The number of platforms designed for margin trading in cryptocurrencies increases every year and this type of virtual money is increasingly used to buy goods and pay for services. What are the largest cryptocurrency exchanges today and why? We propose to consider the rating of the TOP biggest crypto exchanges as of September 2021.
Binance
The exchange was created in 2017 by entrepreneur Changpeng Zhao. The platform specializes in trading digital and fiat currencies. There the number of trading pairs exceeds 600. The exchange also has its own cryptocurrency called Binance Coin (BNB), which can be used to pay fees within the system or as a separate tender. Binance also has its own stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD) — its price is always $1.
The Binance platform has the following advantages:
- a minimum amount of purchases is $15;
- relatively low fee;
- a wide list of supported currencies and trading pairs;
- support of 38 language versions of the site;
- implementation of margin trading;
- FDIC users fund insurance;
- a convenient mobile app for Android and iOS.
Binance is a whole ecosystem, which includes different types of stock exchange platforms — centralized, decentralized (DEX-exchange) and over-the-counter (P2P-trading). All of them have various operating peculiarities. For example, as part of the Binance P2P-exchange can insure users’ finances — the maximum amount of compensation may be up to $250 thousand.
Binance allows you to pay for cryptocurrency by Visa cards. Moreover, the platform has issued Binance Visa cards that let you store assets in digital form (Bitcoins, BNB, Swipe tokens, BUSD).
Today, the Binance exchange is the largest in the world. The average daily trading volume of the platform is about $21 billion.
Coinbase
When considering the best crypto exchanges, one cannot help but mention Coinbase. Created in 2012, this platform was one of the first major exchanges for crypto trading. More than 40 trading pairs are available depending on the country, with certain digital currencies (Golem, Loom, etc.) accessible only through Coinbase Pro, a service designed for VIP traders. Since the beginning of 2021, the total trading turnover of Coinbase has exceeded $320 billion.
The Center Consortium, which includes Circle and Coinbase, created the USDC stablecoin, whose rate equals $1. In 2019, the crypto exchange began issuing Visa debit cards. Other benefits of the trading platform include:
- a minimum trading amount equivalent to $25;
- support for a wide range of cryptocurrencies;
- ease of use through mobile software for Android and iOS with a user-friendly interface;
- insurance of coins stored on exchange servers.
The drawbacks are relatively high trading fees of Coinbase Pro, control of user private keys by the platform’s developers, possible transfer delays (up to five days).
Huobi Global
Huobi Global is one of the largest centers of the crypto market, which occupies a leading position in the ratings of the best exchanges. The platform was created in 2013 by businessmen Leon Li and Du Jun in order to improve the development and implementation of blockchain projects in various economic spheres.
Since 2018, the platform has been listed as a public organization with its shares quoted on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. Also, at that time, it launched its own Ethereum-based cryptocurrency — Huobi Token (HT).
Huobi’s spot trading, exchange, buying and selling services are available to residents of over 170 countries. Dozens of fiat and digital currencies are traded on the exchange, with over 190 trading pairs accessible to traders. According to CoinMarketCap, the daily trading volume of this platform already exceeds $9 billion.
Among the main advantages of Huobi are:
- a minimum amount of purchases is $15;
- availability of discounts on fees;
- providing access to private IEO offers;
- official insurance of cryptocurrencies stored on the servers;
- mobile software for iOS and Android.
Among the disadvantages are the developers’ accusations of exaggerating trading volumes and optimizing exchange services for experienced traders.
FTX
The platform is ranked among the best crypto exchanges. It was created in 2019 with investments from Binance developers. The platform is an excellent option for beginners in trading from different countries, including the CIS.
Particular attention in the development of the cryptocurrency exchange was paid to security. FTX provides two-level authentication and a special password for the fund withdrawal. The exchange has its own insurance fund, at the expense of which it is planned to pay out to users in case of unforeseen situations.
The main benefits of the exchange are:
- a relatively low fee (0,07% for takers and 0,02% for makers);
- a possibility of reducing the commission by 5% due to a referral code used when registering a profile in the system;
- no need for identification of counterparties;
- an opportunity to buy cryptocurrencies using credit cards with Simplex;
- liquidity guarantee;
- official insurance of funds.
The exchange launched its own FTX Token (FTT), which promotes higher referral rates, provides bonus voting rights, increases airdrop rewards and cancels the commission in the IEO tickets blockchain.
Kraken
This trading platform was created in 2011 by businessman Jesse Powell. Kraken supports the most popular digital currencies such as BTC, ETH, LTC, XRP, etc. Various payment systems and fiat money can be used for trading.
Kraken offers a choice of over 280 currency pairs for exchange, with a daily trading turnover exceeding $1,3 billion. Worth considering that the platform is a cryptocurrency exchange rather than a digital currency storage service, so user funds are not insured.
Among the advantages of the Kraken exchange can be noted:
- a minimum purchase amount from 0,001 BTC or 0,02 ETH;
- a versatility of application for experienced traders and beginners;
- support for trading in fiat currencies;
- low fees in comparison with other crypto exchanges;
- availability of a mobile app.
The system’s drawbacks include the impossibility of withdrawing funds within three days after registration and a small number of fiat currencies available for trading.
More Well-Known Crypto Exchanges
A cursory search will reveal more than a hundred platforms offering cryptocurrency trading. Some of the most popular ones include:
- Bitfinex;
- OKEx;
- Crypto;
- Bitmex;
- KuCoin;
- Gate;
- Bithumb;
- Bitstamp;
- Coinone;
- Gemini, etc.
All large crypto exchanges provide different trading conditions, so every beginner or experienced trader can find a suitable platform for themselves, considering their needs and the amount of available digital money.
