Choosing the right exchange is the most important decision you’ll make in your crypto investing career. 

Fees, interest rates, security and dynamic features such as leverage trading can make or break your experience buying and selling crypto. 

Don’t undervalue the significance of this. Here are the 7 best exchanges on the market. 

Best overall, low fees – Binance (or BinanceUS for US residents)

Binance is the most popular cryptocurrency exchange in the world with daily volumes exceeding 10x of its competitors. 

The Chinese platform has around 200 coins total ranging from Ethereum to their native coin Binance Coin. It’s the perfect option for beginners and experts alike. 

Pros: 

• Low trading fees (0.1% flat trading fees)
• More than 200 cryptocurrencies to trade
• Native Binance Coin (BNB)
• Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU)
• 24/7 customer service

Cons: 

• Long ID verifications and other potential issues
• Does not offer services in New York, Alaska, Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, North Carolina, Idaho, Vermont, Washington, and Texas due to missing regulatory requirements
• US residents must use Binance.us which has only 80 cryptocurrencies available
• Complicated for beginners 

Best for Beginners – Coinbase

Coinbase is the easiest and most intuitive cryptocurrency exchange for beginner traders. Today it’s the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange and offers more than 50 cryptocurrencies including Cardano and SushiSwap. 

However, Coinbase suffers from some of the highest fees on the market (Debit 3.99% ACH 1.49%).

Pros: 

• Easy identification setup and instant trading after deposits
• Intuitive UI and UX for traders of all skill levels
• Cryptocurrency is insured in the case of a hack

Cons:

• Some of the highest fees on the market
• Low availability of coins offered.

Best For Traders and Most Comprehensive Data Charts – Coinbase Pro

Avoiding Coinbase’s outrageous fees is not that difficult. 

In fact, all you have to do is download Coinbase Pro, which is free of charge. The fees on Coinbase Pro sit around 0.5% and the technical analysis is much more comprehensive for expert traders. However, this also makes it a tougher option to recommend for beginners. 

Pros: 

• Complex data charts and technical analysis 
• Lower fees than Coinbase
• Easy transferring between Coinbase and Coinbase Pro

Cons: 

• More difficult option for beginners 
• Fees aren’t lower than Binance

Best Customer Service – Kraken

Founded in 2012, Kraken is one of the oldest and most trusted exchanges on the market. 

Kraken offers the best customer support across all exchanges including 24/7 email support, and live chat options. The fees average out to 0.36%, but can also be lower. 

Pros:

• Extensive customer service report
• Staking services, OTC, and margin trading
• Reasonable fees

Cons:

• Slow identification process that can take weeks
• Not a beginner-friendly exchange

Crypto Meets Leverage Trading – Bybit

Launched in March 2018, Bybit is a secure leverage trading platform with minimal fees and insanely fast trade times. 

Bybit offers you 100x leverage in addition to futures contracts on Ripple and EOS with leverage of 25x. It’s an entirely anonymous exchange, therefore, Know Your Customer (KYC) is not mandatory.

Pros: 

• Margin trading with up to 100x leverage
• A lightning-fast exchange that can handle 100,000 transactions per second
• Offers futures contracts on EOS and Ripple
• Never been hacked

Cons: 

• Does not accept fiat currency deposits such as credit or debit cards (only accepts Bitcoin deposits)
• Banned from several countries including most of Europe and China
• Relatively new platform

Best Passive Income on Your Crypto – Gemini

Created by cryptocurrency bulls Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Gemini offers some of the best interest rates on your holdings. For instance, 7.40% on Dai stablecoin, 4.08% on Chainlink, and 2% on Ethereum and Bitcoin. Gemini is also one of the easiest exchanges to navigate for beginners.

Pros: 

• Earn interest on your cryptocurrency
• Easy and quick signups
• Best library of cryptocurrency education (besides us of course)

Cons: 

• Interest rates are dynamic and aren’t as good as DeFi
• Higher fees than most crypto exchanges (0.5% – 3.99%)

 

Best Decentralized Exchange (No ID Required) – Yearn Finance

 

Decentralized finance or DeFi is still one of the best ways to earn passive income on your cryptocurrency. 

Platforms like 1inch and Yearn Finance offer upwards of 50% interest on your holdings. However, these platforms are loosely regulated and therefore should be used cautiously. 

Pros: 

• Unbeatable interest rates upwards of 50% or more
• Quick and easy setups (Read our wallet guide to learn more)
• You own your public and private keys

Cons:

• Cannot buy cryptocurrency (must use one of the aforementioned exchanges to onboard funds)
• More risk and less secure

Bottom Line

Each of these exchanges offers an array of different services to maximize the returns on your cryptocurrency. 

It is common for experienced crypto investors to use multiple exchanges in case of outages or exposure to different altcoins. However, we recommend doing your own research into each before making any investments.