Best Crypto Exchanges 2022 - Some of the Top Choices

Best Crypto Exchanges

There is certainly no shortage of crypto exchanges operating around the world today. However, it goes without saying that they aren’t all of the same quality, and they don’t all offer the same benefits either. For that reason, rather than covering the sea of exchanges out there today, we’d like to focus our efforts on highlighting the very best exchanges that the market has to offer. After all, if you register with the very best, you are likely to have the best crypto trading experience possible.

• eToro - best overall crypto exchange
• Pepperstone - best crypto exchange for low fees
• Coinbase - best crypto exchange for beginners
• Binance - best crypto exchange for enthusiasts

eToro - visit here

67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

eToro, technically speaking, operates as a brokerage platform. This means that they allow users to trade cryptos with other investors by working as somewhat of a middleman. However, since eToro is available through a desktop site and mobile app, this is one of the speediest and most user-friendly brokerage sites in the business. As for the benefits of using eToro compared with some of the other exchanges, there are some fairly obvious advantages. First and foremost, eToro is one of the few sites that facilitates social trading - a major competitive advantage. 

Social trading is an activity where you can essentially copy the trades of other, more seasoned investors, and therefore you get to copy their investment performance. This has proved to be very popular among younger investors. In addition to this, eToro has zero fees for crypto transactions, which not many exchanges can boast. As for the crypto selection that users have to choose from, there are more than 80 different pairs to peruse at your leisure.

Remember that all of this is available through a professional mobile app, giving users true freedom and flexibility for crypto trading. 

>>> Sign up to eToro here <<<

Cryptoasset investing is unregulated in most EU countries and the UK. No consumer protection. Your capital is at risk. CFD crypto trading is unavailable for clients residing in the UK and US. 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Pepperstone - visit here

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 72.2% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Pepperstone is another fantastic crypto exchange. Popularly branded as a Forex trading platform, Pepperstone actually has a number of markets users can trade. Of course, this includes crypto, with tight spreads, MT4 and MT5 trading software, and a 99.7% fill rate on all orders. Pepperstone is a site that also supports zero fees for deposits, withdrawals, and you won’t be charged for inactivity either! However, small fees do apply for trades that are executed for crypto, regardless of how you invest. In total, Pepperstone supports more than 1,200 financial instruments, with a growing portfolio of cryptos to invest in.

>>> Sign up to Pepperstone here <<<

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 72.2% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Coinbase - visit here

Coinbase initially rose to fame by operating as one of the world’s most secure digital wallets. However, while the digital wallet is still hugely popular, there are certain negatives such as limited coins and higher fees. But for those who plan on utilizing an exchange platform to trade crypto, Coinbase has another option known as Coinbase Pro. At the time of writing, Coinbase Pro offers more than 100 cryptos for users to trade, and the fees can be as low as 0.5%, which varies based on the size of the trade. 

This platform is also available through a very slick and professional app, which can be installed on either Android or iOS. Coinbase Pro also has some fantastic trading tools such as graphical representations for things like trading volume and price fluctuations. 

Binance - visit here

Binance is one of the most sophisticated exchange platforms out there. The interface and tools that Binance has are just sublime - perfect for professional traders to get the most from their experience. The standard interface on the exchange displays a constant ledger of recent trades, as well as percentage changes, trading volume, and you can even access recent news relating to individual coins too. And within the exchange, there are more than 500 available trading pairs, involving GBP, USD, ETH, BTC, ADA, and countless others. 

But perhaps most impressive, Binance has some of the most diverse product offerings of all of these exchanges. Members can trade in the traditional way, use a P2P exchange, stake their coins, and even transfer funds into a Binance wallet if desired. On the downside, Binance isn’t quite as competitive when it comes to fees!

How to Sign Up to a Crypto Exchange

Now that we have broken down some of the pros and cons of the main exchange platforms, we’d like to also outline just how easy it is to register with them. There is a fairly standard process required to open an online investment account, and in terms of personal requirements, you must be over the legal investing age and be a resident of a crypto-supported country. Providing that you satisfy these criteria, you can set yourself up with a new trading account by running through the following:

The Registration Process

First thing’s first, you have to actually create your online account before you can invest in any cryptos at all. This is required at all exchange platforms, in accordance with FCA, ASIC, and FINRA (to name a few) regulations. So, once you’ve decided which exchange site you’d like to join (we recommend you join eToro) you must create a fresh username and password for that site. Your username has to be unique, and the password must be strong so that it cannot be hacked into easily. From here, it’s time to supply the site with your personal details.

In order for the site to verify that you are legally allowed to trade crypto, you must provide your name, DOB, address, contact information, and title. Once these details have been shared, you can then set up any security questions that you wish to implement for your account. And finally, you must agree to the site’s terms and conditions before officially opening the account. 

>>> Register with eToro here <<<

67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provide

Verifying Your Details

Opening your account is just the first step in the process. Note that anyone could actually go ahead and open an account, but in order to enjoy unrestricted access to all products and services, your details must be verified. Some people assume that this is a complex and slow process, but we can assure you that this isn’t true. While you are signed in, you can head into your account profile where you should see a link to verify your details. On that note, there are two things that the site needs to confirm - that you are resident in your stated country and that you are over the legal investing age.

So, concerning ID verification, you are usually able to scan or upload a photo of either your driving license or passport. Since these documents have both your name and date of birth on them, this takes care of proving who you are. But in addition to this, you must then demonstrate that you are a legal resident, by proving your address. In order to do this, you can upload either a bank statement or utility bill, which usually needs to be a recent document (within the last 3 months in many cases).

After you have submitted this information, your account should get verified within a few hours.

Depositing Funds

Crypto coins might be classified as digital assets, but your very first purchase of a crypto coin must be executed in fiat currency. This describes currencies that are legal tender in regulated countries, such as GBP, AUD, EUR, and USD (among others). And in order to deposit some fiat into your account, you can choose between a range of supported payment methods on our recommended exchanges. In terms of the main methods, you’ll typically find a selection of the following:

• Debit Cards
• Credit Cards
• Neteller
• Skrill
• PayPal
• Bank Transfers
• Prepaid cards
• Trustly

Note that the exact selection of banking methods supported at your chosen exchange can vary. In addition to this, whether you will incur fees for deposits, what the minimum transaction values are, and how long the deposit will take to come through also depends on your chosen site. But once you actually have some funds in your account, you are then ready to make your first crypto investment, which brings us to our final point.

Making Your First Crypto Purchase

With funds deposited into your account, you can start to browse through the list of coins that each platform has available. Naturally, the coins that you choose to purchase are completely up to you, as is the method of payment you wish to use. But with crypto exchanges, you can usually enjoy a selection of 100+ coins through the very best platforms, and trades can be executed immediately. Of course, you must have the required funds to cover your desired trade, unless you are planning on engaging in leverage trading, which carries significant risks. 

It also goes without saying that you don’t have to stick with whatever coins you purchase first and foremost. Should you want to diversify your holdings, you can easily buy and trade all coins supported on the platform. 

>>> Buy Crypto with eToro here <<<

67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

Best Bitcoin Exchange

Although the crypto market is now highly diversified, with hundreds of legitimate projects up and running, Bitcoin is still the godfather of them all. Not only is this the very first crypto coin that emerged and subsequently gave birth to the crypto industry, but it is also the largest by market cap. At the time of writing, Bitcoin also carries significant value, being priced at over £30,000 per coin. And regardless of which crypto exchange you register with, we can almost guarantee that Bitcoin will be a supported asset. 

On that note, there are two exchanges that we feel have a better selection than others when it comes to trading Bitcoin. Check out a review for each of these exchanges right here:

eToro - visit here

67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

We’ve covered some of the key benefits of choosing eToro over other sites previously. But still, if you’d like a refresher, eToro is a site that allows users to buy and sell cryptos through a variety of products. It is also one of the only sites that boast zero transaction fees, alongside giving members options like social trading, virtual portfolios to practice with, and so much more. Specifically for Bitcoin, you can trade this asset in multiple currencies, stake Bitcoin for rewards, and use Bitcoin as a trading pair for other assets. 

If desired, you can also take advantage of leverage trades as well as advanced trades through spot orders. After you sign up with eToro, you can also choose to hold Bitcoin in an eToro wallet, use the exchange, or take advantage of the many brokerage services related to this coin.

>>> Sign up to eToro here <<<

67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

Pepperstone - visit here

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 72.2% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Pepperstone is relatively new to the crypto trading game. However, new certainly doesn’t mean subpar in this instance. Looking at the current offering, Pepperstone offers highly competitive CFD trading for Bitcoin. The fees are extremely low for executing any Bitcoin trades through this exchange, and you can trade in several currencies. As for the spreads, these are amazingly competitive, meaning that you can acquire Bitcoin as near the market price as possible. It’s also possible to engage in leverage trading for Bitcoin, at ratios of 2:1. 

And since you’ve got advanced trading software including MT4 and MT5 at your disposal, this is about as professional as you can get right now.

>>> Sign up to Pepperstone here <<<

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 72.2% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

How to Choose the Best Crypto Exchange

While we have shortlisted the top crypto exchanges throughout this piece, we feel it is beneficial to dive a little deeper and give you some insights as to how these decisions were made. After all, anyone could shortlist a range of investment platforms and claim them to be the best. But that leaves users somewhat in the dark as they approach the decision as to where they invest. To avoid that, we’d like to highlight some key areas that you must look at before signing up with any exchange.

User Experience

Putting the actual range of products or cryptos aside for a moment, the user experience is often an overlooked area. When we say user experience, we mean how easy the platform is to use, how well it has been designed, and whether it performs well in general. After all, you could sign up with the best crypto exchange in the world, but if it is overly complex or difficult to use, your ultimate experience will not be satisfactory.

Payment Methods

Generally speaking, top crypto exchanges tend to let users process deposits via a range of trusted methods. In terms of what these might be, you’ll usually see methods such as credit and debit cards, bank transfers, prepaid cards, and e-wallets. The more methods available, the greater the chance is that you’ll find a method that you’d prefer to use. With that said, not all methods will have the same processing speeds or the same transaction minimums. 

Some might also involve fees, which is why you must assess each of these things prior to processing a deposit or withdrawal.

Fees

Fees can be charged by crypto exchanges for various things. Of course, each of these fees takes money out of your account, and subsequently reduces the capital you have available for investing. In terms of what areas fees apply to, you could see fees for deposits, withdrawals, trades, and even for inactivity at some platforms. With that said, there are platforms out there that have all but eliminated fees for several of these areas. And the more you can reduce your fees, the more cash you’ll keep to invest.

Regulation

Crypto is a regulated market in many parts of the world, meaning that it is officially legal to buy and sell various coins within certain borders. In this sense, you’ve not got much to worry about when it comes to the market as a whole. However, individual coins certainly can fall victim to regulations in different countries around the world. Take XRP as a prime example - the Ripple project is still facing a legal battle against the SEC in the US, which has greatly impacted the price.

Range of Cryptos

Much like the range of payment methods discussed above, the more cryptos that a site has available, the better things are doing to be. After all, there is nothing more frustrating than identifying a potentially great investment only to find that your chosen site doesn’t support it. But while an exchange might actually support your preferred crypto, you still need to identify what trading pairs are available for that specific coin. 

>>> Visit eToro here to get started <<<

67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

Final Thoughts

When all is said and done, crypto exchanges are safe and reputable platforms that can be used to buy and sell various crypto coins. In addition to favourable spreads, fees, and the overall range of coins, they offer an ideal solution for people who want to actively trade crypto. Sure, crypto exchanges are a little more complex concerning how they function, at first. But once you’ve experimented with the tools, products, and you get used to the trading information that is available, you shouldn’t have too much trouble.

To conclude, we recommend that you sign up with eToro for the best crypto trading experience. Signing up takes a matter of minutes, and since you’re here, you are just moments away from getting involved in the crypto industry. 

>>> Sign up to eToro now <<<

67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

FAQs

What is a crypto exchange?

A crypto exchange is a trading platform designed for professionals, usually boasting a wide range of cryptos for you to invest in. Crypto exchanges also support instant trades, lower fees, and better spreads compared to other platforms such as digital wallets.

Which is the best crypto exchange?

Weighing up all of the pros and cons of the various crypto exchanges available right now, we are confident in stating that eToro is the best. We believe this to be the case due to eToro’s fees, its range of products, and the user experience that it offers through its cutting edge mobile app.

67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

Is it safe to use crypto exchanges?

Yes. Crypto exchanges are regulated just like other investment platforms, and they use state of the art firewall technology to protect user data. At the same time, encryption software is used to ensure that transactions go through smoothly.