Yesterday I was talking to a friend about crypto purchases and he had brought up the annoying fees that he was getting charged with for every ethereum or litecoin purchase he made. I asked him how much the fees were and he gave me numbers from 15-30 because he was using Coinbase for transactions?!? Keep in mind he makes small purchases too so I don't know how much the fees would be when others are trading larger quantities of crypto.
I then reminded him about GDAX but he told me it looked complicated and intimidating versus the Coinbase platform. To be fair I can agree with him, the first time I hopped on GDAX it looked like charts and numbers on large amounts of cocaine because numbers were fluctuating like crazy and I had no idea at the time what was going on.
But honestly, the amount of money I feel as though you can save from using GDAX rather than Coinbase is so much more! Add it up together including the deposit fees and what not and you have a whole pool of extra money you could be spending on other coins! So for those who are still using Coinbase, I urge you to try out GDAX. It's simple to use, cheaper to use, and much more updated in terms of coin values.
To start off, you do need a Coinbase account. Coinbase and GDAX are linked so when you have USD in one platform you can transfer to the other instantly with ZERO FEES
First off head to gdax.com after you have put in money into your USD wallet on Coinbase. Head to gdax and click on "withdraw" which should lead you to the image shown above. Select an amount of USD you want to transfer into your gdax balance and simply click withdraw. Easy right?! The next step you want to take is deciding when to buy whether it is BTC, ETH, or LTC. You can also choose to use either a Market order, Limit order, or a Stop order.
A Market Order will allow you to buy a coin currency at the given value it is at currently based on the sell orders provided. This type of transaction will have a fee of 0.3% however because you are considered a "taker" for the order. A Limit Order is a type of transaction that allows you to MAKE the actual order. Simply create an order by stating how much of the coin you want to purchase and the price you would like to purchase it at. Usually with limit orders you want to throw in an order that is lower than what the current market value is at. This allows you to have the order fill automatically when the value drops. In this type of order you are considered the "maker" and will be charged ZERO FEES. Isn't that great?! A Stop Order is a type of order that I want to say is similar to a limit order, however in this case you are selling your currency. If you are asleep and don't want to worry about a market crash or any crazy price fluctuation you can set a stop order which triggers the market to sell however many coins you placed on order at whatever price you put it at. Again this is considered a "maker" order and is charged with ZERO FEES.
The above image shown are the fees that GDAX charges. The bottom image shown displays the fees charged by Coinbase. Big difference right?!?!
Anyways, this is just a simple post to try and bring awareness to those using Coinbase. I do admit that Coinbase is a user-friendly platform that helps you purchase and sell crypto which is why I believe they have the fees that they have. However, when you are more comfortable with the market and idea of cryptocurrency it would be a lot smarter to start using GDAX or maybe even another exchange to avoid the countless fees that Coinbase accrues. Hopefully those that use Coinbase, such as my friend and other friends, begin learning the usage of GDAX and are able to trade more without having to worry about fees and what not!
Disclaimer: Always trade responsibly. I am not a professional trader nor do I give advice on trading. The information above is content from my experience and there may be even more knowledge that I have left out but this is just a basic tutorial. If there is any content I have missed feel free to leave comments and criticism!
I've been using blocktrades, and it seems very slick.
Almost too easy, I make lots of small trades..
Hmm I need to check that one out. Never heard of it before
neat. I might ask you for help on this later.
Omg the @aggroed asking me for help?? I just left for the gym but I'll be home in two hours ish if you need help with gdax
#aggroed for president
GDAX is definitely the way to go. But, you still get charged 1.5% for depositing FIAT into GDAX/Coinbase.
Yup that's if you deposit through debit card. If you deposit with a checking account and transfer to Coinbase it's free however it does take 5 business days. What I do is throw in a transfer every so often so I have fiat always available for gdax.
Coinbase is charging me 4.5% if I use a debit or credit card and 1.5% for using a checking account. Will have to give them a call!
Hmm if you go from checking account to your USD WALLET and not towards the crypto directly it SHOULD be free of charges
Great post Steph! I was looking to buy some steem next weekend and didn't want to use coinbase due to all of the negative news surrounding it recently. Thanks for the detailed explanation on how to use GDAX.
I wouldn't say its negative more user friendly! Lately they have been getting lots of traffic which has caused crashes though but any traffic is good traffic
Excellent post! I just set up my gdax account. I did not know doing this would allow you to bypass the fees!
Thanks! Hopefully you get the hang of gdax. Once you do its extremely simple. I'll probably come out with a small post on what the sell/buy orders mean and how the charts work
Yah, I've used other platforms like thinkorswim. I'm sure I will get the hang of it quickly!
I started with thinkorswim and man that was so much information and material packed into one program
Nice, thanks for the info! Didn't know about GDAX. I bought 2 ETH on Coinbase and suffered the stupid fees. Gonna check out this platform today though!
I know right! When I first started I spent so much money all on fees...
Thank you for the great info. Wanted to ask about adding money to your Coinbase wallet though because there seems to be a lot of fees when depositing from a bank account. Any way of avoiding these as well?
The best way to avoid fees is to abandon coinbase and use the Robinhood app. It currently offers commission-free stock trades, but will soon offer no-fee crypto trading. Register via the link for a free randomized stock: https://share.robinhood.com/tunaida