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- 1. Compare the 7 best altcoin exchanges in 2023
- 2. Best altcoin exchanges overall for 2023
- 3. What are the best altcoin exchanges?
- 4. Top 7 altcoin exchanges, compared and reviewed
- 5. Which altcoin exchange has the most coins?
- 6. What is an altcoin exchange?
- 7. How does an altcoin exchange work?
- 8. What types of altcoin exchange are there?
- 9. What are the fees for altcoin exchanges?
- 10. How should I choose an altcoin exchange platform?
- 11. Should I use an altcoin exchange?
- 12. FAQs
Compare the 7 best altcoin exchanges in 2023
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Altcoins have become a huge part of the cryptocurrency market over the last few years. Many crypto exchanges now let you buy and sell hundreds of different coins. Our experts have picked out the best altcoin exchanges for each different type of investor and compared their best features.
Best altcoin exchanges overall for 2023
- eToro: Best for beginners, copy-trading & demo-account
- Public: Best for sharing beginner trading ideas
- Bitstamp: Best for professionals & trading with APIs
- Uphold: Best for building long term wealth
- OKX: Best for futures and margin trading
- Nexo: Best for earning interest & rewards
- KuCoin: Best social trading altcoin exchange
What are the best altcoin exchanges?
Our experts rank these platforms as the top altcoin exchanges in terms of value for money, safety, and the range of altcoins on offer.
77% of retail CFD accounts lose money.
Top 7 altcoin exchanges, compared and reviewed
1. eToro. Best for beginners, copy-trading & demo-account
1500
No. assets
$10
Minimum deposit
Crypto
Platform type
Pros & Cons
Overview
We love eToro because it makes it simple to trade crypto at home or on the go. If you’ve never bought cryptocurrency before, then eToro makes it simple to buy 75+ of the leading coins, including the likes of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin. Every crypto trade comes with a flat 1% fee, which makes it one of the cheapest crypto brokers on the market to boot.
As well as being a broker that offers lots of investor protection, eToro offers a very social trading experience. You can easily see what’s trending on the crypto market every day, browse the latest technical analysis about every one of those tokens, and copy other people’s trade suggestions from your desktop or the eToro app.
The fees: You will be charged a 1% fee every time you buy or sell crypto. The charge is included in the market price that’s displayed on eToro. CFD trades may be charged an overnight or weekend fee if you leave the position open.
77% of retail CFD accounts lose money.
2. Public. Best for sharing beginner trading ideas
...
No. assets
...
Minimum deposit
Crypto
Platform type
Pros & Cons
Overview
We love Public because it’s a social platform where you can share trading tips and get ideas from other people. Public offers 9,000+ financial instruments, including cryptocurrencies and stocks from around the world.
Alongside a community of other investors all sharing their ideas, Public offers real time news and information so that you can see the full picture before you invest. And the assets don’t just include your run-of-the-mill assets; you can make alternative investments in things like handbags and comic books as well.
The fees: Cryptocurrency trades are charged a 2.5% fee per transaction.
3. Bitstamp. Best for professionals & trading with APIs
1
No. assets
...
Minimum deposit
Crypto
Platform type
Pros & Cons
Overview
We love Bitstamp because it has a proud reputation for top performance over more than decade. Bitstamp offers trading on 75+ cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin, while staking is available on Ethereum and Algorand.
Bitstamp was one of the first crypto platforms to set up shop in 2011 and has built up trust since. It’s designed with institutional traders in mind, so it prides itself on near 100% uptime. It stores 95% of assets in cold storage and offers a sliding scale of fees so that high volume traders get the best rates.
The fees: There are no trading fees if you trade less than $1,000 in a rolling 30-day period. Above that, fees start from 0.4% and decline the higher your trading volume is. There is a 15% charge for staking. Withdrawals are charged a flat €3 fee.
4. Uphold. Best for building long term wealth
...
No. assets
$1
Minimum deposit
Crypto
Platform type
Pros & Cons
Overview
We love Uphold because it’s a regulated and transparent digital asset platform. There are 160+ cryptocurrencies available to hold and trade, along with three fiat currencies; GBP, EUR, and USD.
Uphold’s key features include the ability to schedule transactions to avoid trying to time the market. With a focus on long term wealth building, Uphold also offers the ability to earn rewards of up to 25% on staked crypto, as well as 4% cashback paid in XRP for purchases made with the Uphold card.
The fees: Crypto spreads start from 0.9% and are usually lower than 1.3% for BTC and ETH. Other cryptocurrency spreads are higher. Average spreads on fiat currency are 0.2%. There is a $0.99 fee for transactions under $100 made with the Uphold card.
5. OKX. Best for futures and margin trading
...
No. assets
$50
Minimum deposit
Crypto
Platform type
Pros & Cons
Overview
We love OKX because it’s an adaptable and flexible exchange, with an app that’s available in three different versions depending on how you trade. Choose from the beginner-friendly Lite version, Web3 option for NFT traders, or the Pro version for a plethora of trading tools.
From an app or desktop you can trade 350+ crypto coins on one of the world’s top crypto exchanges. You can fund your account easily, through a variety of simple payment methods, and a sliding scale of fees that means you can access discounts by holding the OKB token or trading high volumes.
The fees: Regular users pay a 0.1% fee on spot crypto trades. OKB crypto holders are entitled to a discount, up to 0.02% off for holding more than 2,000 coins. High volume traders are also entitled to a discount, with the cheapest fees available for traders with a 30 day trading volume above $10,000,000,000.
6. Nexo. Best for earning interest & rewards
...
No. assets
...
Minimum deposit
Crypto
Platform type
Pros & Cons
Overview
We love Nexo because you earn rewards every time you make a purchase. You can trade 60+ cryptocurrencies and earn rewards of up to 0.5% on every transaction, then store your coins on Nexo to build your wealth through passive interest payments.
You can trade on the go from a mobile app and Nexo is designed for simplicity. Every trade is locked in at the rate you see on your screen, so you won’t suffer from price slippage, and it has the added bonus that any crypto held in your account automatically starts to earn interest.
The fees: Nexo charges a 2% spread on buy and sell transactions. There are no fees for storing coins in your Nexo account. Depending on your loyalty tier, you receive a fixed number of free withdrawals, and any additional withdrawals will be charged a network fee.
7. KuCoin. Best social trading altcoin exchange
1
No. assets
...
Minimum deposit
Crypto
Platform type
Pros & Cons
Overview
We love KuCoin because it;s a great place for beginners to trade more than 700 altcoins. KuCoin is a social trading platform with 20+ million investors worldwide in 200+ countries.
KuCoin’s beginner zone offers up rewards up to $500 for new users. The rest of the platform has plenty of features for the crypto enthusiast: a staking service to earn money on your stored crypto, an NFT marketplace, and margin trading features to buy leveraged tokens.
The fees: Trading fees are charged on a sliding scale. Fees are 0.1% on trading volumes below 50 BTC in a 30 day period. Discounts are available if you pay fees in KCS or store more than 1000 KCS in your account.
Which altcoin exchange has the most coins?
Coinbase has the largest selection of altcoins to choose from. It’s a little more expensive than other altcoin platforms, though, so you have to decide what’s most important to you. Compare what’s on offer from these top altcoin exchanges:
| Altcoin exchange | No. of coins | Trading fees | Staking/earning? | Mobile trading? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| eToro | 73+ | 1% | Yes | iOS & Android |
| Binance | 350+ | 0.1% | Yes | iOS & Android |
| Coinbase | 3,000+ | Up to 0.6% | Yes | iOS & Android |
| OKX | 350+ | 0.1% | Yes | iOS & Android |
| YouHodler | 58+ | None | Yes | iOS & Android |
What is an altcoin exchange?
An altcoin exchange is a place where you can invest in cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin. It’s a marketplace that lets you buy and sell crypto from other people in exchange for fiat currency (like GBP or USD) or for other cryptocurrencies.
The term ‘altcoin’ refers to any cryptocurrency that isn’t Bitcoin. There are some exchanges that only allow you to buy and sell Bitcoin but nowadays the vast majority offer at least some altcoins and the top ones can offer thousands in total. Ethereum is the largest and most popular altcoin, any exchange that offers ETH or any other coin qualifies as an altcoin exchange.
How does an altcoin exchange work?
It works by matching buyers with sell orders in order to facilitate trades. Whenever someone submits a bid to buy an altcoin, it looks for a seller willing to accept a bid at that price. When it does, the transaction goes through. If there is no seller at that price then the bid remains ‘open’ until someone takes the offer.
What types of altcoin exchange are there?
There are two main types of crypto exchange: centralised and decentralised. A centralised exchange is generally the best option for a beginner, but you might want to consider a decentralised altcoin exchange (DEX) if you have a bit more experience.
Centralised altcoin exchanges
These operate like a stock exchange, where the company in the middle decides what can trade and when, and executes the trades for you.
Each altcoin’s price is set according to demand but there tends to be high liquidity, so it’s easier to buy and sell crypto coins. Well known platforms like Binance and Coinbase are centralised and they are designed for beginners.
Decentralised altcoin exchanges
With a decentralised exchange there is no central authority. You trade altcoins directly with other users. They are also non-custodial, which means you remain in control of your digital assets at all times, rather than storing money on the platform.
This often means you get a better price – there’s no middleman taking a cut – but there are fewer protections, prices can be more volatile, and the interface can be more complicated to use. Uniswap and Mdex are two examples of a DEX.
What are the fees for altcoin exchanges?
The trading fees range from a commission of 0.1% to as high as 1% or 1.5% on every trade. There is no fee to create an account unless you use a premium service like Coinbase Pro. You may have to pay for deposits and (more commonly) withdrawals.
How should I choose an altcoin exchange platform?
The most important thing to consider is which coins you can trade on the platform. You may have an idea of the altcoins you’re interested in, or you might want the widest selection to choose from. Below are some other factors that influenced how we ranked these exchanges.
- Trading fees. Altcoin exchanges tend to have low trading fees but how they charge users can vary. The most you should expect to pay is a 0.5% commission on each trade, but many platforms are lower and the average is between 0.2% and 0.3%.
- Fee discounts. Platforms that boast their own cryptocurrency often offer lower fees to those who hold it. A good example of this is BNB (Binance coin) on the Binance exchange. Similarly, there are often trading discounts for high volume traders, although you might need to trade more than $100,000 worth in order to access them.
- Range of coins available. Some altcoin exchanges offer a limited number of coins, while others offer thousands. If your priority is access to the leading altcoins, then a smaller selection is fine. If you want to look at more ‘lottery tickets’, then prioritise a broad range.
- Payment methods. You can normally pay with a bank transfer or credit/debit card on an altcoin exchange, but alternative payment methods can be more hit and miss. If you want to use a method like PayPal then it’s important to check that it’s available before you sign up.
- Security. You want to be able to trust any financial platform that handles your money. Look for regulatory approval from financial bodies and check the customer reviews to see how other people experienced the service.
- Fiat deposits and withdrawals. Some altcoin exchanges require you to own cryptocurrency in order to sign up. This is normally the case for decentralised exchanges like Uniswap where you have to connect your crypto wallet in order to make any trades.
- Additional features. Many altcoin exchanges offer advanced charting analysis tools to help you make the right buy and sell decisions. Others offer other ways to make money from your crypto, such as staking. If those are important to you then the platform your choose can make a big difference to the bottom line.
Should I use an altcoin exchange?
It’s the best way to buy and sell most cryptocurrencies. Altcoin exchanges offer you the best prices and much lower trading fees than standard brokers, and many crypto exchanges now offer thousands of different coins and tokens.
Altcoin investing can be risky but exchanges provide the most flexibility to swap between them as well as alternative ways to make money beyond straight buying and selling. Nowadays you can trade options and futures on leading altcoins like Ethereum, or stake different DeFi coins in order to earn some extra interest.
Lots of exchanges have made a big effort to appeal to beginners over the last couple of years. There’s often plenty of extra learning material or a slimmed down interface to make it more accessible. You aren’t restricted to one exchange either; many people create accounts with multiple platforms in order to shop around for the best price.
Pros and cons of altcoin exchanges
To help you decide if an altcoin exchange is for you we’ve pulled together a list of the pros and cons in the table below.
Pros
- Can buy or sell any cryptocurrency, even those with very small market cap
- Minimum deposits can be as small as $1
- Most altcoin exchanges have a mobile app for convenience
- Many platforms offer leveraged or margin trading on altcoins
- Some exchanges offer a demo account that you can use to practice
Cons
FAQs
More of the best crypto rankings
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