What's the Best Altcoin Exchange?
The following is a review of products of which I am genuinely very supportive. I have bought crypto using Binance and have no hesitation in purchasing more through them. However, I may receive compensation if you click on any of the Binance, Coinbase or Coinsqare links.
This article should not be interpreted as advice to purchase cryptocurrencies or trade. It is merely educational material.
What is an altcoin? An altcoin is a digital cryptocurrency alternative to bitcoin. Altcoins include Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP, EOS, Stellar, Cardano and many, many more.
I'm going to keep it simple for the reader as I know of only a few altcoin exchanges that carry large volume, a large variety of coins plus flexible deposit/withdrawal methods. What is the best exchange for altcoins? I'll cut to the chase and recommend only three exchanges to work with, Coinbase to exchange fiat for Ether and Binance to trade Ether for whatever altcoin you want, and finally Coinsquare if you live in Canada for withdrawals. Binance in my opinion is the best alt coin exchange, and the other two exchanges are necessary for deposit and withdrawals of fiat. Sticking to these three will save you time and effort. They all handle vast amounts of crypto volume. This handling of large quantities is not a guarantee of insolubility of a company, but it does put the odds in your favor.
I cannot cover every region of the globe in regards to initial deposit of fiat to crypto and withdrawal of crypto to fiat. My discussion will apply to the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia and Europe.
Why Coinbase?
At present, November 2018, Coinbase exchange has over 13.3 million users. As mentioned above, the volume is essential for the stability of the company. It is by no means a guarantee of insolvency, but again it places the odds in your favor. Coinbase is considered a very stable exchange that's regulated by U.S. law.
Purchase of cryptocurrencies on Coinbase is quick as they act as a market maker. They allow you to purchase at a price that they set. Before you buy your crypto, you must fund your account in USD. This buying can be done quickly with Coinbase through a credit card at a lower rate of 3.9%. I say lower rate because there are some exchanges that charge upwards to 5% or more. The fee is cheaper if you transfer from your bank account.
For a complete up to date rates for purchase or withdrawal within your country refer here:
As of today, the rates are the following and again, differ for each country as indicated below:
Coinbase accepts debit, credit card and wire transfer for deposits and wire transfers for withdrawals for the U.S. and U.K. and Europe. The other countries: Canada, Australia, and Singapore, are allowed credit card/ debit buy-ins but are not able to withdraw fiat. This inability to withdraw fiat means that you have to transfer your crypto to another exchange that does allow fiat withdrawal.
A little confusing, I know. If you're not from the U.S, U.K., or Europe and have more significant amounts ($5000 plus) to transfer into Coinbsase, then it's best to find a local broker and then transfer to Binance to buy your altcoins. 3.9% applied to a credit card deposit is too much when dealing with more substantial sums of money.
Coinbase is quick, easy and cheap if you live in the favored countries.
How to Use Coinbase
First, go to Coinbase. Then scroll to the right-hand top corner, and press get started.
Next, you'll come to the following registration screen:
Fill out the indicated name, email, etc. and make sure to use the name issued on your passport or drivers' license. When choosing the password, make sure you use a combination of capital and lower case letters plus some numbers. Fill out the captcha box, check the agreement and then press "create an account".
The next step is to log in and confirm the account. On the opening screen, at the top, there is a settings tab.
Open that tab and go to security.
There you can verify your phone, address and submit your I.D. Document verification, just follow the directions. If you don't sign up right away, then you'll be reminded the next time you sign on.
You'll be asked to add a payment option after verifying your identity in the initial account setup. If you chose to skip that option, you could add a payment method from within your account by clicking on the Buy / Sell link in the top menu and select Add a new account under Payment Method.
Once you've added some fiat to your account, you can buy Bitcoin or preferably some Ethereum which you can then transfer over to Binance where you can buy the altcoin of your choice. Below is a video that shows you how to transfer crypto from Coinbase to Binance:
Why Binance?
Binance has become known as the best altcoin exchange out there. It contains one of the largest selections of altcoins. Starting in China and then moving to Japan, Binance soon after moved to the European country of Malta to avoid the over-regulation of the first two.
It has gained a tremendous amount of popularity because of the expertise of its founders, it's smart advertising tactics, a variety of offered alt coins and a very low fee structure. There are few exchanges with as low fees as Binance. These low fees make Binance the best altcoin exchange to trade with.
Add to this that Binance has handled a previous hack attempt with great professionalism and competence and you have the recipe for one of the most trusted exchanges out there. Unfortunately, at this time Binance does not offer funding through fiat, but this may change in the future.
How to Use Binance
After you log in, press on the exchange button on the top and you're given two choices, basic or advanced. After a little trial and error, you'll find the platform easy to use. I would stick with the basics for now and trade only with minimal amounts until you get used to the functions. The advanced form of the platform goes into a little more depth and contains more technical indicators.
You can just look up the trading pair that contains both the crypto you want and the one you're trading with(Ethereum) on the right hand of the chart below. You can look up charts that include the Bitcoin price and Ripple price with respect to Ethereum or the price of any other alt coin with respect to Ethereum. If you can't find the altcoin you want listed in terms of Ethereum, then check out whether it exists with respect to Bitcoin.
The Basic view looks like this:
On the right, it provides a more natural way of looking up the desired crypto pair whereas with the advanced it's not as easily discernible.
The advanced mode is not as navigational friendly and only has one list from which to choose the appropriate pair. The advance platform can be observed here:
How to use the exchange is covered in this video:
Although very low compared to other exchanges, I've supplied a Binance fee description as well:
https://www.binance.com/en/fee/schedule
Why Coinsquare?
Coinsquare is one of Canada's best crypto exchanges. It is well established and takes extra measures to keep clients crypto investments safe. Over 98% of the coins on Coinsqare are held in cold storage to protect from any hackers. It is relatively easy to sign up to Coinsquare and it has low purchase fees and withdrawal fees when dealing with more massive amounts.
Their deposit fees are shown below:
As can be seen, Coinsquare charges a reasonable amount for a deposit except in the case of credit cards. If I were Canadian, I would use Coinsquare to transfer a more substantial amount into. For a smaller amount, I would use a credit card at Coinbase. On a side note, for fiat withdrawals as a Canadian, I would use Coinsquare as well. As a Canadian, you're unable to withdraw from Coinsbase.
Here are Coinsqaure withdrawal fees:
In Summary
To convert fiat to ethereum if I lived in the US, Europe, Britain or Australia, I would transfer the fiat to Coinbase and then to Binance to buy the altcoin. Again, Binance is the best altcoin exchange because of its low fees, large selection of alt coins, huge volume, and speed of execution.
To convert fiat to Ethereum as a Canadian, it's less expensive, when dealing with more substantial sums of money, to send a wire transfer to Coinsquare. You can then proceed to transfer the purchased Ethereum to Binance.
From Binance the altcoin can be transferred to a hard wallet ethereum address if it's an erc20 token. If not an erc20 token then another specialty wallet will have to be used.
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This is a lot of great information. I wasn’t aware of what you share here in this detailed article and now I have a better understanding of how Coinbase works. I have always been interested in online business and how the internet works overall. I think that with the experience that you seem to have, people can find very lucrative opportunities out there.
Thanks for sharing!
I can’t advise anybody, but I believe the cryptocurrency market is only going up from here as major institutions are getting involved. I would check coinmarketcap for daily movement of the alt coins you may want to invest in as well their particular local subreddits for any new news. If you plan on using Binance to buy them on, then you may want to try their app: Binance app
I must say that I have always wanted to earn some bitcoins but I heard that it is very hard, almost impossible. I will definitely try CoinBase as it seems to be legitimate which is very important. My friend is working with some mining programs and I will definitely recommend this to him.
Coinbase is a good exchange and almost a necessity, for now, to exchange fiat for bitcoin or ethereum. Once purchased, these can be transferred to an exchange such as Binance where you can trade them for a wide selection of different altcoins. Binance has a great website which includes up to date cryptocurrency news, the current bitcoin price, ripple price, ethereum price or the price of any other altcoin.
I am new to cryptocurrency and is very helpful that you recommend these Altcoin exchange companies. Unfortunately, Coinbase and Coinsquare do not support my country (Mexico). Can you recommend a company that supports my country? I want to learn more about cryptocurrency exchange.
What altcoin do you think can be the best choice for a newbie trader?
I am not familiar with exchanges for Mexico, but I’ll check and get back to you via this message.
What i personally like about coinbase is that they have a very high level of credibility and a very easy graphical user interface and user experience on their website. I is also a bonus that they have an ID verification process to prevent someone from using your details online to make fake accounts and steal your money by buying crypto currency. I did some review research a while back wen the bit coin bubble was a thing back in 2017 and a lot of sources said that coinbase is a good place for beginners.
Binance is brilliant for exchanging a vast amount of cryptocurrencies but the unfortunately dont take card payments. I tend to buy bitcoin on coinbase and move them over to binance and make further transactions. One thing i must say is that is very important to not leave your coins on the exchange and use an offline wallet as soon as you can unless you are planning on making a trade or selling your coins.
Its good that you did some coverage on alt coins, these are also the future and a great place to keep your money when bitcoin becomes less stable. People do end up investing their alt coins back into bitcoin when bitcoin becomes more attractive.
I like the information you have provided, its a nice all rounded and informative section to get you going.
Binance will now be accepting fiat, but the limited fiats are the Euro and the Pound. Hopefully they expand from here. It’s one of the best place to buy Bitcoin as well.
Thanks for the informative post about the best Altcoin exchange! Sincerely, I had no previous idea about Altcoin as an alternative cryptocurrency to Bitcoin, but have just learned a lot about it in your post today and it’s interesting to know that it includes several digital coins like Ethereum, Litecoin, Stellar, and others.
Kudos for the illustration you did about how one can get started with Coinbase because I’ve wanted to create an account long ago. I followed up with your illustration and setup guide and successfully created a Coinbase account today. It’s so amazing to have come across this post.
Though, I’m also interested in using Binance, Coinsquare, and others, I’ll like to start out with Coinbase first and later add others. Thanks for the complete breakdown of cryptocurrency for people like me who knows nothing about it.
Israel Olatunji
You’re welcome. Glad to have helped. I am going to do a video as well so that people can get an alternative description. When you’re ready to try Binance, the link is provided above. They will offer smaller fees to buy any of the altcoins plus a fairly large and liquid market for alts purchased with Bitcoins. Don’t use bitcoins to transfer to Binance, the transfer presently takes too long. Try XRP or Ethereum.
I am not a complete beginner in using a cryptocurrency, nor am I ready for your quizz!
This article is commendable and easy to follow along if you have little experience using altcoins.
If I were to proceed with some transactions I would have to read this through a couple more times. That’s a good thing . Many articles I’ve read that promote trading like this are completely mind boggling, and some are only preaching to the choir.
I am not planning on trading right now, but I like to stay as educated as possible about the possibilities and conditions in cryptocurrency use.
Fiat currencies may crash as many predict so it is good to stay aware of what’s in play.
Excellent article!
Thank you. The best exchanges out there will be simple to use, cheap and trustworthy. Again, I believe Binance to be all of these and more. It is easy to trade with as it easily shows the bitcoin price, ethereum price , ripple price with respect to each other as well as the bitcoin exchange rate with respect to fiat. Binance is popular and is continually featured in cryptocurrency news articles.