Bitcoin Exchange Reviews

Use this Bitcoin exchange list to find a Bitcoin exchange for you. Each user has unique needs, so there is no one size fits all for exchanges.

Our Bitcoin exchange reviews detail each exchange's supported countries, payment methods accepted, fees, privacy, limits, liquidity, reputation, speed (delivery of bitcoin), customer support, and any past issues.

Popular Bitcoin Exchanges

USA

The above exchanges all work in the USA, but the exchanges listed below only work in the USA.

Bitcoin Exchanges in Europe

More Exchange Reviews

While we don't have a dedicated page for every exchange, the section below will give you more details on other popular exchanges

Gemini Review

Gemini is a Bitcoin exchange run by the Winklevoss twins.

It's a licensed Bitcoin exchange and operates in 42 US states and many other countries (check here for full list of supported districts):

Once you create an account on the exchange you will need to setup 2-factor authentication, verify your bank account, and verify your identity. Once you do all of that you can get started with the exchange.

Gemini's interface can be confusing for first time buyers, which is why we usually recommend Coinbase to new buyers. Have a look at the trading interface below:

If you can get past understanding how to use Gemini it is a unique exchange. Some of its great features include:

Instant Deposit for ACH Transfers

At most exchanges, when you deposit via bank transfer you have to wait 1-7 days for the bank transfer to complete. Gemini understands this is frustrating and time consuming.

Luckily for US users, you can make instant ACH deposits to Gemini. This means you can buy bitcoins super fast. You will have the bitcoins you bought locked into your account until your ACH deposit clears, but at least this way you were able to buy bitcoin fast and lock in the price you wanted!

Kraken Review

If you live in Europe, don't worry!

Kraken is a global Bitcoin exchange and supports European residents along with residents of the United States, Canada, and Japan.

Kraken offers excellent liquidity as its average daily volume is around 10-12 million euros. So if you want to buy large amounts of bitcoins, Kraken is a good option.

Verification

Like all regulated exchanges, you will have to verify your identity and personal details before buying.

Here are Kraken's limits based on your verification level:

So in order to deposit money and buy bitcoins, you will need to verify your:

• Full name
• Date of birth
• Country of residence
• Phone number
• Address verification

There are further verification levels, but most people will only need Tier 2 to buy bitcoins.

User and Trading Interface

Like other exchanges geared towards traders, its interface can be quite confusing. Kraken, however, has aimed to make things easier for first-time buyers and its "Simple" order form is pretty easy to use:

Fees

Kraken's fees are quite confusing. So to keep it simple we will summarize:

If you are buying less than $50,000 of bitcoins per month expect to pay between 0.16-0.26% in fees per buy.

If you use the "Simple" order form is displayed above you will pay 0.26%. If you want to learn how to use Kraken's advanced order types you can pay just 0.16% if you become a "market maker".

Bitstamp Review

Bitstamp is one of the longer running Bitcoin exchanges. It has been around since 2011 and is a licensed exchange with the Luxembourg's Ministry of Finance

It is a good option for traders and those buying large amounts of bitcoins.

Verification

Bitstamp requires extensive verification including the following information:

• Full name
• Date of birth
• Country of residence
• Phone number
• Address verification
• ID number and scan of photo ID document

Fees

Because Bitstamp is geared towards traders, it also has confusing fees if you use the exchange. The fees you pay depend on your total volume. Unless you trade high volumes, you will likely pay 0.25% per buy.

If you buy bitcoins on Bitstamp with your credit card then the fees will be 8% for purchases up to $500 or €500. There are other exchanges that offer lower fees for buying bitcoins with a credit card or debit card.

Bitfinex Review

Bitfinex is a popular exchange because in terms of USD trading volume it has the most liquidity. It currently owns about a 10% share of the USD trading market.

Because of its confusing interface, it's probably only a good choice for traders who really know what they are doing. Here is what the main trading interface looks like:

Despite getting hacked and losing $70 million or more in customer funds, Bitfinex remains a popular option for serious traders. Still, the hack is scaring some people away.

In the chart below, the orange portion of the bars represent Bitfinex's share of USD volume:

Verification

One thing that has made Bitfinex popular is that if you only make a deposit with cryptocurrency no verification is required. If you want to deposit dollars or euro then you WILL have to verify your ID.

Fees

Btifinex offers very low fees even for low volume buyers, at 0.1% per buy for market makers and 0.2% per buy for market takers.

For Residents of India: Best Bitcoin Exchange Reviews

The following section reviews and shows you how to use the top three Indian Bitcoin exchanges.

Unocoin Review

Firstly you need to login to https://www.unocoin.com , then you need to enter the existing email id and password of your choice followed by clicking on the SIGN UP option to create an account.

After clicking on the SIGN UP option, you get this dialogue box stating that the Registration Process is in progress after which unocoin will send you an activation link on your registered email id. You have to login to your email id and click on the link to activate the account.

After clicking on the link, a new tab will open up in which the terms of use will be written, you need to read it carefully and click on ‘I Accept’ after which a pop up will appear stating that the Registration has been completed successfully.

Now you need to login with your email id and password used at the time of sign up.

After Logging in you will see this page, if you look at it carefully you will observe that in the status bar it shows that your account is unverified. In order to verify your account, you need to upload your id proof and bank account details, so now you will click on EDIT PROFILE

After clicking on the Edit Profile option, a new page will open up in which you have to enter all your details such as Name on account, Account Number, IFSC code, Mobile Number, Full Address as mentioned on your ID proof, State, City, Pin Code etc. After filling in all your details, click next.

Following are the Guidelines for Document which you have to upload after clicking next.

Here you need to upload the document for verification and then click next

After clicking on next, you will be shown your profile information, you need to check the details and click on ‘Save Document’ button present at the bottom right corner.

After that you will be redirected to the same page where you had to enter all your details as unocoin needs time to verify your details and document and to make your status verified. So now you need to wait for the intimation or status to change from unverified to verified to buy and sell bitcoin.

For buying bitcoin, firstly user needs to deposit money into unocoin wallet and for doing so we need to Make NEFT/IMPS/RTGS in there respected bank account. Minimum amount to deposit is 1000 INR which is approximately $15.

To do any of these bank transfers user needs to have his/her bank account linked with a Cell phone, as prior to initiating the transfer bank will send OTP (One Time Password) which is required to be entered for the transaction to go through. To maintain security this OTP is valid only for a few minutes and if transaction does not go through in stipulated time, there will be a timeout and user will have to generate a new OTP to initiate the transfer.

You will get the bank information at this stage where you can send your bank wire/deposit.

After the money is deposited in their account user must contact their customer service number and provide details of the transaction and then money is added to your wallet on their website. Once that is done then user can start process of buying and selling bitcoins.

Coinsecure Review and User Guide

Firstly you need to open https://www.coinsecure.in , you will get this page and if you see there is a SIGN UP option on the bottom left side, you have to click on it.

After Clicking on the Sign Up option you will get a form in which you need to enter your new username, new password, repeat password, existing email id and tick mark on accept terms and then click on arrow sign in orange color to proceed further

As soon as you click on the arrow sign in orange circle you will get 2 pop-up on the same page one saying to SIGN UP and the second saying to click on the link send to your email account to verify your email id for signup.

Now you need to open you email account and click on the link you received, a new tab will open up and show you an option to sign in with your user id and password used at the time of sign up. As soon as you enter the username and password and click login, you will see this type of dashboard in front of your screen. Here you have to complete your KYC (Know Your Customer) and Bank information to start buying and selling Bitcoin. Now you will see the following line “Would you like to complete your KYC & Bank Link? “ , below it click on the start button to proceed.

After clicking on the start button, a new screen will appear in which you will be asked to enter your Full Name, Nick Name, Account Number, IFSC code & Phone Number. After entering all thedetails you need to click on SEND NEW SMS CODE.

After clicking SEND NEW SMS CODE button you will receive an OTP (One Time Password) on your registered mobile number mentioned in the above details. You need to enter OTP and click on SUBMIT.

After clicking on Submit, a Welcome page will open up and on the right side a dialogue box will appear stating success and below which it will be mentioned that we will mail you with the status as soon as we complete the verification.

Now you need to go to your dashboard, here you will see that you have received a message stating that your data has been uploaded for verification and below that with a star mark it is written “ This can take upto 48 hours to complete “.

After your verification is completed, on your dashboard you will see 2 dialogue box one to buy bitcoin and another for selling bitcoin at the current rate. Here you need to enter the quantity in any of the box depending whether you want to buy or sell and then click buy or sell.

User needs to deposit INR into any of their bank accounts mentioned below through bank transfers like: RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) /IMPS (Intermediary Payment System) / NEFT (National Electronic Fund Transfer)

To do any of these bank transfers user needs to have his/her bank account linked with a Cell phone, as prior to initiating the transfer bank will send OTP (One Time Password) which is required to be entered for the transaction to go through. To maintain security this OTP is valid only for a few minutes and if transaction does not go through in stipulated time, there will be a timeout and user will have to generate a new OTP to initiate the transfer.

You will receive Coinsecure's bank information at this stage. You can send your deposit via NEFT / RTGS / IMPS.

User receives a Transaction ID after deposit INR via NEFT / RTGS / IMPS. User will have to fill the details (like Transacton ID and Amount Deposited) into his Coinsecure account by going through the following:

'Bank' > 'Fiat Currency Balance' > 'Deposit'. (This is a one-time process). After depositing money the amount will be reflected in our coinsecure account and then only we can buy or sell bitcoins.

Zebpay Review

Here in Zebpay site you need to download the application to trade the bitcoin because Zebpay does not support without application.

You need to download the android or the IOS application in your phone.

After successfully Downloading the App in your phone, you need to open the app where you will be shown to enter your country code with your mobile number and click on verify button.

After clicking on verify, you will be shown the next screen where you have to enter the 6 digit verification code which you must received on your mobile number as mentioned above, then click on verify.

After clicking on verify, you will be shown this screen and below that you will see that there is a button as ‘setup account pin’, click on that.

After clicking on Setup account pin, a screen will appear in which you have to enter 4 digit pin of your own choice.

After that you will get a page to re-enter the same pin again, if the pin matches with the earlier one, then it will ask for your permission to whether to allow zebpay to access your contact or not, click ok.

After clicking on ok you will get a page to enter details such as Name, Email ID and currency format, fill in the details and click on save.

After clicking the save button, a page opens up which shows the current buying and selling bitcoin price with status activities of the user.

At the top right corner you will notice three small lines indicating a menu, click on it and you will see that the third option is for verification, you need to click on verification to complete your identity verification and bank account verification.

As you can see above, there are two tabs, one is for id card and the second is for bank account details. You need to upload your pan and enter details such as full name, Pan card number, DOB, Sex and then click next and it will show a status bar of uploading after that you need to go to second tab where you need to fill bank account details such as IFSC code, Bank Name, Account Holder Name, Account Number & Confirm Account Number. After that you need to click on submit button.

After that you will receive a message stating that documents have been submitted successfully and it may take upto 3 working days to review it.

After account verification we need to go to home page of the app and below you will see a plus button, we need to click on that, a menu appears and we need to click on the second menu option which says buy/sell bitcoins.

After clicking on that option a buy page opens up where you need to enter the amount to buy

To Buy or Sell Bitcoin first user needs to deposit money in INR in his/her Zebpay account. For this you need to home page of the app and below you will see a plus button, we need to click on that, a menu appears and we need to click on the second menu option which says buy/sell bitcoins. After clicking on that option a buy page opens on right side and where it is written ‘Deposit’ you need to click that. After Clicking Deposit a new page will open you need to enter the amount you want to deposit and secondly need to choose your bank to pay.

Now, with Zebpay the thing is, user needs to have a bank account with any of the following four banks: Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank & HDFC Bank to purchase bitcoins. Since my bank account is with bank named Indian Bank hence I am unable to deposit money to buy the bitcoins.