Best Cryptoexchanges of 2018

You have made up your mind about investing in Crypto after seeing your friends ride the crypto wave. Now all you need to know is which exchanges to consider for trading and where to store your hard-earned crypto i.e. crypto wallets. Therefore, this post is here to help you learn about the best crypto-exchanges of 2018.

So let's satisfy that curiosity of yours, shall we?

And we'll start with

What is a Cryptoexchange?

A Cryptoexchange is identical to a Stock exchange. You trade stocks on a stock exchange and cryptocurrencies on a crypto exchange. There are several exchanges like Binance, Bittrex, Poloniex, etc and their goal is pretty simple: "To provide its end users a fair and orderly opportunity to invest in the cryptomarket along with a convenient trading experience."

They make money by charging a small transaction fee for all the transactions that take place on their system.

As the crypto craze gains traction more exchanges may get established.

Things to consider before choosing an exchange:

Needless to say that security and reputation are at the top of the list when it comes to selecting exchanges.

Some exchanges may also restrict your access because you live in a certain country like India, Pakistan, etc.

Moving on...

As is the case with all exchanges, websites, platforms, etc, if the UI isn't a convenient experience people don't even bother to stay. If anyone may have accidentally signed up then she/he will leave and switch sites. Therefore, UI must be a convenient experience for increased customer retention.

Besides, that other factors to be taken into consideration are order types, altcoins, transaction fees, and payment options. Traders also love it if the platform consists of margin trading features.

Ultimately, it all depends on your preferences i.e. your goal.

Are you looking to trade or invest?

Because if you're looking to trade then you would chase certain features like tools for performing technical analysis, fast transactions and small transactions fees, ease of trade and reputation, etc.

But if investing is your primary goal then you may want to opt for exchanges with high reputation, ease of access and great security features.

( Friendly advice don't store your cryptos on an exchange. Use a hardware wallet like Ledger Nano S, Trezor, etc for storing your crypto because they're a lot safer than online exchanges.)

Airght, now that we know "what is a crypto exchange and things to consider before choosing one"; let's see the best crypto exchanges for 2018.

Best CryptoExchanges for 2018

1). Binance:

https://www.binance.com/

Fiat support: No.
Altcoin support: Yup.
Order types: Market, Limit, and Stop Limit Order.
Transaction fees: 0.1% regardless of maker or taker.

Binance means binary+finance. Hence, the name Binance.

It's a hong kong based exchange which has gained a lot of traction in the past couple of years. Although the exchange is China-based it has been registered outside of China. The reason for this is that China has banned Cryptoexchanges within its country.

It has a low transaction fee of 0.1% because it was partially funded by its own ICO(BNB) in 2017. I also like its incubator feature because it helps pre-ICO blockchain based startups in achieving their goals. The platform currently hosts 331 altcoins along with Bitcoin for trading. Besides this, there are tons of altcoins available for trading on Binance like Binance Coin, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Nano, Neo, Litecoin, etc.

However, a drawback of this platform is that you cannot deposit fiat money into your Binance Account. Therefore, you have to buy bitcoins from another exchange and accordingly fund your binance account.

The user interface of this platform consists of a basic and an advanced view.

The basic view is useful for beginners to the platform.

The advanced view provides veterans basic tools for performing a fundamental technical analysis.

It is also an exchange that has made Android and IoS apps for its users.

In conclusion, it's good for traders eyeing a unique platform along with an extensive selection of altcoins and low transaction fee.

But not good for people that are NOT interested in knowing about Chinese Crypto Regulations.

Check it out here.

2). Bittrex:

https://bittrex.com/
Fiat support: No
Altcoin support: Awesome
Order types: Market, Limit, Stop Limit.
Transaction fees: High.

Bittrex is a US Based exchange having users from across the globe. It aims to support as many altcoins as possible including fresh and emerging coins on the crypto arena.

As of now, they support 190 altcoins. The exchange is well regulated and in full compliance with all the necessary United States virtual currency laws. Therefore, you can safely trade on this platform.

However, the transaction fees is on the higher end of the spectrum (i.e. 0.25% ON ALL TRADES) for now.

Bittrex provides two types of accounts to its users:

A). Basic account: This allows you to withdraw funds equivalent of
3 BTC/day. Good for beginners because they are usually risk-averse.

B). Advanced account: This allows you to withdraw 100 BTC/day. Good for veterans because they're risk takers.

Even though, the above feature sounds cool you need to bear in mind that like Binance, Bittrex also doesn't support depositing fiat money on its platform. This means that you have to buy bitcoins from another platform and transfer them to your bittrex account.

Their user interface is clean and intuitive which allows newbies to understand how the platform functions with ease. They also provide advanced trading tools like candlestick charts and crosshairs so that veterans can also jump onboard and make them a fortune.

In conclusion, it's good for those traders looking for an exchange with a wealth of coins to trade with on the platform.

But if low fees is what you want then it might not be a good idea to choose this platform for your trading requirements. The reason for this is that you'll have to pay a 0.25% fees on this platform in comparison to the 0.1% on Binance.

Now what this means is that if you place trade orders worth of 100$ in a day you'll have to pay 25 cents as a transaction fee on Bittrex. Whereas on Binance the same trade order would have cost you a cent. That's 24 cents less than bittrex.

If you multiply this by 100 it means 24$ on Bittrex and only a dollar on Binance.

Therefore, this isn't the place to be if low trading fees is what you're after for fulfilling your requirements. (Sorry for a lengthy conclusion.)

Register a free account here.

3). Bitfinex:

https://www.bitfinex.com/
Fiat support: Yes.
Altcoin support: Moderate.
Order types: Market, Limit, Stop Limit, trailing stop and
margin trading.
Transaction fees: Moderate.

Bitfinex is another cool exchange in the crypto community. It's a hong-kong based company and has been in business since 2014. The platform allows you to trade 61 cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, BitcoinCash.

It earlier was focusing on the development of existing accounts and thus had closed the registration of new accounts. But from the 12th of January, 2018 it has re-opened its doors to the public with a small catch. To be fully functional new accounts require a deposit of either 10,000 USD or an equivalent amount of crypto in their account.

Although Bitfinex takes its security very very seriously it got hacked in 2016. Since then it has managed to accept this setback and Bounceback.

An interesting fact about this exchange is that you can trade cryptos by depositing and using USD (you still need to pay a small wire fee worth 20$). So, this feature might give Bitfinex a leg-up over its competitors.

The trading fee charged over here ranges from 0.1 to 0.8%. ( more info. here).

Whenever you deposit or withdraw anything to and from the platform you have to pay a certain fee.

Now if you consider yourself a pro player concerning crypto trading then Bitfinex can offer you an advanced set of trading tools like limit orders, stop orders, trailing stop, fill or kill, TWAP, etc, along with different market charts for practicing technical analysis.

Another interesting and unique feature of Bitfinex is its customizable interface and in-browser notifications.

In conclusion, it is good for veterans in search of the best possible features to up their trading game.

But for traders looking for an ocean of altcoins for fulfilling their trading requirements, this isn't the best possible choice that I recommend.

4). CEX.IO:

https://cex.io/
Fiat support: Yes
Altcoin support: Yes
Order types: Market, limit, stop limit.
Transaction fees: Moderate taker, Lower maker.

A London based country Cex.io is a registered company/crypto exchange in all the districts it operates in.

It has been registered with FinCEN in USA, and with ICO in the UK and EU.

Cex.io allows 99% of the world to trade on its platform except for some countries like Afghanistan, Cuba, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and some states in the US of A like Alabama, Colorado, Florida, etc.

This is also the first cloud mining exchange that allows its end-users cross-platform trading through its mobile app, Web socket, and rest API. Besides that, it also affords its users the feature of instant bitcoin buying and selling through a bundle interface. The platform also has global coverage, multiple payment options, and 24/7 support which is awesome at least for beginners if not veterans.

But an issue that one may face here is that if you want to increase your buying limit on the platform then you have to undergo an elaborative verification process. So, if you're short on patience then I wish you good luck with other platforms on this page.

In conclusion, it's a good choice for individuals and corporates as there are no restrictions on purchasing bitcoins.

But it isn't a good choice for individuals and business on a budget because credit card processing fee is 3.9% plus $0.25 per purchase.

5). Coinbase/GDAX:

https://www.coinbase.com/
Fiat support: Yes
Altcoin support: None
Order types: Market, Limit, Stop Limit.
Transaction fees: Zero maker fees, moderate taker fees.

A well-reputed bitcoin broker/crypto exchange Coinbase is home to traders from 32 countries including North-America, certain parts of Europe, UK, Australia, etc.

I assume this is the first crypto exchange that many people to the crypto arena got familiarized with in their crypto career. But if this isn't the case then please let me know the first exchange that you had encountered in your crypto career.

Moving on ...

It only supports Singapore so our Asian community has to look elsewhere including me. For now, it's playing only in the large players i.e. Bitcoin, Bitcoin cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, etc. Payments can be made after authorizing a bank account or through a credit card ( be ready to pay a higher transaction fee for this ). You can also use SEPA transfer, Interac Online, etc for buying and selling.

However, it is a little unique in the sense that it allows you to deposit fiat currency before you begin trading on this platform.

GDAX an extension of the primary exchange Coinbase operates as a traditional exchange offering its users a real-time marketplace where its users can trade the above-mentioned coins.

But, in my opinion, it's more of a traditional exchange as in its users can trade their bitcoins for other coins. An analogy to explain this point is that you can swap your Bitcoins for Ethereum, etc.

Currently, you don't need to pay any fees for transferring funds from Coinbase to Gdax because these platforms are interlinked with each other.

The user interface of both Coinbase and Gdax is quite intuitive and should be easy to figure out for both beginners and veterans to the crypto arena.

In conclusion, this platform is good for newbies that are looking for a simple platform that meets their trading needs.

But it isn't good for veterans looking for a host of advanced features that could assist them in performing technical analysis along with a large selection of coin pairs to trade in on the exchange.

6). KuCoin:

https://www.kucoin.com/
Fiat support: No
Altcoin support: Great
Order types: Market, limit, stop limit
Transaction fees: Low

KuCoin is a chinese exchange that is also called as "people's exchange" and is one of the leading technical trading platforms in the market.

It offers an intuitive and hassle-free exchange where you can trade with BTC, ETH, NEO, USDT, KucoinShares (KCS), etc.

Besides this the platform also provides many popular and unique coins and has 50 coins available for trading. It supports a lot of alt-coins (Neo, Electroneum, Ethereum, etc), emerging coins and recent ICO's as well.

For starters you can deposit any cryptocurrency you prefer into your account and begin trading on this exchange. Trading fees that you have to incur is 0.1% and withdrawal fees vary as per the coin you trade. The UI is great, the order book is active and the trading section integrates with the trading view which is great.

It also offers a mobile app for android and ios for trading your crypto on the go.

In conclusion, this exchange is good for traders wanting to trade in Neo or desirous of having access to rare coins with low fees. But it isn't good for traders looking for a huge selection of coins to trade as other platform have a greater volume of coins in comparison to this exchange.

7). Poloniex:

https://poloniex.com/
Fiat support: No
Altcoin support: Good
Order types: Limit, stop limit and margin trading.
Transaction fees: Moderate

It's a US-based exchange and Tristan D'Agosta is its founder. A trusted and reputable choice for traders looking for a good selection of altcoins Poloniex has been operational since January 2014 and is one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world.

It offers about 100+ cryptocurrencies for trading. So if you want volume as a trader then, in my opinion, nothing beats Poloniex. It even holds the record for the highest volume for ETH trading in 2017.

Apart from that, it has a separate market for trading, buying and selling BTC and ETH. Since it's a crypto only exchange you can also trade using USDT(Tether dollars) apart from the normal crypto coin trading.

It also has zoomable candlestick charts of 5-minutes, 15-minutes, 30-minutes, 2-hours, 4-hours, and 1-day, along with a stop-limit feature for delighting its advanced traders.

The fee structure on this platform is 0.15% to 0.25% on all trades and it depends upon whether you are a maker or a taker.

A major advantage that this platform has to offer is margin trading for shorting coins. However, its UI doesn't possess a lot of advanced features for technical analysis but provides lots of useful info. without looking all cluttered.

In conclusion, it's good for traders looking to do margin trading. But it isn't good for traders eyeing a vast selection of altcoins for trading.

8). ShapeShift:

https://shapeshift.io/
Fiat support: No
Altcoin support: Great
Order types: Market
Transaction fees: Low

A Swiss-based company Shapeshift, I suppose, is one of the most unique exchanges available in the market and has transformed into a popular exchange among traders over the past couple of years. It has been in business since 2015 and adheres to the primary purpose of cryptocurrencies i.e. decentralization. Hence it employs a decentralized trading process on its platform.

Users on this exchange don't need an account to be able to swap Bitcoin for Ethereum. Even though it has no fiat support on its platform, it offers a low ( practically non-existent ) barrier to entry to a large selection of altcoins for its users.

Another case in point is that the Shapeshift Team is currently developing a Prism feature for its end users. But is in closed beta mode. Nevertheless, it has attracted a lot of interest among crypto investors which is good for the platform because who doesn't like new users to their platform.

In conclusion, it's good for traders looking for a quick and decentralized way for swapping their coins. But not good for the traditional investors because it doesn't support fiat currency.