The Best Cryptocurrency Exchange in 2019

We all know how hard it is to stay on track with the huge amount of cryptocurrency exchanges available. Which is the most trustworthy one, where can we expect the best trading deals or to put it simply, which one is the best?

Kraken is a famous exchange for coins and tokens. It is well-established with many years of experience in customer service. Beginners and experience traders will find here their individual exchanges.

Overall, the state of the cryptocurrency market doesn’t matter. Some critiques say the crypto world is experiencing a downfall. In any case, digital currencies will be our future, so we all should be able to choose best cryptocurrency exchange for our individual needs.

Overview of the Best Cryptocurrency Exchanges

I provided a short list for you, to have a quick glance at which exchanges might be the best for your own personal use case. You know how it is, “best” is a relative term – what might be the best option for me doesn’t have to be as equally useful for you. That is why, I thought it would be best if I provide you with different kinds of “best”.

  1. Best overall – Binance
  2. Most advanced tech – Binance
  3. Best fee rates – Binance, KuCoin, Bitmex
  4. Largest amount of supported coins – Bitrex, Cryptopia
  5. Best support of countries – Binance, Coinbase
  6. Best overall service – Binance, Coinbase
  7. Unique Exchange – Poloniex

Definition of a Cryptocurrency Exchange

The main purpose of a crypto exchange is being able to buy, sell and even trade different cryptocurrencies. To do so, you can either use fiat money (Euro, USD etc.) or exchange your crypto coins for others.

A screenshot of Bittrex´s trading charts

Different Types of Crypto Exchanges

The major difference between crypto trading sites is the fact of how you proceed with swapping your coins or tokens there. Do they allow fiat money or is it simply a crypto to crypto exchange? Fiat exchanges allow the user to buy crypto with your everyday currencies (like USD or Euro) and even to exchange it with it. Crypto exchanges just allow swapping one cryptocurrency for another – convenient if you’re already the owner of some form of digital currency.

Crypto exchanges are divided into different categories:

  • Direct trading platforms: Simple peer to peer trading, without a middleman, which means direct trading between seller and buyer
  • Traditional crypto exchanges: Here we come across the typical middleman, that’s why you’ll need to pay fees for trading
  • Crypto brokers: They allow buying and selling by traders for a price which was pre-determined. Here you will have trading fees as well.

Coinbase is a famous example for direct trading.

Snapshot of the advanced user interface for trading at Coinbase Pro

Start with Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Let us begin the cryptocurrency exchange reviews with Coinbase as an example. Afterward, I’ll go over some of the key factors that will form your decision on where to buy cryptocurrency from and then provide you with the best representatives for each category.

First, you have to register, which is pretty easy. Just create your identity with your email and that’s it. You can now buy any cryptocurrency (for a small transaction fee) either with your credit card or your bank account.

If you decide to trade with the currency you bought now, first you have to move it to the GDAX trading platform. After that it will be visible in you balance and you can start to trade.

Factors to Pay Attention To

1. Security

The most important factor to consider should always be the security of a platform. You don’t want to get hacked and lose all your funds. Sometimes an integrated wallet can be a sign of better security.

2. Supported Cryptocurrencies

This should be self-explanatory. For some of us it’s important to have “the right” currencies available, but for other traders it’s important to have an enormous number of supported coins on the exchange. Every trader is different.

3. Fees

Fees and commissions always play a role. Actually, it doesn’t matter if you trade with high volume or not. It´s always good to be aware of the amount of fees you must pay for transactions.

4. Payment Method

Most traders use traditional methods of payment, such as credit card, cash, PayPal or wire transfer etc. Others are more privacy conscious, so they turn to OTC (Over the Counter) deals – paying someone in person for them to trade you their cryptocurrency. This method, although convenient, leaves the trader vulnerable to scams, so be advised.

5. Location

Often the hosting location of the exchange platform plays a special role. Depending on the country it’s located in, the legislation might affect day-to-day operations as well the supported coins. The differences can be huge from one country to another.

6. Ease of Use

We all know how it is – trading makes way more fun when it’s easy to use the interface and not too complicated. So, keep an eye out for the convenience of the platform when you’re deciding for a cryptocurrency trading site.

Best in General

Binance is for me the general winner. That cryptocurrency exchange is combining a user-friendly interface, a lot of coins (over 140), and it’s also interesting for advanced traders.

Binance offers a mobile app for Android and iOS. It has a really low (0,1%) standard fee which is making it pretty profitable.

Best Technology

Binance is again a leading example when it comes to technology and the user interface. You can call it simple or easy to use, but the technology combines everything.

Binance is the place where you can buy cryptocurrency securely and additionally to that, it’s one of the most reliable with more or less no downtime.

Best for Fees

Binance has is also a leader when it comes to really low (0,1%) trading fees. Something specific to the exchange: if you decide to use their Binance coin (BNB) then you can count on a reduced fee.

KuCoin has a similar fee strategy. They have a special offer as well, that when you trade with their KuCoin Shares (KCS) you will reduce the fee by 50%.

BitMex´s trading fees are pretty low and that’s why it’s definitely worth a look. Here you can find a low maker and taker fee. Check out their fee system and convince yourself.

Best Amount of Supported Coins

Bittrex supports more than 100 different tokens, which you can take as a huge amount. So, it´s definitely worth a try.

Cryptopia has a supply of altcoins which is enormous – you can find over 400.

For sure, on other exchanges you can also find great choices of tokens and altcoins, like on Changelly, Kucoin or Binance.

Best Countries Supported

On Binance you can trade from almost any country in the world. It’s an impressive fact, when you consider the fact that it’s based in China.

Bittrex is a fiat crypto exchange and supports over 200 countries. Something to note, however, it’s not available across all states in the U.S.

Best Service Offered

When you think of different services for crypto exchanges, then you must consider things like money transfers, digital wallets, protection (insurance) of your funds, offline storage etc.

Offline or removable storage is needed when data has to be accessed or even edited. A crypto wallet can be seen as a program which stocks public and private keys. With its help, you can receive digital cryptocurrencies and also send you own coins to other users. My suggestion here is Binance, Bittrex and Coinbase. All three have the best offers.

Conclusion

For me it’s clear that Binance is the best cryptocurrency exchange in 2019. It combines everything for beginners and advanced traders – simplicity, safety, great crypto offers etc.

Everyone should ask himself what is necessary for their own use of a crypto trading site. With my overview you should have now a short overview on what to focus during your choosing process.