanges

These 4 are arguably the most popular and widely used crypto exchanges in the world.

Bitmex – The King of Margin Trading.

Binance – The #1 Altcoin Trading Platform.

Coinbase – The Most Popular Hot wallet in the industry.

LocalBitcoins – The First and Most Widely Distributed P2P Exchange.

Bitmex

BitMEX is owned and operated by HDR Global Trading Limited, and is incorporated in the Republic of Seychelles.

This exchange is by far the largest in the world in terms of trading volume. They have a constant daily volume of over +2 Billion dollars making them far larger and popular than any other competitor in the cryptocurrency space.

The sign-up process for Bitmex is quite simple as well. All you need is an email address and password, and you are ready to go, they do not require any kind of KYC documents or whatsoever.

What makes Bitmex truly stand out the most is not the trading engine or the platform it operates on, but the amount of volume it handles, it is literally the only place in the world where you can purchase or sell millions of dollars worth of contracts at any given moment without even moving the price. This is what makes Bitmex the absolute King of margin trading.

Want to learn more about margin trading exchanges? Read our article on Best Bitmex Alternatives.

Binance

Binance is a global cryptocurrency exchange originating from China that has recently moved to more crypto-friendly Island of Malta in the EU. 

This exchange is the world’s largest and most popular when it comes to altcoin trading. It is all in one cryptocurrency exchange providing hundreds of altcoins to choose from and an easy to use phone app + ability to seamlessly purchase Cryptocurrencies with a credit card.

To sign up, you only need to provide email and password, you can also withdraw up to 2 BTC without having to provide any type KYC documents.

Binance did something truly unique by becoming one of the fastest-growing companies in the whole world, their initial ICO started just two years ago in 2017, and since then they have grown to a multibillion-dollar company dominating the whole altcoin industry. This is as well why they are well known as the #1 altcoin trading platform.

Although Binance is still the king, it’s always smart to consider diversifying your portfolio. See our article about Best Binance Alternatives.

Coinbase

Coinbase is an old-school cryptocurrency exchange based in the USA, with worldwide coverage.

This exchange is great if you are just getting started and are looking for ways to purchase your first Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. They have a simplistic interface and operations. Coinbase also offers advanced trading views (see picture), but other than that they do lack features such as margin trading.

The sign-up process is pretty straightforward, you register with an email and password, but to fully operate they will require you to provide KYC documents such as driver’s license, home address and so on.

Coinbase provided some of the earliest solutions to easily purchase bitcoin and accept them as a business, giving them a significant boost in the early days making them to this day the most popular hot wallet in the industry.

However, nowadays more and more people are constantly realizing Coinbase ain’t actually that fine and dandy. And, for this reason, we have provided you an article Best Coinbase Alternatives.

LocalBitcoins

LocalBitcoins is based in Helsinki, Finland and was the world’s first peer to peer cryptocurrency exchange.

Peer to Peer exchange stands for the fact the exchange itself does not hold your funds but rather connects people together to transact either via cash or through other payment methods.

LocalBitcoins become well known in the early days by quickly adapting to the crypto transition around the globe which has made them the most popular choice in their own niche to this day.

Although this exchange has stood through times and has been around providing reliable services since 2012. They recently started requiring customers to provide KYC documents, which among peer to peer users is not something a lot of people are into. The exchange is still legitimate and well fit for their purpose, but a lot of people are looking for more attractive alternatives.

Here is a list of Best LocalBitcoins Alternatives.

Common denominator

One thing common with each of these is obviously that they are the most popular crypto exchanges in the world, but also that they all were the first truly successful ones at their own niches, meaning they had no competitors at one point in time. But just like always in life, popularity doesn’t necessarily mean that they are the best ones. And new exchanges are constantly popping up with even more advanced tools and services.

To find more cryptocurrency exchanges, check our updated Best Crypto Exchanges list.

Reminder: Never leave your coins in the exchange. “Not your private keys, not your coins!”