2019’s Best Cryptocurrency Exchange Platforms for Altcoin Traders
- When buying and trading altcoins like Litecoin, traders will need to register with several cryptocurrency exchanges.
- Coinbase and Binance have been widely regarded as 2018’s best cryptocurrency exchange platforms and should dominate in 2019.
- When starting out trading, users will first need to buy Bitcoin and use this to fund trading accounts on different altcoin exchanges
If you are looking for the best place to buy Bitcoin online, there’s a high likelihood that you are an aspiring Bitcoin and altcoin trader. That said, before diving into the great unknown of cryptocurrency trading, you need a rock solid trading strategy. – This and a thorough understanding of which are the best cryptocurrency exchange platforms that you should be using.
How to Choose the Best Cryptocurrency Exchange for Your Trading Needs
At present, there are hundreds of cryptocurrency exchanges online. New to market traders, though, need to be aware that not all exchanges benefit from a high level of reputability.
Coinbase – The Best Cryptocurrency Exchange for Buying Bitcoin
With over 13 million active users, Coinbase and its accompanying trading platform GDAX, is many people’s first choice of cryptocurrency exchange. – Particularly when starting out trading.
Coinbase & GDAX Benefits:
- Secure know-your-customer protocols allow Coinbase users to register and buy Bitcoin safely & securely
- Coinbase exchange wallets feature arguably the most robust level of security currently on the market
- After purchasing Bitcoin, Coinbase users can immediately use this to trade Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash via GDAX
- North American Coinbase users can link Coinbase Shift Master Cards directly to Coinbase Bitcoin wallet balances
Why Coinbase Isn’t the Best Choice for Pro Altcoin Traders
Sadly, while Coinbase has many merits, the platform isn’t the best cryptocurrency exchange for Pro cryptocurrency traders.
Infamous for suspending trading and freezing customer accounts during peak trading periods, Coinbase caused more than its fair share of controversy in early 2018. Much more importantly, because Coinbase and GDAX only support Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin, Coinbase simply isn’t suited to the needs of more diverse traders.
Binance – The Best Cryptocurrency Exchange for Serious Traders
Because of Coinbases limitations, many traders looking to create a diverse cryptocurrency portfolio, use Coinbase solely to buy Bitcoin.
With Bitcoin balances in hand, the majority of traders then head to exchanges like Binance. This is thanks to the fact that Binance currently makes more altcoins available for trading than any other trading platform. Altcoin traders can, therefore, buy and sell some of the newest to market coins, just as coin prices are starting to take the market by storm.
Binance Benefits:
- Binance offers easy, ID verification-free sign up, coupled with two-factor account authentication and robust platform security
- All popular altcoins and many new to market ICOs can be traded for a rock-bottom 0.1% trading fee
- Binance allows higher daily withdrawals than many other trading platforms
- The Binance trading platform provides users with an intuitive, easy to use trading interface
Binance Cons:
In reality, there are a few negatives associated with using Binance. One potential problem, however, rests with the fact that in recent months, several Binance phishing scams have targeted the site. This being the case, all users need to be careful to always login into the legitimate Binance website and never a clone of the popular trading platform.
Cryptopia – The Best Cryptocurrency Exchange for Experimental Traders
Occasionally referred to as ‘Craptopia’ by traders, Cryptopia is a New Zealand based Bitcoin and altcoin exchange with a less than favorable reputation. At the same time, though, Cryptopia regularly lists new to market coins like Electroneum, before many being listed on more prominent exchanges like Binance. This makes Cryptopia one of the best cryptocurrency exchange platforms for making quick and easy profits, even if a lot of assets listed should be otherwise avoided.
Bitshares – The Best Decentralized Trading Platform
Bitshares might not make headlines as one of the world’s top cryptocurrency exchange platforms. However, for traders looking to trade altcoins like Dash and digital assets pegged to real-world commodities, Bitshares is definitely worth consideration.
Bitshares Benefits:
- Bitshares is completely decentralized and anonymous. This means that no user information is ever shared with government agencies
- When using Bitshares, traders can buy Bitcoin using fiat cash and trade several leading altcoins like Dash, Ethereum, Steem, and Tether
- Traders using Bitshares can buy and sell ‘Bit Assets’ where cryptocurrency coin values are pegged to real-world commodities
Changelly
One of the best sites to obtain bitcoin and altcoins is by using a cryptocurrency exchange website.
Is this a trusted site? We at 4btcnews have personally tested the site and many of our partners, and to date, we are quite pleased. Changelly is in partnership with Jaxx, one of the most prominent wallets in the crypto community. Changelly’s API is built directly into the application, allowing frictionless conversions between different cryptocurrencies available in Jaxx wallet.
With Changelly, you can not only buy coins but you can also exchange between various cryptocurrencies. The interface is easy to use with several features that make the experience streamlined.
Changelly allows you to buy bitcoins or other cryptos using a credit/debit card. Using a credit or debit card does, however, incur higher fees.
Features of Changelly:
Buy Bitcoin using a credit/debit card.
Exchange Bitcoin into any supported cryptocurrency.
Supports USD Tether (USDT).
Exchange fees are only 0.5%.
Create a user’s account so that you can track your past exchanges.
These features make your buying and exchanging transactions a painless experience. The account history keeps you up to date since the exchange doesn’t often happen in real time. Whenever you log in to your account you can choose to see the status of your current & past exchanged cryptocurrency.
Some may want to use Bitshares:
Bitshares is arguably the best cryptocurrency exchange for decentralization advocates. At the same time, though, limited high-demand trading pairs mean that users can’t buy and sell as many altcoin offerings as they can on exchanges like Binance.
Cryptocurrency Trading Platforms to Avoid in 2019
Needless to say, as well as the exchanges so far listed, there exist several others which are well worth considering. These include the likes of BitPanda and Poloniex.
Sadly, there are also several exchanges which should be avoided. What is more, top of that list is US-based exchange Kraken. This is due to the fact that persistent user login bugs regularly see customers locked out of accounts. Worse, as well as this being a long-running issue, Kraken customer support is often lacking to altogether non-existent.
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