Cryptocurrency exchanges remain the foremost gateway to digital assets, providing platforms through which consumers can buy and sell a wide range of different tokens with a few simple clicks in seconds.
While we’ve seen additional on-ramps emerge in recent years, the number of crypto exchanges continues to grow, and there are hundreds to choose from nowadays. The overwhelming choice makes it difficult for first-time crypto buyers to know which one is best, and even more capable users can struggle to understand the pros and cons of different platforms.
The truth is, that each platform is different, with unique features and security measures and different token listings and fees applied. It’s simply not possible to assess them all, so instead we’re just going to list our pick of the top crypto exchanges based on their advanced trading features, security, ease of use, and other key requirements.
Coinbase: Best Exchange for Beginners
If there’s a single reason why Coinbase has emerged as one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, it must surely be its simplicity. It’s a beginner-friendly platform that also supports an extensive list of digital assets.
Although it’s easy to use, it provides some strong features, including staking rewards, and it makes these extremely accessible too. Its crypto debit card offers 4% cashback, and there’s also a Coinbase Learn section on its website, which provides comprehensive educational materials about different aspects of blockchain and multiple crypto assets. Users can earn rewards here too, by completing short quizzes after learning about something new.
Coinbase wins hands-down in terms of its user-friendliness, but it does sacrifice a few of the more advanced trading features found on other exchanges to do this. There is, however, a more advanced Coinbase Pro platform where many of the more sophisticated trading tools can be found, but there’s a steep learning curve involved.
Another disadvantage of Coinbase’s platform is its trading fees, which are a bit higher and harder to understand than many other platforms we’ve come across. Based on the type and amount of assets being traded, they range from as low as 0.5% to more than 2% in some cases.
VALR: Best Exchange for Secure Trading
Known for being the most prominent crypto exchange in South Africa, VALR supports an extensive range of digital assets and prides itself on the safety of its trading environment. Users can trade over 60 cryptocurrencies via a simple and intuitive UI that makes it easy for new traders to get started.
Thanks to its trustworthy reputation, VALR has accumulated more than 1.2 million users, many of whom are attracted to its comprehensive security protocols so that their assets remain safe. For instance, it makes use of both “hot” and “cold” wallets. It holds enough funds in its hot wallets to facilitate day-to-day trading, with the majority stored offline in cold storage devices that are geographically dispersed access-controlled, and video-monitored, making them all but impenetrable to hackers. Meanwhile, its hot wallets use multi-sig techniques to ensure they’re well protected.
Other security features include two-factor authentication for account access and segregated fiat accounts. It also employs KYC with a fast verification process.
VALR charges a flat 0.75% fee per trade for buying and selling crypto, making it more competitive than many platforms while keeping costs simple. All told it’s an ideal platform for new crypto users and anyone looking for a super-secure trading environment.
Crypto.com: Best Exchange for Advanced Traders
Crypto.com isn’t one of the world’s most recognizable crypto exchanges for nothing. It’s noted for being one of the most comprehensive crypto trading platforms around, available globally in more than 100 countries and offering over 250 cryptocurrencies while supporting more than 20 fiat currencies.
It’s the features for advanced traders that caught our attention. It supports margin and derivative trading in addition to regular spot trading, with up to 10x leverage, making it a great choice for professional traders. In addition, it offers some compelling crypto rewards. By staking CRO tokens through its Crypto Earn program, users can earn up to 14.5% APY. There’s also a Crypto.com Visa card that offers up to 8% cashback in CRO tokens when users spend their crypto in physical stores.
If we’re looking for potential drawbacks, the biggest problem with Crypto.com is the requirement that users hold and stake CRO to take advantage of the discounts on its trading fees. These discounts can be pretty generous, but they’re only available to traders who stake substantial amounts of CRO for at least 30 days. Users are also required to stake CRO to qualify for the highest cashback rewards when using the Crypto.com debit card.
If you don’t stake CRO, the trading fees start at 0.4% for makers and takers, although they do drop much lower for high-volume traders. This makes Crypto.com a great choice for professional traders with vast amounts of capital.
eToro: Best Exchange for Portfolio Diversification
If you’re into trading stocks and shares as well as crypto, then it might be easier to do all of this in one place. If that sounds like a good idea, then eToro may well appeal. It’s a long-established online brokerage platform that has enabled people to trade stocks online for years, and it has since embraced crypto supporting over 40 digital assets.
Like Crypto.com, it offers two kinds of interfaces, with a simplified UI for novices and a much more sophisticated one for experienced traders, enabling them to explore all kinds of charts and trends and utilize advanced trading tools.
It’s key to remember that eToro isn’t a dedicated crypto exchange, and the major downside of that is that it supports far fewer assets than other platforms. But for those who are primarily into stocks and shares and simply looking to diversify into crypto for risk management or other purposes, eToro is a great solution.
In terms of trading fees, eToro keeps it simple with a flat 1% fee on all buying and selling transactions. That’s higher than most dedicated crypto exchanges, but it’s also much easier for traders to calculate how much their costs are.
1inch: Best Exchange for Decentralized Trading
If you’re looking for a decentralized trading experience, look no further than our favorite user-friendly DEX platform 1inch, which doesn’t use custodians. Unlike the centralized platforms discussed above, users always remain in full control of their funds when buying and selling assets.
With 1inch, you’re basically just swapping crypto with other users directly, so there’s no need to create an account. It’s not a typical DEX at all, but rather a DEX aggregator, which means it pools its liquidity and assets from multiple decentralized exchanges into one portal, connecting traders across them all.
If you value privacy and anonymity, 1inch can be a fantastic choice, but beware that it’s not nearly as simple as any of the centralized platforms we’ve mentioned. For one thing, you’ll need to set up your crypto wallet and connect it to the exchange, and the UI itself is much more complex than any CEX platform.
Another major drawback of 1inch is that it doesn’t accept fiat currency. It’s just for crypto-to-crypto trading, which means you’ll need to buy your first crypto somewhere else first of all. On the other hand, 1inch doesn’t charge any trading fees, though users are still required to pay network gas fees for each trade.
