Crypto-exchanges analysis

Revain is currently negotiating adding R-tokens to major stock exchanges. We are looking at these 12 major players: Bittrex, Bitflip, Yobit, Novaexchange, Gatecoin, DABTC, Kraken, Kuna, Bitx-south-africa, Livecoin, Btcchina, Okcoin, Bitfinex, Poloniex. Let’s look into their features and determine what exchange is the best choice with a view to individual preferences.

But before we dive in, let’s check out a recent Cambridge research on trends and overall situation on crypto stock-exchange market. First of all, the study revealed that Europe had the highest number of exchanges, followed by Asia-Pacific. As of March 2017, Bitfinex exchange had the highest market share of all exchanges, coming in with 16 percent. However, 25 percent of the overall market share came from a combination of smaller exchanges. Overall, the US Dollar was the most widely supported national currency, appearing on 65 percent of exchanges. Euro came in second with 49 percent prevalence. On the exchanges examined, every single one of them traded in Bitcoin with Ethereum and Litecoin was the next most popular. Ripple, Ethereum Classic, Monero, Dogecoin and Dash were also widespread.

According to recent news of huge importance, 17 trading platforms will stop cryptocurrency trading in Shanghai. They have publicly announced that they are no longer involved in ICO operations and proposed plans to exit the market. If we speak of trading volumes on crypto exchanges now, it’s more than of $3 bln/day on average, and will likely soon surpass that of the world’s most liquid stock: Apple’s $4 bln/day!

Now let’s turn to each exchange in detail.

Kuna

The largest exchange in Eastern Europe. Has both web and mobile interfaces and 2-step verification process. Also has a great API and multiple withdrawal options. No claims re the exchanges instability or bugs were posted. The exchange also provides 24/7 customer support.

Kraken

Founded in 2011, San Francisco-based Kraken is the largest Bitcoin exchange in euro volume and liquidity and also trading Canadian dollars, US dollars, British pounds and Japanese yen. Kraken is consistently rated the best and most secure Bitcoin exchange by independent news media. It also was the first Bitcoin exchange to have trading price and volume displayed on the Bloomberg Terminal, the first to pass a cryptographically verifiable proof-of-reserves audit, and is a partner in the first cryptocurrency bank. Kraken is trusted by hundreds of thousands of traders, the Tokyo government’s court-appointed trustee, and Germany’s BaFin regulated Fidor Bank.

Bittrex

One of the largest exchanges having a total of $270,532,393 trade volume. All major cryptos are listed and a large number of trading pairs into bitcoin is offered. Based in the United States, it takes the fee of 0.25% per transaction. Deposits and withdrawals are processed by means of a wallet. Some argue that exchange has a very high cryptocurrencies turnover, which leads to accusations of pump and dump schemes. Apart from that the exchange does have very good security with two factor authentication. As for the user-interface, it’s pretty friendly and easy to navigate.

Poloneix

Also based in the United States, it is crypto-to-crypto only, i.e. no option for crypto-to-fiat exchanges. Technical analysis charts and live chat features mean it is easy to stay updated of news flow and analyse price trends before taking a position. There is good security and decent volume and orderbook depth for the majority of its trading pairs. Trading fees are flat at 0.25%, deposit and withdrawal fees are subject to the blockchain’s specific minimum transaction fee.

Bitflip and YoBit

Russia-based exchanges that were launched recently. However, they start to get more and user exposure. Distinctive features are as follows:

• User-friendly interface
• Full Trade page at the screen without scrolling
• Immediate cryptocurrency deposit / withdrawal
• YobiCodes (deposit codes)
• Api in btc-e format for faster integration into bot-systems;
• Two-factor authentication (Google Authenticator, email);
• File systems encryption
• SSL
• Anti-ddos
• Intelligent system of queer transaction analysis and blocking;
• Real time encrypted data backup;
• Cold/hot wallets.

0.2 % Trading fee

Crypto: 0.0005

QIWI: 0%

PerfectMoney: 3%

Payeer: 2% RUR/ 1% USD

AdvCash: 3%

Visa/Mastercard: 70 RUR + 3%

Webmoney: 2%

Mobile Phone: 1%

Yandex.Money: 2%

Capitalist: 3%

Gatecoin

Gatecoin is a regulated digital currency exchange focused on security, reliability and cost-efficient transfers. They also provide other related services such as prepaid debit cards, merchant and remittance solutions. Users report that the exchange is a little bit slow with extended wait times.

BTCChina

One of the leading Bitcoin exchanges in China. Announced that will be closing its trading on September 30, 2017 due to recent Chinese government restrictions.

OKCoin

Another top Bitcoin exchange. Even though it is based in China — it has offshoot offices around the world. With some of the largest volumes and good liquidity — best pricing is easy to achieve. Bringing a futures angle into the market makes OkCoin one of the more innovative exchanges out there and gives a number of options to structure various financial positions in both Bitcoin and Litecoin markets. The layout and functionality of the exchange is easy to understand and offers good security through its bespoke cold wallet technology to secure private keys offline with little to no risk.

Trading fees vary depending on your 30 day volume from 0.20% to 0.1%, if you trade over 25,000 BTC. USD deposit fees range depending on the provider you use with OKpay at 1.5% and PerfectMoney at 3%. Standard bank telegraphic transfers are only subject to the bank charges. The USD withdrawal fee is 0.1% or USD 15 — whichever is larger. For BTC and LTC withdrawals the exchange charges 0% — although the bitcoin and litecoin minimum network fee might apply.

But again — since the People’s Bank of China announced inspections on the three major exchanges in the country — OKcoin has halted margin trading services and instituted a trading fee of 0.2%.

Livecoin

A Bitcoin and altcoin exchange platform that offers many currency pairs, including trading altcoins for FIAT currency. The exchange was founded in 2013, by DELTA E-COMMERCE LTD from London, UK. Their servers are based in Metairie, Louisiana, USA. The exchange doesn’t have a specified market, they aim at the world map. It seems they are focused on altcoin traders and offer many features for Russian-speakers.

The exchange supports the following FIAT currencies:

• US dollar
• EUR
• Russian Ruble

One of the best things about this exchange is their altcoin — fiat currency pairs. Having this option makes things a lot easier and makes calculating profit less troublesome. It also removes a layer of unnecessary expenses because of paying two sets of fees instead of just one. That’s because on the majority of the trading platform users need to trade FIAT for Bitcoin and then Bitcoin for other coins. There are no FIAT/altcoin trading pairs. This feature makes Livecoin particularly attractive. The website is responsive, easy to use, and it’s load time is impressive. Yet there’s no mobile app. As for the user support, the team is very professional and friendly. The exchange has a sort of remote FAQ page on Bitcointalk forum, which is quite extensive and a great place to ask any questions. The website offers two-factor authentication. There were no hacking attacks so far, meaning that this is a safe place for Bitcoins as well as altcoins.

Bitfinex

A major Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange. Bitfinex facilitates the US Dollar-based trading of Bitcoin and 7 other coins, including Monero and Ethereum. It is the leading exchange for USD-denominated Bitcoin trading. Bitfinex has been the largest exchange by volume, which is highly important, because even if you don’t intend to trade there, monitoring Bitfinex is essential as it will often lead prices across other exchanges.

BitX South Africa

BitX South Africa supports 4 trading pairs for exchanging Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

All in all, when choosing a crypto-exchange one needs to be highly aware of current developments and news of the cryptoworld. In particular now that governments all over the world are scrutinizing cryptoworld and finally turning to introducing regulations.