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2018 is the year of the cryptocurrency. The market cap of cryptocurrencies, the world’s fastest growing asset class, shot through the roof in 2017 and has surpassed $677 billion. Cryptos received the attention of the global central banks so it is not wrong to say that pandora’s box has opened.
Cryptocurrencies are quickly gaining legitimacy, and many predictions have been made regarding cryptocurrencies in 2018, and many say that 2018 is expected to be a year when a lot of institutional money will flow into the cryptosphere. Also, to many, it is a foregone conclusion that the market cap of cryptos will be in the trillions in 2018 – with many predicting it will go as high as $5 trillion.
However, this is not a persuasion speech or an investment advice to invest in crypto, but a fact check of the market sentiments. As we saw in the last month, many cryptocurrencies services and exchanges stopped accepting new user registrations because of the huge amount of users that the platforms had gained, which caused the servers to crash under the incredible load. Currently, it is unknown when these exchanges will reopen their registrations, so it is imperative to have alternatives in case the renowned services go down or stop accepting new investors.
Bitfinex is the most advanced and world’s largest Bitcoin trading platform, and in this article today I will be mentioning 4 best Bitfinex alternative exchanges and websites that can be used to buy/sell cryptos.
4 Best Bitfinex Alternatives to Buy/Sell Cryptos
Binance
Binance is a popular cryptocurrency exchange that was established in the middle of July 2017. The company is still fairly new on the market. However, it has managed to gain a lot of popularity thanks to its impressive number of Initial Coin Offering (ICO) listings, but also due to its low trading fees.
They have a 0.1% standard trading fee which can be reduced even more if you pay your trading fee in BNB according to the below-shown structure.
So if you already have Bitcoin, Litecoin or Ethereum, Binance is any day better than Bitfinex because traders can use the platform for multiple digital currencies, including, but not limited to Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, LiteCoin, NEO, GAS, EOS, Dash, Zcash, Ripple, Dash, and more. Binance also supports numerous tokens, as part of ICO listings, which means that traders can use the platform to trade these tokens for a profit as well.
Binance offers multiple-language support in Chinese, English, Korean and Japanese, and works on all forms of devices, including web, Android, WeChat, and HTML5. Another reason users are loving Binance is its fully functional mobile apps for both Android and iOS users, which is great for traders and investors who like access to crypto trading on the go. Mobile apps can be downloaded here: Download iOS App |Android App.
It is important to note that unlike Bitfinex, Binance is a crypto-only exchange and does not cater to fiat deposits, such as USD, EUR, GBP etc.
Other platforms succumbed to the mammoth crypto demand in December 2017. However, Binance’s sturdy framework that helped them to continue functioning seamlessly, so even if you don’t wish to use Binance as of now, it is still worth signing-up and keeping the account ready for the sake of the future.
eToro
eToro eToro is a US based trading platform. You can trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Zcash and many other coins. You can quickly make deposits by bank transfer or ACH. It also offers unique features like Copy Trading. eToro provides unique copy trading functionality and it is a trusted platform that has been active in traditional finance for more than a decade. The interface is clean and easy to use with a lot of unique features like CopyPortfolios, CopyTrading and others. You can also trade on a margin on eToro.
The only drawback is that you cannot deposit cryptocurrency, but you can deposit with other payment methods and then buy crypto on the platform.
(75% of retail CFD accounts lose money. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, unregulated in most EU countries, no EU protections & not supervised by the EU regulatory framework. Investments are subject to market risk, including the loss of principal..)
CEX.io
Launched in 2013 in London, CEX.io is another very popular Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange. Its website provides users with a very easy to use interface, which is one of the primary reasons of its popularity. The platform is very reliable, with the service availability reaching 99.999%, and has lots of security features which ensure that all the transactions are backed with a 100% secure system that protects the users’ funds completely. This platform offers BTC, ETH, BCH, XLM, DASH, XRP, and BTG in exchange of fiat pairs too, just like Bitfinex.
There are more than million users of this exchange and it offers cross-platform trading via website, mobile app (which is available on iOS and Android), Rest API and WebSocket. The advanced reporting provided by this platform allows users to easily see their transaction history, as well as other important data to keep them informed about their progress. This gives the users more power when using this platform.
Once registered and having verified your identity with CEX, you can use this popular exchange for purchasing cryptocurrencies via debit/credit cards instantly. CEX.io operates in most countries worldwide and is generally well-regarded for its customer support. You can purchase and sell both Bitcoin and Ethereum with CEX.IO for multiple fiat currencies: USD, EUR, GBP and RUB if your country is supported by their service. Click here to check your country’s status.
Bittrex
Based in Seattle, USA, Bittrex is one of the oldest players in the cryptocurrency exchange industry. Bittrex has been in operation since 2014 and has more than 150 cryptos listed on it whereas Bitfinex only has few currencies on it. The site has a good reputation and up until this point, has not yet been hacked like the other centralized exchanges.
Unlike Bitfinex, Bittrex is a crypto-only exchange meaning it offers good options for trading via Bitcoin and Ethereum, but it does not currently offer fiat trading pairs (trading via USD, EUR, and GBP).
Bittrex sees itself as a next generation cryptocurrency trading platform and has looked to implement a number of features and practices to help it get ahead of its competitors.
The Bittrex website provides customers access to features such as advanced trading tools like candlestick charts and crosshairs. However, the user interface is quite clean and intuitive, so beginners should have no problems.
This platform employs the most reliable security technologies available, including utilizing an elastic multi-stage wallet strategy that ensures 80-90% of funds are stored offline and kept safe.
Bittrex fee structure is also quite straight-forward where it charges 0.25% on all trades and this allows customers to easily calculate the fees accrued on any trade.
Conclusion
If and when cryptos go mainstream, the masses around the world first should have a medium through which they can purchase these cryptocurrencies with ease, so we definitely need a lot of alternative services for various cryptocurrency exchanges including Bitfinex.
Also, when the crypto demands surge, there will be a quite a lot of services that will go down temporarily or will stop accepting new customers, so I highly recommend you to register and do your KYC on many exchanges.
The future of crypto is going to be again a crazy ride this year, so you should register on the platforms listed above right now, even if you do not intend to use them. In this way, you will be ready for the future.
Bitstamp is one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges. Read our Bitstamp review here.
HitBTC is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges. Read our HitBTC review here.
Cryptopia is a small exchange that is known for being the place less known coins with smaller caps come out first. Here is our review of Cryptopia.
You can choose the best altcoin exchange by reading this article.
Our recommendation is always check if Coinbase is available for your country and buy there – as it is by far the safest and best regulated bitcoin exchange. Coinbase is trustworthy and has acceptable fees and it is a leading platform for buying BTC.
If Coinbase doesn’t support your country, use Cex.io – read how Cex.io works – it is a good Coinbase alternative. Coinmama is also safe exchange for buying cryptocurrencies – click here to visit Coinmama.
If your country is not available on Coinbase – check for best Coinbase alternatives (such as Cexio and Indacoin – see here Indacoin exchange review) and buy BTC on one of those exchanges. You can always exchange your coins on Changelly (see if Changelly is legit place to trade crypto), instantly and directly to bitcoin.
