Cryptocurrency Exchanges: Bittrex or Binance? (A Review)
What Is Bittrex and What Is Binance?
A cryptocurrency exchange is a business that allows customers to invest and use digital currencies, such as bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin.
The Altcoin market includes thousands of alternative currencies; therefore, a website where these currencies can be bought and sold is important for all traders, including beginners and experts.
A cryptocurrency exchange allows trades to be made with other cryptocurrencies, which can be exchanged for fiat currency, and other trading instruments can be invested in, like commodities, stocks and bonds.
Deposits can be made in some exchanges with fiat (traditional) currencies, such as dollars, yen, sterling or digital currencies.
It allows payment methods like credit cards, wire, bank transfers and even PayPal.
Bittrex and Binance are two well-known cryptocurrency exchanges; however, when considering which is best to use, there are a few things to consider before deciding.
What Matters In a Cryptocurrency Exchange?
There are several universal features of cryptocurrency exchanges. These can be used to discover what matters to you in terms of your trading needs.
Assessing each exchange using the descriptors of what matters will simplify the decision-making process.
Fees
Cryptocurrency exchanges make their money by charging fees for the exchanges.
This often includes fees for both those buying (takers) and those selling (makers) bitcoin, as well as costs for depositing funds into the exchange and withdrawing them.
Security
When dealing with any financial institution, ensuring your financial investments are safe is paramount, particularly when trading exclusively with online exchanges.
Online protection for your cryptocurrency can be applied by using two-factor authorization and verified accounts (with ID and address).
Number of Users
The more active users there are on a cryptocurrency exchange, the less likely downtime or problems will occur.
More users mean a constant and steady balance of supply and demand.
User Interface
Whether you are a beginner trader or a professional, a simple and easy user interface will make it easier for you to trade.
The more straightforward the interface, the easier it is to use.
Customer Support
Accessible customer support is paramount for beginner traders.
Some exchanges also offer educational resources to teach you more about cryptocurrency and trading.
Choice of Currencies
Exchanges are designed for the buying, selling, and trading of currencies; therefore, the most useful exchanges offer the largest choice of currencies.
The most important features are a range of altcoins and fiat (traditional) currencies.
How Does Bittrex Measure Up?
Pros:
Wide variety of coins
Advanced and innovative security
Low fees
Cons:
Lax customer support
No mobile application
No withdrawal without verification
Bittrex was established in 2013. The founders began their careers as security experts at Microsoft.
The exchange is presently based in Seattle, Washington.
Bittrex supports third-party platforms and trading and allows transactions to be completed in real time while offering many coins to trade.
Bittrex accounts can only be funded through cryptocurrency unless the amount is more than $10,000, where a deposit can be made through a wire transfer.
The Bittrex exchange was known for being one of the only exchanges to apply for a New York Bitlicence.
The application was rejected, however, due to reported inadequacies with due diligence and Anti-Money Laundering (AML). This is under review.
Bittrex is not available to US investors. It is regulated in the European Union and Malta.
Users cannot withdraw anything from the exchange until verification, and only up to 100BTC even with 2FA.
There is no deposit limit.
Main Features
Fees – 0.25% trading fee (both maker and taker) that reduces depending on 30-day trading volume. The withdrawal fee is 0.0005BTC, although network transfer fees are built into the cost of each coin.
Security – The security of the Bittrex exchange is one of its most important features, and with more than 90% of the cryptocurrency traded held in cold storage and robust two-factor authorization (2FA), it has never been hacked.
Number of users – The Bittrex user community is highly active; therefore, all transactions are completed in real-time, ensuring there is no lag in the process and a constant and consistent stream of trades is available.
User interface – The trading interface is professional and straightforward, with all the data needed for trades, including graphs, candlesticks and multiple coins, all in one place.
Customer support – Although customer support is meant to be robust, there have been delays reported by customers regarding response time for support ticket requests.
Choice of currencies – Bittrex offers trading options for more than 300 digital currencies; however, there is no support for fiat currencies.
How Does Binance Measure Up?
Pros:
Fast trading interface
Trusted reputation in the trading community
Extremely low fees
Cons:
No US investors
Relatively new exchange
Fewer coins available for trading
Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange launched in Japan in 2017 using an Initial Coin Offering (ICO).
It raised $15 million from the sale of 200 million Binance Coins (BNB), one of the most successful ICOs to date.
Within the first 143 days of trading, Binance reached the top three cryptocurrency exchanges available.
Binance is one of the fastest exchanges available, processing approximately 1.4 million orders per second, and offers multiple platforms, including mobile.
Although there are fewer coins available on this exchange, it has earned the trust of the community.
There is no deposit limit, and the daily withdrawal level depends on whether your account is verified or not.
For those with no verification, withdrawals are limited to 2BTC; however, the limit rises to 50BTC when the account is fully verified with ID.
Main Features
Fees – Maker/taker fees are 0.1%, but there are discounts available if you pay with BNB or have a larger 30-day trading volume; withdrawals can be made onto a credit card or cryptocurrency costing 0.0005BTC, and there are no deposit fees.
Security – The combination of cold storage and 2FA is supported by email confirmation for any unrecognized logins.
Number of users – Binance is one of the biggest exchanges available with an enormous number of users; therefore, it is cheaper to use, and you are more likely to get better prices.
User interface – The interface is simple; however, it is not beginner-friendly due to the volume of data presented and the absence of background information.
Customer support – Users enjoy the openness of the Binance team, and the founder uses social media to keep supporters up to date with any downtime or other issues.
Choice of currencies – Aside from the proprietary BNB coin, Binance provides trading options for 150+ altcoins, but not fiat currency.
Which Is Better Overall?
Both Bittrex and Binance offer similar features as cryptocurrency exchanges; therefore, there are few differences between the two.
Bittrex offers serious security measures and the reliability and trust of an established US-based enterprise.
It has never suffered hacking or ‘lost’ investor funds.
Bittrex is well-regulated but supports algorithmic trading and third-party platforms; therefore, it has more to offer.
Binance offers cheaper fees. As a relative newcomer to the market, it has developed significant trust among the professional trading community.
For traders who value privacy but desire security, Binance is the better option despite having suffered a hacking attack in May 2019 where they lost 7,000BTC.
Final Thoughts
As cryptocurrency exchanges, Bittrex and Binance are large, well-established, and broadly good options.
They both have strong security credentials, and offer low trading fees and a wide range of altcoins.
Both are lacking in fiat currency support, however, and could be a difficult exchange for a beginner trader.
When you are looking for the best place to set up an account for your cryptocurrency trading, your choice must be based on what is most suitable for you and your needs; therefore, either Binance or Bittrex should tick all the boxes for you.