Best Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Cryptocurrency exchanges allow you to swap fiat money (dollars, euros, etc.) for cryptocurrency, or cryptocurrency for cryptocurrency.These exchanges are bringing innovation that the traditional financial system has not seen for years.In this post we will outline some of the best exchanges, and why you might want to use one over the other. 

Coinbase

Coinbase is a good gateway into cryptocurrency, especially if it is your first time buying.The interface is very clean, making it easy to make your first purchase of Bitcoin, Litecoin or Ethereum.Since most cryptocurrencies must be purchased with Bitcoin, Coinbase is a good entry point whether you want Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.Coinbase lets customers from the USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Singapore, and Australia buy bitcoins, litecoins and ether with a credit card or bank account.The fees for buying with a credit card are 3.99%, while the fees for buying with bank transfer are about 1.49%.  

Changelly

Changelly is a unique exchange in that you don’t actually need to deposit coins.You simply tell Changelly which coin you want to buy, and how much of it you want to buy. Changelly will then tell you how much of the coin you are buying with to send.The whole process is very fast and convenient. If the crypto markets are moving fast, Changelly is a super fast way to exchange since you do not need to wait for your deposit to clear. You can lock in your rate and simply wait for your exchange to go through.

Poloniex

Poloniex is the largest crypto exchange in terms of volume. It has good liquidity for most alt/BTC pairs.The main issue is that in the past, the biggest crypto exchanges that deal with purely altcoins have all run away with customer money. In the past, this happened with MintPal and Cryptsy, although neither was as big as Poloniex. If Poloniex ever exit scammed, it would likely lead to a crash in many of the altcoins markets.If you are going to use Poloniex, try to limit the amount of time you store money on the exchange. Poloniex is a big target for hackers, and if they succeed the exchange will likely take whatever % of total money the hackers steal and divide that across all customers, like it has in the past.This is one benefit that exchanges like Changelly and Shapeshift have over exchanges like Poloniex. There is much less risk of you losing money to theft or hack.