There’s no doubt that digital coins are the best investment options nowadays.
Back in 2017, Bitcoin had made headlines when it reached an all-time high at nearly $20,000 per coin. Its meteoric rise enticed investors of all kinds – individual and major investors alike. And that’s not entirely surprising given the upbeat forecast of experts and analysts.
Despite its volatility, the cryptocurrency market continues to enjoy an upward trend driven by the rapid development of blockchain, the technology behind cryptocurrencies, and the increased adoption of crypto assets worldwide.
Bitcoin is still the top choice
Although the number of cryptocurrencies has grown tremendously over the past several years, Bitcoin has remained the top choice due to its reputation, security, and relative stability. Not only that, but it is also available at almost every crypto exchange and is widely accepted.
But before you put your money into Bitcoin (or any digital token), it is vital that you gain a deeper understanding of how crypto trading works. One crucial aspect is the crypto exchange or the platform where you will buy and trade Bitcoins.
Leading Bitcoin exchanges
There are various crypto exchanges out there, such as Coinbase, Bitfoliex , Wunderbit, Binance, and many more. It is important to note, however, that not all of these trading platforms are the same. Therefore, you have to carefully select the best exchange to use.
Here, we take a look at the top seven places to buy Bitcoin.
Coinbase
On top of the list, Coinbase is a US-based digital coins exchange with nearly 4.3 million monthly users worldwide. It is accepted by over 75,000 merchants and 15,000 developer apps. The platform does not only enable you to buy but also sale and trade Bitcoins. Buyers can pay through credit/debit cards with a flat transaction fee of 3.99%, the lowest among all other exchanges.
Coinbase has an intuitive user interface and highly secure network architecture. If you are a first-time user, navigating and learning how to use this exchange is quite easy. Some of the downsides of Coinbase include longer transfer duration (usually 3-5 days) and lacks anonymity in your transactions.
BITFOLIEX
Bitfoliex has been widely accepted. With over 866,000 verified users and growing at a steady pace, it is one of the fastest-growing wallets in the world. They started the project on October 2018 and have been steadily growing. Bitfoliex will also soon be incorporating with its exchange any new crypto asset wallets, where people will be able to exchange crypto for other crypto and FIAT money. According to the marketing team, they have exciting new projects and additions to the platform planned for 2020.
An ongoing project linked to Bitfoliex is Traxalt, useful for a more business-like audience. There are a lot of people and businesses wanting to migrate their data and payments to the blockchain that are not sure where to start. Traxalt is the solution: an easy-to-use platform, acting as middleman between businesses and blockchain, reducing 30% in banking and data maintenance costs.
With a strong presence in Europe, Asia, Latin America and many other countries, the mission of Bitfoliex is to bring blockchain technology to the world in a friendly way, removing adoption obstacles and rather enhancing the benefits of efficiency, transparency and accuracy.
Robinhood
If you’re looking for a Bitcoin exchange that is entirely fee-free, then Robinhood is your best bet. Formerly a commission-free stock brokerage platform, Robinhood has dabbled into the digital coins’ market in early 2018 – and is rapidly conquering the competition. The exchange offers maximum flexibility as it can be accessed through its mobile and web version.
The application has a plain and simple, intuitive design, with a very reasonable minimum. Using the app, you can easily buy or trade cryptocurrencies right from your phone or tablet. It is dubbed as “the trading app for the millennials” due to its very liberal rules. Perhaps, the drawback with Robinhood is that it doesn’t enable users to transfer assets to a third-party waller.
Coinmama
Available to almost all countries, Coinmama enables investors to buy Bitcoins using their credit/debit cards. It is among the oldest Bitcoin brokers and claims to be the fastest, safest and easiest to use. The exchange automatically calculates the chargeable rates and conversion fees, so using an online calculator is not necessary. For beginners, the platform is quite self-explanatory and a good starting point. However, more experienced crypto traders might need to consider using a different exchange. It comes with high buying limit at $5,000 per day and $30,000 per month. The transaction fee is around 6% (one of the highest rates) although EU customers can use SEPA transfer with lower rates.
Coinbase Pro
If you are an experienced trader and want to trade higher volumes, then use Coinbase Pro for buying Bitcoins. It has a stern-looking trading platform which is much like the Bloomberg terminals, used primarily by active stock traders.
An advantage of Coinbase Pro is that it has very low charges fees that range from 0.10 and 0.30 percent depending on your purchase. This exchange is popular amongst major traders that transact huge volumes daily. But perhaps the best advantage of this exchange is that it ensures investments up to $250,000. Furthermore, crypto assets are stored in physical form offline to avoid any cyber threats.
Binance
Binance is a Malta-based digital coins exchange with a very low transaction fee of 0.05% per trade. Aside from Bitcoin, the site supports other significant crypto assets and is available in different languages. It also enables you to convert Bitcoin into any other altcoin.
Binance handles a high volume of crypto trades, which makes it easier to buy and sell digital coins at a reasonable price. In addition to this, this exchange also has an intuitive, well-designed app that makes things easier for new traders.
Localbitcoins
Another great place to buy bitcoins, Localbitcoins offers P2P (person-to-person) crypto trading. It provides a platform where buyers and sellers can connect.
Founded in 2012, Finland-based exchange comes with a wide selection of payment options. Users can send payment through any fund transfer method, such as Paypal, Skrill, Moneygram, etc., as agreed upon by both parties. If the seller is trading Bitcoin, a 1% commission fee is charged. However, since transactions occur directly between traders, there is no facility for credit/debit card payments.
To help secure transactions, Localbitcoins uses escrow payment method. This can be a good platform if you carefully select sellers. The only problem with P2P transactions is that there is a chance of being connected with scammers.
