Our 10 Best Handpicked Bitcoin Investment Platforms Revealed:
In this article, we explore the best Bitcoin investment platforms so that you can take your trading to the next level.
🏆 Top 3 Brokers Crypto Trading Platforms
Best Crytpo Trading Platform
Coinbase
Coinbase is an online platform that allows merchants, consumers, and traders to transact with digital currency. It allows its users to create their own Bitcoin wallets and start buying or selling Bitcoins by connecting with their bank accounts.
Trading on Coinbase is an extremely easy process and geared toward a beginner. The platform can also be accessed through your android or iOS devices.
Coinbase does not offer any downloadable trading software and it is all browser-based, including its more advanced trading platform, Coinbase Pro.
As the leading mainstream cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, Coinbase has become a standard on-ramp for new crypto investors.
Coinbase offers a wide variety of products including cryptocurrency investing, an advanced trading platform, custodial accounts for institutions, a wallet for retail investors, and its own U.S. dollar stable-coin.
Coinbase was founded in 2012 and is a fully regulated and licensed cryptocurrency exchange in 40 U.S. states and territories. Coinbase initially only allowed for Bitcoin trading but quickly began adding cryptocurrencies that fit its decentralized criteria.
Robinhood
Traders can buy and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and other cryptocurrencies 24/7 and commission-free with Robinhood Crypto.
When you make a deposit (or sell investments in your Robinhood Financial brokerage account), those funds are immediately available for purchasing cryptocurrencies in your Robinhood Crypto account.
Robinhood’s low fees and zero balance requirement to open an account are attractive for new investors.
Robinhood allows cryptocurrency trades to be placed in very small quantities. Most other cryptocurrency-friendly platforms require certain minimums in order to trade.
Robinhood is designed with the beginner in mind, with commission-free trades, a simple signup process and an intuitive interface. No account minimums mean newbies can open an account with no upfront investment and purchase fractional shares for just $1 apiece.
Cryptocurrency investors can swap digital coins with no commission fees 24/7.
Gemini
Gemini is a popular platform to invest in crypto because of its focus on security and transparency. Unlike some exchanges that appear vulnerable, Gemini makes it a focus to protect its customers.
The Gemini exchange is based in New York. It’s quickly become one of the most respected cryptocurrency exchanges in the digital currency space. It also became the world’s first licensed Ether exchange in 2016.
The Gemini exchange only supports Bitcoin and Ethereum. This is likely because Gemini seeks to be a highly trusted and institutional-friendly exchange.
In terms of deposits, Gemini now accepts a fiat currency (only USD) as well as different digital assets, such as BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH, BAT, LINK and others.
Gemini accepts deposits made by ACH (automated clearing house) in the US, and wire transfers elsewhere. It also accepts deposits in Bitcoin and Ether. There are currently no other deposit methods accepted.
Gemini is a great exchange for those who value security above all else. This makes it well-suited for those exchanging large amounts of fiat currency for either Bitcoin or Ether.
Being fully licensed and offering the additional security features it does makes it one most secure exchanges in the cryptocurrency space.
BlockFi
BlockFi was founded in 2017 and is a privately owned NYC-based lending platform. It calls itself a provider of wealth management products focussed on cryptocurrencies and cryptoinvestors.
BlockFi is backed by world-class and innovative partners such as Galaxy Digital, Susquehanna, Fidelity, Recruit Strategic Partners, Arrington XRP Capital, ConsenSys Ventures, SoFi, Coinbase Ventures, CMT Digital and Morgan Creek Digital.
BlockFi was founded by Zac Prince and Flori Marquez. The pair are highly experienced and have held leadership roles at multiple successful tech companies and portfolio management at large financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs.
BlockFi has its own cryptocurrency trading exchange that is available to its users that register an account. It allows investors on the platform to switch between cryptocurrency pairs.
BlockFi have introduced a new feature that allows users to send cash deposits using wire transfer to the platform. You are able to transmit USD transfers to purchase stablecoins directly using BlockFi to access the Interest Account.
This makes it easy for crypto beginners that have never purchased cryptocurrencies before. They can sign up with BlockFi, deposit US Dollars using wire transfer and earn up to 8.6% in a BlockFi Interest Account.
Bitfinex
Bitfinex is a premier destination for seasoned traders all over the world and one of the top exchanges in terms of recognition and trading volume.
It serves all except few countries in the world (mentioned below) and supports both fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-crypto trades. Other notable features include margin trading, limit and stop orders, over the counter (OTC) trades, and others.
While there are many options available, everything is laid out in an impressively intuitive fashion, with easy to navigate dashboards and menus.
Bitfinex is one of the top exchanges in terms of BTC/USD daily trading volume, which guarantees price stability and confidence for every trader.
The platform offers over 100 market pairs, including both leading coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and EOS, and popular altcoins like TRON, Stellar, NEO, 0x, QTUM, and many others.
Besides margin trading and funding, traders can take advantage of limit, market, stop, trailing stop, fill or kill, iceberg, OCO, hidden, and post-only limit orders.
Bitfinex users can reach support 24/7 via email. All queries are answered within 12 hours, except for periods of high activity. Apart from that, users can use an extensive knowledge base to answer most of their basic inquiries.
Hitbtc.com
HitBTC made a name for itself as a go-to place for buying and selling low cap altcoins.
It exchanges a wide variety of digital assets, including most popular cryptocurrencies like bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), litecoin (LTC), ripple (XRP), dogecoin (DOGE), monero (XMR), tron (TRX), dash (DASH), EOS (EOS) and tether (USDT).
It’s also one of the few exchanges open to bots, providing a range of APIs that help tech-savvy customers trade automatically.
HitBTC offers one of the widest selections of cryptocurrencies available for trading and is one of the first exchanges to enlist emerging projects.
Users can buy Bitcoin or deposit some other cryptocurrency and start trading immediately without verification. You may be asked to verify your identity later, though.
HitBTC remains one of a few exchanges that hasn’t been hacked before, and HitBTC users can make use of trading bots, which work well with the platforms’ robust API.
HitBTC offers a demo account for new cryptocurrency traders. Everyone can try out its platform without making a deposit.
Binance
Binance is a Hong Kong–based cryptocurrency exchange launched by developer Changpeng Zhao (aka CZ) in July 2017. Zhao’s company Beijie Technology created the exchange after a successful ICO that raised $15 million.
Binance is a crypto trading platform that offers one of the most competitive rates around. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned trader looking to trade crypto, this is probably the easiest and cheapest way to go.
The platform accepts users from around the world and has received favourable reviews from the crypto community.
Recently the exchange has also partnered with 3rd party companies such as Simplex to allow credit card and wire transfer purchases of cryptocurrencies at a premium.
Binance provides a peer-to-peer (P2P) trading service, which connects buyers and sellers of cryptocurrency directly. This facilitates fiat payments, with a wide variety of payment options that depend on the users’ preferences.
Thanks to integrations with additional 3rd party providers, Binance now enables its users to buy crypto directly with fiat using SEPA & bank transfers. This option is especially attractive, as SEPA and wire deposits entail no transaction fee at all.
Kraken
Founded in 2011, US-based Kraken is the largest crypto exchange when it comes to trading Bitcoin and altcoins in euros.
It’s also one of the most secure exchanges out there, given its comprehensive range of safety measures, self-regulated approach, and security audits.
Another big plus is that its fees are among the lowest in the industry, with free deposits and very competitive withdrawals and trades. Besides, you can trade on the go using its web platform or one of its mobile apps.
Kraken is a 100% legit cryptocurrency exchange for both beginners and serious traders. Its vast selection of features, low fees, clear user interface, and liquidity is definitely an attraction.
However, it’s not the best option if you’re looking for a place to buy cryptocurrencies quickly since it does not accept bank card deposits.
Aside from that, it is a top tier exchange with some of the best security practices in the industry, so if you don’t mind passing all the extensive KYC procedures, it’s definitely a great exchange to have in your trading arsenal.
Coinmama
Coinmama is a cryptocurrency broker/exchange that is located in Israel. Originally created in 2013, the website explains that they offer a fast, safe and fun way to buy a digital currency from anywhere in the world.
Using Coinmama, you can use your debit or credit card to buy cryptocurrency directly from the website.
When you enter your card details and make a purchase with Coinmama, your coins are sent to your private wallet as soon as the payment goes through. This is a much safer option for you as third-party wallets are known for being hacked.
Coinmama make the buying process really simple. All you have to do is open and verify your account, enter your card details and choose how many coins you want to buy. No previous knowledge of trading is required to purchase cryptocurrency from Coinmama.
eToro
Founded in 2007 and based in Israel, eToro has millions of clients in over 140 countries. The platform is well-tailored for those with a basic understanding of forex and cryptocurrency trading.
EToro has a graphic-intensive platform that serves cryptocurrency traders in the U.S. Outside the U.S., customers can trade stocks and contracts for difference.
The key feature of this unique proprietary platform is the ease in which an individual client is able to implement copy trading. The eToro platform features traders who want to be copied and who follow risk-control rules.
This accessibility then allows retail account holders to mimic the trades and trading strategies of the most successful clients, automatically and in real time. It must be noted that copy-trading in and of itself holds no guarantee of either gains or losses.
U.S. customers have access to 15 cryptocurrencies including the big names such as Bitcoin, Ripple, and Ethereum, but also eos, Iota, Tron, and Tezos. The website and mobile app are nearly identical, attractively laid-out, and easy to navigate.
Tradestation Crypto
Through a separate entity, TradeStation Crypto, clients can trade cryptocurrencies, but these capabilities are not fully integrated. TradeStation Crypto links to the ErisX cryptocurrency spot market.
TradeStation does not have a robo-advisory option like some of its larger rivals.
Currencies enabled include Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, USDC, and XRP. Clients can transfer cryptocurrencies into and out of their own personal wallets.
When it comes to actually trading on TradeStation, there is a bit of a learning curve–even coming from other advanced trading platforms. This is simply due to the robustness and flexibility offered.
Fortunately, there is a “paper trading” (simulated trading) platform you’ll gain access to. This will help you practice trading on the platform. Also, if you’re new to Futures, it will give you a chance to practice opening and closing Futures positions.
TradeStation is a very sophisticated platform offering many tools to analyse and execute trades.
While this can be overwhelming to new users, it should only take you about 30 minutes to figure out the basics and be able to execute trades efficiently. From there, you can dive into advanced charts and order types.
Bittrex
Bittrex is one of the oldest crypto exchanges operating today, having been launched in 2014 and since then helping traders and investors satisfy their appetite for trading many types of pairs and different assets.
Bittrex’s main product offering is its spot trading platform, which allows for trading in three different crypto-based markets and a USD market, in which users can trade if their request to enable USD withdrawal and deposit functionality has been accepted.
Trading on Bittrex is only allowed once a user has passed verification – which only has one tier and consists of uploading a photo of an identifying document, alongside providing basic personal information.
Bittrex has a very big team, and since its offices are in Seattle, many of its employees previously worked at Amazon and other local tech companies. Its founders are Security specialists and Bittrex does employ people who specifically manage risk and security of user funds.
It’s a reputable place to trade on, sure, and provides many positives for traders who are willing to put up with the limited amount of features and rather high trading fee.
Simplex
The Simplex company was founded all the way back in 2014, as a fintech startup. The term “fintech” actually describes the company’s product well – “financial technologies”.
Based in the EU, the team behind Simplex aims to “de-fraud” the cryptocurrency market, and make it a relatively-stable (as far as security is concerned, at least) and safe place for both long-term investors and every-day traders, alike.
The ease of use of Simplex is notable simply because of the fact that, in order to purchase the cryptocurrency that you’d like, you do not even need to enter their platform manually, and fill out some forms or participate in registrations.
Instead, you’ll simply be redirected to the payment processing page automatically.
While the platform might not house the biggest number of different altcoins, it does support all of the main cryptocurrencies out there. If you’re looking for an easy entry into the cryptocurrency market, Simplex is certainly a good option.
Cex.io
CEX.io was founded in London, UK, in 2013. Originally, it was a cloud mining provider that owned the GHash.io mining pool. Back in 2014, GHash was one of the largest mining pools around.
In early 2015, the decision was made by CEX.io to stop providing cloud mining services. This was based on the low Bitcoin price at the time, as well as the fact that the company didn’t own any mining hardware.
The GHash.io mining pool was terminated. However, CEX.io would live on, solely as a cryptocurrency exchange platform.
CEX.io is a cryptocurrency exchange platform. It accepts multiple deposit types and supports different digital assets. It is great for both advanced users and beginners getting started with buying and selling cryptocurrencies.
CEX.io also provides users with protection under a level two DSS certificate. This means it has proved itself as having a certain level of security to store, process, and transmit payment card data.
One of the best things about CEX.io is that the platform accepts a lot of different fiat currencies. This makes it useful for people from many different countries.
Luno
Luno (formerly BitX) is a digital asset exchange that targets mainly users in developing countries. Apart from being a trading platform, it offers other products such as a brokerage service, wallet solutions and an API for developers.
Luno is a digital company based in London. It was founded as BitX in 2013. The company became “Luno” in 2016 following a rebranding.
Luno now has office locations in South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Nigeria. The wallet is also open to customers in 35 EU countries.
Luno offers Bitcoin services to countries such as Malaysia, Nigeria and Indonesia which are usually not allowed on most Bitcoin exchanges.
Luno facilitates digital asset storage and trading through wallet services. It also operates exchanges between fiats and digital assets.
Along with PayFast, Luno was a pioneer for developing payment processors for digital currencies. Luno has raised over USD 13 million with the support of world-leading investors such as Balderton Capital, RMI and Naspers.
Bisq
Bisq is a downloadable software and peer-to-peer decentralized Bitcoin and crypto exchange. This means that Bisq has no central point of failure and cannot be taken down, much like Bitcoin itself.
Bisq is non-custodial, which means that no one other than the user touches or controls the user’s funds. This differs from centralized exchanges, like Coinbase, as Coinbase controls the user’s funds in a custodial account that the user does not have the private keys to.
In that scenario, Coinbase holds the right to seize your funds if it deems your account activity suspicious, whether or not the activity is actually illegal in your location.
Bisq is instantly accessible to anyone with a computer or smartphone as there is no registration process or KYC (Know Your Customer) rule.
This makes it ideal for those looking for privacy, dissidents living within an oppressive regime, or anyone who does not have any government-issued identification.
Bisq offers trading of several different fiat currencies including USD, as well as Bitcoin and a number of other cryptocurrencies. Bisq’s decentralized and peer-to-peer characteristics can mean low trading volumes and slower transactions, but for some, this is well worth it.
Avatrade
AvaTrade is a leading international broker, and are part of the AVA Group of companies. Being founded in 2006, AvaTrade is one of the oldest online brokerages.
Unlike many exchanges out there, who are restricting their clients to trade only Crypto to Crypto, Avatrade clients can trade Cryptos against Fiat currencies (USD, EUR, JPY etc.), as well.
One of the most impressive aspects of AvaTrade is the number of trading platforms available to traders. There is literally something for everyone here, whether you’re a beginner, seasoned trading veteran, or something else.
Traders can trade 9 different cryptocurrencies with up to 20:1 leverage. These now include Ripple, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash.
Coindirect
Coindirect offers trading in a decent number of cryptocurrencies. Not only the biggest, but not all of the smaller ones either.
The exchange seems somewhat directed towards South African residents as the ZAR (the South African Rand) is the most clearly presented fiat currency to trade with. Other fiat currencies include, inter alia, EUR, NGN, GBP and AUD.
Like most other cryptocurrency exhanges, Coindirect is also available through mobile use. You can download the Coindirect app for both iPhones and Android phones.
This exchange doesn’t divide between makers and takers. Instead, they divide between sellers and buyers.
For crypto-to-crypto trades, Coindirect charges sellers 0.50%. This is below the global industry average (arguably around 0.25%).
Furthermore, Coindirect doesn’t charge buyers in the crypto-to-crypto trades anything. This is a very strong competitive advantage for this exchange.
Coindirect does not charge any withdrawal fees at all for withdrawing BTC, except for the network fee. The network fee is not charged by the exchange per se, so Coindirect is not in any way enriched by this fee.
It should be noted though that there are exchanges that – as a favour to its customers – themselves assume the network fee so that the withdrawal for the customers in fact is 0. To conclude, the fees at this exchange are quite competitive.
BitMEX
BitMex is one of the top online exchanges for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading. BitMEX offers a derivative trading platform to a global market. For those more used to trading cryptocurrency directly, their different method of trading may be quite confusing.
Instead of trading currency directly, traders instead trade contracts, which can be significantly more volatile than more traditional trading.
Signing up to BitMEX is relatively simple and straightforward, with no trading limits included once registration has been completed.
BitMEX is a platform that deals exclusively with the trading of cryptocurrencies, in the form of derivative trading as mentioned above and specialised trading like margin trading.
While all deposits for trading must be in Bitcoin, the service does allow for the trading of a range of different cryptocurrencies against other, flat currencies like Japanese Yen, US Dollar and Chinese Yuan. Once Bitcoin has been deposited, it can then be used as a method to purchase other cryptocurrencies.
Bitstamp
Bitstamp is most popular with intermediate and experience cryptocurrency enthusiasts, and is used as a way to purchase more established cryptocurrencies with fiat currencies.
Bitstamp offers low fees, and has been acknowledged as an excellent way to exchange large amounts of digital currencies.
BTC-e
BTC-e is one of the most well-known cryptocurrency exchanges on the Internet and features in the Bitcoin Price Index. In light of difficulties in withdrawing funds from Mt. Gox, more people are turning to the Bulgaria-based exchange to buy and sell digital coins.
Coincheck
One of Coincheck’s core strengths is the technology behind its exchange. The exchange itself is very well designed and has intuitive usability that will be appreciated by new users and those with little or no experience of financial exchanges.
Cryptocurrency wallet hosting services are also provided by Coincheck with Android and iOS digital wallet apps available. Exchange accounts can also be funded via iOS.
Huobi
Headquartered in Singapore, Huobi Pro describes itself as a ‘digital asset exchange’, rather than simply a cryptocurrency exchange.
The exchange supports ICO tokens as well as cryptocurrencies and believes that future development of the Blockchain economy will lead to new categories of digital assets appearing.
The Huobi holding company behind the exchange was founded in Beijing in 2013 and forced to relocate to Singapore last year as the Chinese government banned Fiat to cryptocurrency trading and ICOs.
LocalBitcoins
LocalBitcoins is one of the oldest regulated peer-to-peer (P2P) online marketplaces for buying and selling Bitcoins (BTC). It works like a Craiglist or eBay – you open an account, get verified, and look for BTC traders in your area.
Alternatively, you can create an add yourself – it costs nothing unless you find a buyer. Besides, LocalBitcoins offer the widest selection of payment options, as well as an integrated escrow service for truly secure trades with strangers.
OKEx
OKEx is a Malta-based exchange, and is currently considered one of the largest crypto-to-crypto exchanges in the world.
The exchange itself is full of features and displays very impressive volume numbers, attracting incredible amounts of volume for many trading pairs, often beating the rest of the market.
OKEx has expanded in the past year to respond to market demand for new features and flexibility in crypto trading, adding many features such as buying with credit card, futures and options trading and an up to 100x leverage perpetual contract.
OKEx also has their own token, OKB, which provides a discount in trading fees provided the trader’s user account holds enough of it per their fee tier list.
ShapeShift
ShapeShift is one of the most popular instant exchanges. It provides users the ability to buy or sell any cryptocurrency (including many altcoins), as well as exchanging between coins.
The instantaneous nature of the exchange has increased its popularity and put it on the map of cryptocurrency exchanges.
Upbit
Despite only launching in October 2017, by January 2018 UPbit was already the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea by average daily trading volumes.
Without discounting the level of success represented by the rapid traction UPbit has achieved, the exchange does have some very serious backing.
From a technology and security point of view, UPbit has few rivals and the range of tradable coins is also up there with the best.
Account security is in partnership with Kakao Pay, the mobile payments app owned by partner Kakao Corp., and a leader on the South Korean market, second only to Samsung Pay. It’s safe to say the Upbit’s cybersecurity standards are hard to beat.
Conclusion
The primary difference between commodities or fiat currency trading and Bitcoin trading is that the latter involves speculating on the price changes between digital currency pairs, which incurs somewhat more volatility due to the daily price swings in BTC.
🏆 Top 3 Brokers Crypto Trading Platforms
Top 4 Brokers
