💱 I just did my first trade through Shapeshift, and it was actually cheaper than the exchanges! 🤑
Since I keep my crypto on my hardware wallet because I don't trust exchanges, trading crypto can be an expensive thing to do with all the withdrawal and trading fees. Especially when you want to buy in small batches it starts to really eat away at your portfolio.
I have been trying out decentralized exchanges such as Etherdelta and Bitshares/OpenLedger, which are great because funds remain under my control, but the price action isn't always the best on these decentralized exchanges. Today when I wanted to buy OMG tokens, the price was a couple thousand satoshi's higher on Etherdelta than on Bittrex, which annoyed me. I set my buy orders and hoped for the best, but didn't get in. Then I thought, let's try something like Shapeshift.io for a change!
I had heard of Shapeshift before as a way to trade tokens for other tokens, and I knew a lot of people used services like it (and Changelly) but I always expected to be paying more for my tokens than on a traditional exchange.
However, to my surprise, I was greeted with a cheaper(!) buying price on Shapeshift than I saw on both Etherdelta and Bittrex! And this was including the 'fee' that Shapeshift charges! Of course there was a small transaction cost when I sent my funds to Shapeshift for the transaction (I did an ETH transaction, so 1 cent). The interface was super easy to deal with, and after sending my funds the site kept my nicely up to date as to when the other tokens were sent in return. The whole process took mere minutes, and then I had my newly bought (and cheaper!) OMG tokens!
It makes sense when you think about it... Shapeshift is connected to multiple exchanges, so when you buy through them you always get the cheapest price. Maybe OMG was cheaper on Binance, and Shapeshift got it from there? I don't know.. All I know is that normally I wouldn't manually shop around for the cheapest price so much, but Shapeshift does this for me which is great for the cheapest price. And they do it so well that the trading cost isn't noticable because it gets cancelled out by the 'discount'.
I've been advocating Etherdelta lately for those who trade through a hardware wallet like the Ledger Nano S, but I think I am going to switch my recommendation to services such as Shapeshift.io. It's not decentralized, that's for sure, but you do get to trade out of your own wallet and funds only leave when you actively make a transaction.. and then only for a few minutes. The downside is that you have to take the price 'as is' and there is no way to set Buy or Sell orders at your desired price. Then again, it's not an exchange as such and that's not what it is meant for. However, if you manage to spot a low price and you want to buy in now, but sure to check Shapeshift.io and Changelly because the prices may end up being cheaper for you there than elsewhere! And it's a way to trade tokens, without having to pay those insanely expensive withdrawal fees that exchanges charge. For example, Bittrex charges a 0.1 OMG withdrawal fee which is about $0.65, which is quite a large percentage if you make a small trade for one or two OMG tokens at a time (which I like to do, ladder my buys. Also, it keeps my busy with the hobby!). By trading through Shapeshift, not only did I get a $0.20 discount on my OMG tokens to begin with, I also saved me that withdrawal fee. That's basically free money in terms of profit!
So next time you trade, and if you have your funds in a private wallet, be sure to check out Shapeshift.io or Changelly.com. Trade cheaper and keep your funds safe in your hardware wallet!
Unfortunately, at this time liquidity on most decentralized exchanges is very poor. Btw, I've hard some horror stories with big orders on Changelly.
Oh yes, I am not sure if I would be using Shapeshift or Changelly as a whale to be honest.. But for buying a few crypto's here and there in small batches it seems to work perfectly.
I did notice that there was a 16 BTC deposit limit.
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That's really good to know because I always heard that shapeshift was more expensive. Well actually I've heard mixed reviews. Some say more expensive some say that its an average of all the exchanges (so higher than some lower than others). I've never used it but may consider it now. Thanks for the info
Yeah, definitely check it out next time you want to trade. It may be a little more expensive than the cheapest price available, because they tack on a small fee, so it surprised me too to be able to buy cheaper than on Bittrex. But it works for me!
Thanks for the info that clarifies a lot!! was wondering if I should use Shapeshift or not xD
It works wonderfully work me!
I really like both Changelly and Shapeshift. My biggest contention right now is that neither of them trade in STEEM!
Actually, I was just checking out changelly.com more thoroughly, and they DO exchange STEEM as well as SBD!!!! :) Shapeshift doesn't, it looks like though.
I just checked the price for NEO on Changelly, and it's cheaper than on Bittrex (plus Bittrex charges fees).Looks like Changelly is generally a little cheaper than Shapeshift in fact.
I'm starting to like these things
heh, me too. I like the exchanges for some small-scale trading for arbitrage, but I don't really like to get my coins from them otherwise.
I am glad to hear Changelly is offering Steam again. I had seen STEEM was at a really low price of $0.82 recently and I wanted to dump my Doge into it, but they said it was unavailable. (maybe it was maintenance of some type?) I have also heard Kraken is a good exchange, but i have never been able to access it.
Yes that's very true, I wish they did that as well! And SBD!
Question, how does Shapeshift handle the tax man?
Also, I wrote this article which is targeted to people who feel it is too late to get in and participate in the exploding crypto/blockchain sector. https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@motowngold/bitoin-crosses-7000-dollars-what-can-you-do-about-it-some-investing-ideas-including-crypto-related-stocks
I've no idea how it works with the tax man. Since Shapeshift is a company, you basically send crypto to them and they send it back. So they are likely to keep records of which address sent to them and which address they sent back to. Probably they also store your IP.
So if you're looking to dodge the taxman and keep your funds anonymous, Shapeshift may not be THE best way. Although most other ways also leave a 'digital trail' for those willing to spend enough time and dedication into figuring it out
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