How & where to buy Dai (DAI) online

Use our step-by-step guide to learn how and where to buy Dai on the top 5+ crypto exchanges.
By:  & 
Updated: May 11, 2023
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Dai tokens are available on a cryptocurrency exchange, which functions similar to a stock trading platform. It takes just a few minutes to buy Dai this way. Follow our quick step guide below.

How to buy Dai instantly in 3 simple steps

To buy Dai you need a smartphone or a computer and an internet connection. It takes 10-15 minutes the first time and you should have some photo ID to hand. Here’s how to do it.

Step 1. Sign up to Binance.US

Binance.US is the simplest crypto exchange to get started with. Create an account and supply a copy of your photo ID for verification.

1
Min. Deposit
$ 1
Best offer
User Score
10
Buy, Sell, and Trade Cryptocurrencies
Trade over 130 cryptocurrencies with low trading fees
We use state-of-the-art storage technology to protect your cryptocurrency and USD assets
Start Trading
Payment Methods:
ACH, Apple Pay, Debit Card, Wire Transfer
Full Regulations:

Step 2. Make a deposit

Add funds via a card payment, bank transfer or an alternative payment method. You can start with as little as £10.

Step 3. Buy Dai token

Type DAI into the search box then click ‘trade’. Enter how much money you want to spend and hit ‘trade now’.

Now you own Dai tokens! It’s as simple as that.

Where to buy DAI easily

The overall best exchange to buy Dai token for beginners is Binance.US .

Here are the top three places to buy Dai, ranked according to their simplicity for beginners, fees, customer reviews, and safety ratings.

1
Min. Deposit
$ 1
Best offer
User Score
10
Buy, Sell, and Trade Cryptocurrencies
Trade over 130 cryptocurrencies with low trading fees
We use state-of-the-art storage technology to protect your cryptocurrency and USD assets
Start Trading
Payment Methods:
ACH, Apple Pay, Debit Card, Wire Transfer
Full Regulations:
2
Min. Deposit
$ 0
Best offer
User Score
9.9
No Hidden Fees
Instant Trading
Secure & Transparent
Start Trading
Payment Methods:
Apple Pay, Bank Transfer, Credit Card, Debit Card, Google Pay, PayPal
Full Regulations:
3
Min. Deposit
$ 0
Best offer
User Score
9.1
Nexo is the world's largest and most trusted lending institution in the digital finance industry
Available in 200+ jurisdictions
Earn daily interest on your crypto
Start Trading
Payment Methods:
Apple Pay, Bank Transfer, Credit Card, Debit Card, Google Pay
Full Regulations:

Read more about how we rate, rank and review platforms.

Best exchanges to buy Dai (DAI), reviewed

1. Bitstamp. Best for professionals & trading with APIs

1

No. assets

...

Minimum deposit

Crypto

Platform type

Pros & Cons

Low trading fees and no spreads Supports multiple fiat currencies Regulated platform
Limited number of coins available Major fees on deposits and withdrawals Liquidity has suffered due to the limited selection of coins and most liquidity is concentrated in top names like Bitcoin and Ether

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.

2. Nexo. Best for earning interest & rewards

...

No. assets

...

Minimum deposit

Crypto

Platform type

Pros & Cons

Offers excellent rates of interest on crypto and fiat savings Nexo debit card makes it easy to access and spend your funds Access crypto loans and collateral Equipped with top quality security infrastructure and insured
No anonymous option, your identity must be verified to place buy and sell orders Margins calls if the value of your collateral drops between a certain level

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. 

How to trade DAI

You can trade Dai on a cryptocurrency exchange using a few simple steps. Here’s a quick example that clearly lays out how DAI crypto trading works:

  1. Monitor the price: Let’s say the price of DAI/USDT is $1. You read the price charts and decide that now is a good time to start purchasing DAI.
  2. Open a trade: You trade one USDT for one DAI ($1 for 1 DAI).
  3. Continue to monitor the price: The next day, one DAI token is now worth $2, a 100% increase.
  4. Close your trade: You trade your DAI token back to USDT for $2.

In this example, you buy and sell Dai, doubling your money (trading). While the steps are simple, executing them in a profitable way is not so easy. You need to spend many hours learning to trade, reading charts, patterns, and understanding markets and margin trading; which you can do right here on Invezz.com.

1
Min. Deposit
$ 1
Best offer
User Score
10
Buy, Sell, and Trade Cryptocurrencies
Trade over 130 cryptocurrencies with low trading fees
We use state-of-the-art storage technology to protect your cryptocurrency and USD assets
Start Trading
Payment Methods:
ACH, Apple Pay, Debit Card, Wire Transfer
Full Regulations:

What is the best way to pay for Dai (DAI)?

The simplest way to buy Dai cryptocurrency is with your bank card. However, there are plenty of other options as well. Here are some of the top ways to pay for DAI.

  • Buy Dai with a credit card or debit card. Card payments are convenient and instantaneous but you may have to pay a higher fee to make a deposit this way. Binance charges 1.8% for a card deposit and some platforms charge as much as 4%.
  • Buy Dai with bank transfer. A bank transfer is usually the cheapest way to buy crypto. Crypto platforms like Crypto.com and Coinbase do not charge for bank transfer deposits, while Binance only charges a £1 fee, and these transactions are more or less instant as they run through the Faster Payments System (FPS).
  • Buy Dai with PayPal. Some crypto brokers accept deposits via PayPal. eToro is the best option because it doesn’t charge a fee for PayPal deposits, whereas the charge can be as high as 5% or more with other platforms.
  • Alternative payment methods. Crypto brokers often let you pay with other providers or money transfer services, like Neteller, Venmo, or Payoneer. The options vary by broker, though, so check what’s accepted before you sign up.

How do I store Dai (DAI)?

Most people keep their crypto on the exchange they used to buy it. If you only plan to hold onto it for a little while then that’s a perfectly acceptable option. If you want to hold it for years or you own a lot of Dai then you should move it to a crypto wallet.

A crypto exchange is similar to a bank account, in that it means trusting a company to protect your funds for you. A wallet is like your personal wallet, or a safe, where you take responsibility for it yourself. Two of the best Dai wallets to use are MetaMask and the Ledger Nano S.

Is Dai (DAI) a good investment?

Whether it’s good for you depends on your goals and the fundamentals of the project. Here are some key features of Dai and its token to help you decide whether to invest in DAI.

  • Dai is a stablecoin which means it will never increase in value. Dai is ‘pegged’ to the US Dollar, which means one Dai should always be worth $1. The idea is that you can use it to buy things and trust that your Dai will maintain its value, unlike other cryptocurrencies which can experience large swings in price.
  • It’s a store of value or an intermediary to swap between coins. Most people use stablecoins for transactions; which at the moment usually means to buy other cryptocurrencies. It’s not the sort of coin you buy to generate 10x returns.
  • Dai is an investment in the MakerDAO financial system. MakerDAO is the organisation behind Dai. It’s a competitor to Tether (USDT), the largest and best-known stablecoin. A variety of apps are built on MakerDAO and accept transactions using DAI.
  • Dai is backed by crypto collateral. A stablecoin must be backed by enough assets that people trust one coin will always be worth $1. Tether does this by holding a combination of actual US Dollars and dollar debt. Dai, in contrast, uses other cryptocurrencies as collateral.
  • Dai is built on Ethereum. Not only is the platform built on the Ethereum blockchain, but the ETH cryptocurrency plays a crucial role in how the system works. You have to deposit ETH in order to generate DAI, and then Ethereum plays the role of collateral. This means Ethereum’s price performance is very important in maintaining Dai’s $1 peg.
  • You can earn DAI staking rewards on coins you hold. A feature of the MakerDAO platform is that you can take out loans in DAI, or you can store it to earn extra rewards, which are like interest payments. Essentially, the rewards incentivise you to store Dai, which can then be loaned out to other people, a little like how a bank operates.

Pros

  • Dai is a stablecoin with a fixed value that can be used to buy things
  • It’s tightly linked to Ethereum and uses the Ethereum blockchain
  • Dai is an alternative to Tether

Cons

Ultimately, many different factors play into the answer. Cryptocurrency is inherently volatile but you can reduce the risks by investing in quality projects that provide value to the community.

How has Dai (DAI) performed this year?

The current Dai price today is $0.9997, which is 4.16% below its all time high of $1.04, which it reached on 12 September 2020. DAI is up 0.06% this year, with a 52 week high of $1.0036 and a 52 week low of $0.9981. 

Is now a good time to buy Dai?

The answer depends on the current price and your own investment goals. Put simply, buying Dai, selling Dai, and trading DAI are all the exact same process. It’s really just your personal investing intentions that defines whether now is a good time to invest or not.

  • If you’re a trader: as a cryptocurrency trader, your goal is to make money trading regularly. What do we mean by regularly? Hourly, daily, weekly. Traders buy and sell a coin quickly to secure their profit (or to avoid a loss). They don’t #hodl that coin long term in the hopes of larger profits. In this sense, any time is a good time to buy Dai.
  • As a long-term investor: a long term investor is not concerned if the price is up or down 10% on any given day. Rather, they care that the price of the native token is overall up months or years later, when they’re ready to sell that investment. So if you’re a firm believer in the foundations of Dai and its decentralised aggregator platform, then a good time to purchase Dai is on any major dip.

In our experience, most newcomers to the crypto market sit between the two. You don’t want to wait several years for a return, but buying Dai and selling it the next day probably isn’t why you’re here either.

Regardless, closely following DAI price news & analysis will help you decide when to pull the trigger:

The concept of decentralisation has an almost seductive quality. A financial world without the need for central parties is as romantic as it gets. Transactions whizzing around purely peer-to-peer. Clean efficiency, low fees and high speed, and without the need to trust. What is not to love? But as enchanting…

FAQs

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Sources & references
Risk disclaimer
Charlie Hancox
Financial Writer
Alongside his passion for trading, Charlie has represented Great Britain and won national championships as a water polo player, and as a budding film director, has… read more.
James Knight
Editor of Education
James is a lead content editor for Invezz. He's an avid trader and golfer, who spends an inordinate amount of time watching Leicester City and the… read more.