Cryptocurrency exchange; options in Nigeria.

Guru Capital
Gurucapitalng
Published in
4 min readAug 27, 2018

Various crypto exchanges may have different features and functions. Some of them are made for traders, while others are made for prompt crypto-fiat exchange. Crypto exchanges — that are designed for regular traders — allow you to buy crypto and sell them with lower commission fees than on crypto-to-fiat exchanges. Also, trading platforms don’t provide these services without a bite a from themselves; some charge fees for withdrawing, depositing or trading activities on the account.

Basically, crypto exchanges work similarly to regular exchanges. The difference is that, on other exchange platforms a, traders buy and sell assets — shares or derivatives — to profit from their changing rates, while on crypto exchanges, traders use cryptocurrency pairs to profit from the highly volatile currency rates.

Crypto Exchange for Nigerian Users.

When it comes to buying and selling bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies in Nigeria, the world trusted must come to play. It is important you know how to buy cryptocurrency in Nigeria and where to buy it.

  1. “Regular” Cryptocurrency Exchanges: These are the exchanges that are like the regular stock exchanges where buyers and sellers trade based on the current market price of cryptocurrencies (with the exchange playing the middle-man). These type of trading platforms generally charge a fee for each transaction.

Some of these types of exchanges deal only in cryptocurrency, others allow users to trade fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Huobi is an example of this type of exchange.

For crypto exchanges, there are fiat to bitcoin exchanges, alt-coin exchange/trading, peer-to-peer exchanges (exchanges without a middle man), then there are CFD brokers for crypto trading.

2. Cryptocurrency Brokers: These are website-based exchanges that are like the currency exchange at an airport. They allow customers to buy and sell cryptocurrencies at a price set by the broker (generally at the market price plus a small premium). NGexchanger and Luno are examples of this type of exchange.

3. Direct Trading Platforms: These platforms offer direct peer-to-peer. Currently, there is two major platform on the market which enables peer-to-peer bitcoin trading. At P2P bitcoin exchanges, you can buy and sell bitcoins directly from private individuals. You can keep a low profile and do not share any personal information during the purchase process.

LocalBitcoins — LocalBitcoins respects the anonymous nature of Bitcoin, so the ID verification process is not mandatory. To sign up, you need to provide an email address. While the exchange doesn’t require any personal information, some sellers or buyers may request identification in order to proceed with the trade.

Paxful — Setting up an account on the site is easy and can be done in two ways: automatically, after providing an e-mail not yet registered in their database during the checkout in a buying process or, by filling directly the registration form available on their website.

Besides clicking the confirmation link sent to the registered email, users are also asked to set two security questions. Users can alternatively verify their mobile phone number and activate SMS notifications. While they can opt for being notified of a broad range of activity related to their account via email, only alerts about critical movements are sent via SMS.

Conclusion

Finally, in almost every case a person will want to use an exchange or broker. One will generally only want to use a direct trading platform i.e. over the counter (OTC) when their options are limited.

There is no such thing as a ‘stable’ or ‘fair’ price for Bitcoin or any other coin — it’s always determined by the market at each moment. It is important to note that exchanges are not connected. Prices vary depending on the buy and sell activity on each one of these exchanges.

Every exchange calculates the price of Bitcoin based on its own volume of trades, as well as supply and demand of its users. This means that the bigger the exchange, the more market-relevant price you get.

Many factors are vital when it comes to selecting a good exchange. In short, here’s what to look for:

  • Good location
  • Supported coins
  • High Liquidity
  • Low Fees
  • Numerous trading options
  • Mobile support
  • Good user experience
  • Excellent security

Depending on the needs, country, trading volume, security and many other factors the user can choose an exchange that’ll suit his requirements.

Recommendation.

These exchange platforms have a plethora of pros and cons, if you are new to trading and you want an easy start, trade with Luno/Huobi and take it from there. Those aren’t the only choices, but they are beginner friendly. With that in mind, all exchanges and products mentioned above are fine choices for what they are.

You need to check if your countries are serviced by your preferred bitcoin exchanges. In many cases, Nigerian users are restricted due to local regulations. You can consider other options, be sure to check their websites and online reviews.

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Guru Capital
Gurucapitalng

A Blockchain venture firm focused on providing complete blockchain powered services, through, research, consulting, investment, App development.