Bitcoin broker

Most altcoins trading cryptocurrencies is becoming more widespread as investors around the globe become more comfortable with blockchain technology and the exchanges that offer online crypto trading.

Top forex bonus list

Best Online Brokers for Bitcoin Trading, bitcoin broker.

Security enhancements for digital wallets continue to improve as well, providing traders more confidence that buying bitcoin is safe.

Best online brokers for bitcoin trading

The best crypto exchanges for US bitcoin trading offer three essential benefits. The first, and most important, is robust security with two-factor authentication, cold storage, and integrated safe wallets. Second is a user-friendly website and platform. Third, they provide access to trading a variety of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum.

In our assessment and ranking of cryptocurrency exchanges, we focused on traditional exchanges headquartered and regulated in the united states, as well as the incumbent online brokers in the US, which are expanding to offer bitcoin trading on top of regular stock trading (e.G. Buying shares of apple or google).

Best bitcoin trading platform

Tradestation - best trading platform

Coinbase - best crypto exchange

Etoro - low fees

Kraken - maker-taker fee schedule

Bittrex - most altcoins

Gemini - offers gemnini dollar

Robinhood - best mobile app

Here's a breakdown of some of the best online brokers for US crypto trading.

Best trading platform - open account
promo offer: commission-free trades on stocks, etfs & options trades

As a trading technology leader, tradestation supports casual traders through its web-based platform and active traders through its award-winning desktop platform, all with $0 stock and ETF trades. Tradestation crypto allows you to buy, sell, and trade bitcoin, litecoin, ethereum, bitcoin cash and XRP. Tradestation crypto caters to both institutional and recreational clients. Read full review

Best crypto exchange

Founded in june of 2012, coinbase is the largest US-based cryptocurrency exchange, housing over 20 million users. Coinbase is best known for its easy to use website and crypto trading platform, coinbase pro. Coinbase supports 14 different cryptocurrencies for trading, including bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), and litecoin (LTC), among others.

Low fees - open account
promo offer: 0% commission stocks

Etoro is great for traders seeking zero-commission stock and ETF trades, an efficient platform, and access to copy trading. That said, there are hidden fees, education is sub-par, and etoro doesn't offer the same range of investments as traditional brokers. Etoro's crypto offering includes 16 different coins. Although crypto fees are cheap, you can only withdraw your crypto assets with a dedicated etoro wallet.

Maker-taker fee schedule

Kraken was founded in july of 2011 and offers trading on 18 different cryptocurrencies, including monero (XMR), ripple (XRP), and dash (DSH). Kraken currently offers a web platform but does not have a mobile app.

Most altcoins

Bittrex was founded in seattle, washington in 2014. Although bittrex doesn’t provide a mobile or desktop platform, it still offers over 100 tradeable coins, including bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), and litecoin (LTC).

Offers gemini dollar

Founded in 2015 by the winklevoss twins, gemini is a licensed digital asset exchange and custodian built for both individuals and institutions. Gemini lets users buy, store, and sell bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), litecoin (LTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), and zcash (ZEC), as well as the self-named gemini dollar (GUSD).

Best mobile app

Robinhood crypto allows users to trade bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH), litecoin (LTC), dogecoin (DOGE), ethereum classic (ETC), and bitcoin SV (BSV). Ten additional coins can be added to a watch list. Robinhood crypto is best-fitted for users who trade multiple classes of assets. Read full review

Pricing details

Below is pricing information for each of the top online brokers for bitcoin trading. Each company uses a different structure.

Tradestation - open account
promo offer: commission-free trades on stocks, etfs & options trades

Headquartered in plantation, florida, tradestation is a wholly owned subsidiary of monex group, inc., one of japan’s largest online financial services providers. (1). Tradestation's roots date back to the 1982, when the company was formed under the name omega research. The company's flagship tradestation platform was launched in 1991, and tradestation group was a NASDAQ listed company from 1997 - 2011, until it was acquired by monex group (2).

Tradestation crypto features a simple pricing structure. Account balances below $100,000 pay a 0.50% maker fee and a 0.50% taker fee. Account balances over $100,000 don’t pay a maker fee, paying either a 0.25% or 0.125% fee based on account size. At this commission rate, it would cost $5.00 to buy $1,000 worth of bitcoin (BTC).

Coinbase - coinbase.Com

If buying bitcoin from a linked ACH account, the average commission is

1.49%. If buying bitcoin by selling another cryptocurrency you already hold in your coinbase wallet (or vice versa), then the average commission is

.50%. For example, buying $1,000 worth of bitcoin would cost

$15 from a linked bank account.

Etoro - open account
promo offer: 0% commission stocks

As an early pioneer in social copy trading, etoro was founded in israel in 2006 as a financial trading technology developer. After launching its first product, it has since grown to service over 9 million users with an innovative platform that continually evolves to be one of the largest social networks globally, with clients in over 170 countries.

Etoro charges no fees for sending or receiving transactions. Blockchain fees are applicable for sending and receiving. However, etoro does charge a conversion fee of 0.1%, set to market rates. Minimum withdrawal amounts and fees are also imposed for each type of cryptocurrency. The minimum bitcoin withdrawal amount is 0.0086 BTC and the withdrawal fee is 0.0005 units.

Kraken - kraken.Com

Kraken uses a maker-taker fee schedule with price incentives based on your trading volume over the last 30 days. For example, the average customer who trades less than $50,000 a month will pay $2.60 in fees for every $1,000 in trading volume. Fees for market makers range between 0% and 0.16%, while fees for takers range from 0.10% to 0.26%. This fee schedule, is more competitive than competitors like coinbase and gemini.

Bittrex - bittrex.Com

Bittrex has a simple pricing model, and charges a flat 0.25% on all trades. At this commission rate, it would cost $2.50 to buy $1,000 worth of bitcoin (BTC). Higher-volume traders, those trading more than $25,000 a month, should look at kraken for discounted pricing.

Gemini is much more expensive than other exchanges, charging between $0.99 - $2.99 on transactions under $200, and 1.49% on orders over $200. This means it would cost $14.90 to purchase $1,000 worth of bitcoin (BTC). Overall, gemini is the most expensive crypto exchange included in this guide, charging more than five times what other exchanges would charge for the same transaction.

Robinhood

Robinhood crypto does not charge a commission for placing crypto trades; however, it generates tiny profits from each order as it is routed. This routing practice, known as payment for order flow (PFOF), is also how robinhood makes money from stock trades. In their user agreement, robinhood crypto states that they may receive activity-based rebates from crypto exchanges, brokers, and market-makers, among other crypto intermediaries. Bottom line, since robinhood is not transparent with its pricing structure, there is a possibility the all-in costs per trade are actually much higher than some competitors. Unfortunately, there is no way to know for certain.

Pricing details per exchange

Final thoughts

Trading cryptocurrencies is becoming more widespread as investors around the globe become more comfortable with blockchain technology and the exchanges that offer online crypto trading. Security enhancements for digital wallets continue to improve as well, providing traders more confidence that buying bitcoin is safe.

Fxdailyreport.Com

Bitcoin, the peer-to-peer digital currency that was launched in 2009 by satoshi nakomoto, is now being used by major retailers (both online and offline) as a payment method. So much so, some forex brokers now offer trading with bitcoins.

Top recommended forex brokers offering bitcoin trades

info	bonus	open account
min deposit: $5 spread: from 0.2 pips leverage: 500:1 regulation: FSA (saint vincent and the grenadines), cysec	50% deposit bonus, real contest 1st prize luxury car BMW X5 M, copy trading, trade&win.	Visit broker
min deposit: $1 spread: from 0 pips leverage: 3000:1 regulation: cysec, IFSC	$100 no-deposit bonus, 100% deposit bonus	visit broker
min deposit: 0 spread: non-spread, fee 0.1% per trade leverage: non-leverage regulation: -	visit broker
min deposit: $1 spread: from 0 pips leverage: 2000:1 regulation: FCA UK, cysec, FSP, bafin, CRFIN	35% of the account deposit	visit broker
min deposit: $50 spread: starting 0 pips leverage: up to 400:1 regulation: FCA UK, NFA, CFTC, ASIC, IIROC, FSA, CIMA	visit broker
min deposit: $300 spread: floating, from 0 pips leverage: 500:1 regulation: FCA UK reference number 579202	visit broker
min deposit: $200 spread: starting 0 pips leverage: 500:1 regulation: ASIC australia, FCA UK	visit broker
min deposit: no minimum deposit spread: 1.2 pips leverage: 50:1 regulation: CFTC, NFA, FCA, MAS, ASIC, IIROC	visit broker
min deposit: $10 spread: leverage: regulation: cysec	-	visit broker
min deposit: $200 spread: from 3 pips leverage: 400:1 regulation: NFA, FCA, cysec	visit broker
min deposit: $100 spread: starting 0 pips leverage: up to 500:1 regulation: FCA UK, ASIC australia, MAS singapore	visit broker
min deposit: $1 spread: fixed spread from 3 pips leverage: up to 1:1000 regulation: CBR, cysec and FFMS	30% forex deposit bonus	visit broker
min deposit: $250 spread: as low as 0.1 pips leverage: up to 400:1 regulation: ASIC australia and FCA UK	visit broker
min deposit: €100 spread: the spread can be as low as 0.01%” (0.01% = spread for EUR/USD) leverage: 1:294 regulation: ASIC, cysec, FCA (UK)	visit broker
min deposit: $100 spread: starting from 0.9 pips leverage: 400:1 regulation: MIFID, FSB & ASIC	visit broker

Bitcoin – what is it

Bitcoin is a completely digital form of currency and uses cryptography which controls the creation and transfer of this currency. There is no centralized exchange for any transaction to occur with this currency. Any number of bitcoins can be sent to anyone living anywhere in the world without the intervention of any traditional financial institutions such as banks. Any user that wants to use bitcoins needs to have only a bitcoin address and a reliable internet connection. The user has to remain online for as long as the transaction needs to be processed. Every transaction that takes place is recorded in a public ledger called the blockchain. However, any user can receive bitcoins even when they are offline to their bitcoin address.

A user can get a bitcoin address by downloading a bitcoin client. The popular ones are bitcoin-qt and multibit. The difference that exists between the two of them is in the size of the blockchain that needs to be downloaded. A user that wants to download bitcoin-qt needs about 10 GB hard disk space. Multibit is a lighter version.

One can get a bitcoin address also by getting an online wallet. These are specialized websites that offer bitcoin services. They store the coins in a ‘cold storage’ which are offline safe deposits to prevent them from any misappropriation or pilferage. Only a small percentage is maintained online for immediate redemption.

Bitcoins can also be purchased through online exchanges such as coinbase.Com, bitstamp.Net, etc. If you are a forex trader, the best option would be BTC-E.Com which has its own metatrader platform.

If you are a forex trader that wants to trade in bitcoins, read on to find out the criteria you need to keep in mind to choose the best forex brokers that offer bitcoin trading.

Best forex broker that offers bitcoin trading – how to choose one

Given below are 10 factors that you need to consider to choose the best forex broker. It is a good idea to identify three or four brokers that offer bitcoin trading and then choose the best that satisfies all the belowsaid criteria.

It is important to choose a forex broker that complies with all regulations set up by local and international regulatory authorities. This ensures that the forex broker has a clear perception of the business, is sufficiently capitalized and maintains the clients’ funds in segregated accounts.

Any dealing with the forex broker requires that the client shares personal information financial data, passport details and other utility bill details. It is therefore important that the broker ensures one hundred percent security for the data. The broker should also offer a high level of internet security. It is vital that the forex broker has installed SSL encryption to prevent interception of sensitive data by the wrong recipients. It is good to choose a forex broker that offers two-factor authentication. This makes it difficult for hackers to intrude into customers’ accounts. You should also choose a broker who has an extensive privacy policy. This would ensure that your details are not sold by the broken to anyone else.

Depending on your trading appetite, you can choose a market maker that has dealing desks or choose an STP/ECN broker that passes your order to an interbank market.

Choose a forex broker that offer not only currencies but also precious metals, bitcoins, stocks, bonds, commodities, index options, etc.

#5: commissions, fees and spreads

The best forex broker would offer the most competitive commission rates and reasonable fees. The spreads offered by the broker should be in tune with your specific requirements.

It is particularly important to choose a broker that offers a demo account. The trader can practice a few dry runs before trading in the real markets. The trading platform offered by the user should be easy-to-use, navigable and rich with features.

Ensure that your style of trading is compatible with that of the broker that offers bitcoin trading.

Choose a forex broker that offers a reasonable amount as minimum deposit, fair withdrawal and payment terms, acceptable leverage ratio, terms of trading and other features.

Choose a forex broker that offer good and reliable customer service options.

#10: education and trading tools

The best forex broker has on offer a number of trading tools, tutorials and guides that would help the trader in his endeavor.

Best forex brokers that offer bitcoin trading

Etoro is the latest among forex brokers to make a foray into offering trading with bitcoins. They offer cfds. However, this site is not recommended for day traders as traders can enter and exit trades only up to four times in a day. This broker uses bitstamp as data feed for price references. It is to be noted that they do not accept US clients.

Bitcoin trading from ava trade website is available through cfds: bitcoin mini and bitcoin weekly. The leverages offered are 2:1 and 20:1, respectively. Whereas bitcoin mini CFD does not expire, bitcoin weekly CFD expires at 21.00 hours every friday. For both the contracts, data feed used is from BTC-E. Ava trade also provides an additional amount of $10 in addition to the spread. Ava trade does not allow weekend trading. This is a drawback for traders as they cannot take advantage of the fact that bitcoins can be traded on all 7 days of the week unlike currencies. Ava trade does not accept US clients.

Instaforex has recently introduced the facility of trading in bitcoins to its clients. The leverage offered by the broker is 25:1. There is no actual delivery of the cryptocurrency during trading. The gains are accrued from the rate fluctuations of bitcoins. The cryptocurrency can be traded on the instaforex platform with a leverage of up to 1:25.

Popular crypto brokers

Crypto investing has become very popular recently, especially since many brokers are listing bitcoin, litecoin, dash and ripple as available assets.

Although every broker you find, will give you the opportunity to trade bitcoin contracts, many brokers have ridiculously wide spreads. A recent comparison of brokers, found spreads ranging as wide as $150, to as narrow as $10, with the price of a BTCUSD at $16,240.

Reminder: only invest with a licensed and regulated broker!

How to compare bitcoin brokers

Here is a quick checklist of items to compare between bitcoin brokers.

Verify the bitcoin broker is licensed and regulated.

Signup for their free demo account.

Check minimum trade size

Check minimum deposit requirement.

See how tight the spread is on bitcoin.

Regulated crypto brokers

Pepperstone is the best CFD broker for trading crypto, because they have the tightest spreads!

They are a popular globally licensed and regulated broker, offering a choice of trading apps, see here.

Start with a free demo account, signup here.

Plus500 is a very popular CFD broker, that is licensed in multiple countries, look here.

Offering tight spreads on bitcoin and crypto currency trading, plus their unique trading platform, makes plus500 a popular choice.

Try a free demo account at: plus500.Com.
Disclaimer: crypto trading availability is subject to regulations. 76.4% of retail CFD accounts lose money.

If your broker is not regulated… you will be scammed!

How to avoid crypto scams

There are two types of scams that are now very common with crypto currency investors.

The first one being “trading robots” which are suppose to make you a lot of money by automatically trading on your behalf. You should read about real trading software, see here.

The second are the brokers who are not licensed or regulated. Every financial company must be licensed by the government. Popular brokers are licensed in australia by ASIC or in cyprus by cysec. The FCA in the united kingdom recently banned brokers from offering CFD’s on crypto currency to U.K. Residents.

If you go with a broker who promises to make you rich, and they are not licensed, you can read the complaints page now, so you understand what you will be dealing with.

Best cryptocurrency brokers for 2021

Daniel ‘harris’ major

I have tested 40+ crypto brokers. You can find the best cryptocurrency brokers below. This is by far the easiest way to get started with cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrency trading has become really popular in the past years. It’s growing more ever year.

Many big trading brokers have already added some of these cryptocurrencies. Everybody can sign up and start trading bitcoin or other crypto coins. This is the easiest and probably the simplest way to invest in cryptocurrency.

After trying out most brokers, here are the best cryptocurrency brokers:

Best cryptocurrency brokers (non-US traders only)

Plus500 – top rated trading platform

Plus500 is a big name in the trading industry. They have a really low minimum deposit requirement and a great trading site.

Buy/sell cfds on bitcoin in addition to buying stocks, commodities, forex etc (traded only through cfds). Plus500 is the most complete trading platform.

Trade cfds on bitcoin & many other cryptos

Minimum deposit is only $100

Regulated and trusted platform

Very fast signup process

Live chat

Many payment methods (even paypal)

You cannot withdraw any cryptocurrency

You have to complete a questionnaire, upon sign up

Plus500 disclaimer: 76.4% of retail CFD accounts lose money.

IQ option – lowest minimum deposit ($10)

If you don’t want to make a huge initial investment, then IQ option is the best broker for you. The minimum deposit requirement is only $10. This is by far the lowest in the industry.

You can trade many cryptocurrencies

Minimum deposit is only $10

Best trading platform

Multiple account currencies

Free demo account

Regulated by CYSEC (#247/14)

Etoro – top crypto broker

Etoro is a really popular trading site. They have been around since 2006. Etoro is regulated by CYSEC, FCA and ASIC.

Buy/sell bitcoin on etoro in addition to buying stocks, commodities, forex etc. Etoro is the most complete trading platform.

Trade bitcoin & many other cryptos

Minimum deposit is $200

Regulated and trusted platform

Australian traders are also accepted

Great support team

Many payment methods (even paypal)

You cannot withdraw any cryptocurrency

You have to complete a questionnaire, upon sign up

Etoro disclaimer: 71% of retail CFD accounts lose money.

Highlow – best all-round crypto broker

Due to regulation highlow stopped accepting traders from the EU and UK.

Highlow is an australian trading broker (AFSL no.364264). What I like most about this broker is the intuitive platform. It is so easy to use. Especially new traders will like the clean layout.

I’ve been using highlow for a few years now and I never had a problem. Highlow publishes their number of trades on the homepage. There are millions of trades on this broker each month.

I use the main platform which is web based. This means, that you don’t have to download any software. This platform is stable and safe (they use SSL).

I have also tried the ios app and the android app. They are great, but I just don’t like trading on smartphones in general.

The payouts on highlow are amazing (up to 200%, which is more than on other brokers).

Highlow is a great broker for cryptocurrencies (but only if you are not from EU,UK, US). They have a good reputation, great support team and awesome promotions for new traders.

Trade bitcoin & other cryptos

Minimum deposit is only $50

Regulated and trusted platform

Fastest signup process (no questionnaires)

Multiple account currencies

Free demo account (no registration needed)

Nadex – US traders welcome

Nadex is a CFTC regulated broker. In fact, this is probably the only US broker that has this regulation.

Only US traders are allowed on nadex. Non-US traders check out the next broker.

Update OCTOBER 2019: looks like nadex removed crypto trading. After contacting them I found out that they will add it back soon. Register on nadex now and get updated when they add it.

Recently, nadex started offering bitcoin trading.

Trade bitcoin, forex or binary options

Minimum deposit is $250

CFTC regulated broker

Great support team

Many payment methods (even paypal)

Crypto brokers with most cryptocurrencies

Here are the most popular cryptocurrencies offered by cryptocurrency brokers:

Etoro – bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, dash, ethereum classic, NEO and ripple.

Plus500 – bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, bitcoin cash, ripple, IOTA.

Avatrade – bitcoin, ethereum, ethereum classic, ripple, dash, bitcoin cash litecoin, monero and NEO.

Lowest minimum deposit brokers

These are the best brokers with low minimum deposit requirements:

Etoro – $200

Plus500 – $100

Avatrade – $100

This is really important because the crypto market itself is unregulated. Depositing on a regulated broker means that your money is safe.

We’ve also looked at the support team and the payment methods. You can deposit easily using multiple payment methods on the brokers below.

Top rated brokers that have cryptocurrencies

While we are all familiar with the broad definition of a broker, is there something more to it when it comes to cryptocurrencies?

Simply put, a cryptocurrency broker refers to a website that traders will visit to trade cryptocurrencies at a set price. In many ways, they are similar to forex brokers whose services are a lot more familiar to the general public.

Etoro disclaimer: 71% of retail CFD accounts lose money.

You still can’t decide which broker is best for you?

How to choose your cryptocurrency broker

Is leverage really necessary? Cryptocurrency markets are volatile in nature with prices fluctuating immensely thereby generating high profits even in the absence of leverage. But for some traders, the desire for more earnings justifies the use of leverage.

Before choosing your broker, settle yourself on whether the already immense profits that come from a cryptocurrency market are enough for you or you would like to use leverage to enhance them even further, bearing in mind, of course, that will also significantly increase the risk factor to your funds.

Negative balance protection: it is always advisable to trade with a broker that affords the negative balance protection facility. That way, you will never be at risk of losing more than what you invested in case you sustain very heavy losses.

How suitable is the required capital for you? This is another subjective part to your decision. Do you prefer trading with a small capital or bigger one to help you zero in on bigger returns? Find out what size trades your broker is offering before you open an account.

Narrow spreads for the win: let us be honest, it is only fair that your broker gets a cut from the money you generated having provided you with the essential facilities for it and all. But let us be honest, you definitely want every last dime for yourself.

A spread refers to the difference between the buying price and selling price of a trade and it varies with each broker. The spread is what counts as fees for your broker so the smaller it is, the lower the cost will be on your part.

Lets go into what aspects you as a trader must consider when choosing a broker to trade cryptocurrencies.

Which cryptocurrencies are you interested in trading?

Make sure you have decided on which cryptocurrencies you want to trade in before signing up with your broker.

If your choice is a prominent cryptocurrency like bitcoin (official site), litecoin (official site), or ethereum(official site), there will be a relatively broad availability of brokers that have trading options for those. However, less prevalent examples like monero, IOTA, or zcash may be a little harder to come by.

So study the cryptocurrencies being offered by a broker before you sign up for an account.

Pros and cons of cryptocurrency brokers

Here are some features that these broker have or don’t:
pros

Signup up with a crypto broker is probably the fastest way to get started with cryptocurrency trading

If you are less tech-savvy then a broker is safer for you

You can start buying cryptocurrency while traditional exchanges don’t always accept this payment method

Most of the time you can’t withdraw cryptocurrencies from a broker. You have to exchange it back to fiat money (USD/EUR etc.)

Cryptocurrency brokers – what to look for

Here are some of the more understated details about your cryptocurrency broker that could make your trading experiences so much more efficient and successful.

1. What are the weekend hours like?

This is a key detail that distinguishes cryptocurrencies from other prominent trading markets like forex, futures, and equity. Cryptocurrency brokers operate during the weekends as well.

There is virtually no difference in purchasing bitcoin at the end of the week as opposed to the middle of the week during peak hours.

But there is a catch. While digital currency exchanges are available during the weekend, your broker may not (why is the stock market closed on the weekend?). So in effect, if there is considerable movement within your relevant cryptocurrency market during a weekend when your broker is not operating, you may not have the ability to respond in any way.

2. How is it hedging?

Your broker is probably not keen on revealing if it is hedging cryptocurrency traders but it is important information for you to know.

Why is it so important for you to know?

Because, as a trader, you want to be absolutely in the clear regarding the policies for risk management being followed by your broker. Let us not forget that cryptocurrency markets are extremely volatile and an unhedged broker is more easily prone to major losses incurred by its clients. Naturally, those costs will warrant compensation via fatter spreads and additional costs for traders. It will be best to sign up with a broker that will not withhold the relevant information from you.

More great features you could be interested in

Commissions and trading on margin – an important thing to note while trading cryptocurrencies is that their prices tend to be more similar to equities than they are to real currencies. So your broker could be charging you commissions in addition to a wide spread on each trade. That, of course, raises the cost probably a bit much for your liking.

Another similarity with equities is that the margin conditions with cryptocurrencies are significantly more than they are with forex or cfds. Consequently, leverage is usually up to 10x. How considerable the margin rate will be for traders is down to what trading strategies and risk management they subscribe to.

Authenticity of market data – aside from merely evaluating how it influences spreads, market data for cryptocurrency CFD prices can be a good indicator of how the quality of the product will be in the future.

One of the more recent examples of this is BTC-e which was an immensely popular platform for trading bitcoin before it was shut down by feds. BTC-e was the first bitcoin exchange to incorporate forex trades and so made their exchange accessible via MT4 and supplied cryptocurrency liquidity for brokers.

But once it was shut down, every broker that depended squarely upon BTC-e was left with no hedging options or market data to put a price on its crypto cfds.

Are short sales available? For many traders, shorting is a crucial strategy option, the lack of which can be a deal breaker with a potential broker. Many brokers tend to offer ‘long’ only since there are only a few hedging solutions when opening short trades.

As you see, investing in cryptocurrencies can be a truly lucrative venture for you but only if you get it right.

And a lot of that is down to which broker you decide to trade with.

Ready to start trading?

Trade with the cryptocurrency brokers listed above to make sure that your money is safe, you pick a broker with a stellar reputation and you keep the fees low. Excel at trading bitcoin by creating your own trading strategy.

These cryptocurrency brokers make it really easy to trade bitcoin and other coins. You don’t have to be a trading expert. It helps if you know what a blockchain is or how the ledger and transactions work, but this is all optional.

Bitcoin broker

Your guide to the world of an open financial system. Get started with the easiest and most secure platform to buy and trade cryptocurrency.

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Margin trading

Trade with leverage as high as 100x

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CEX.IO staking

Earn by simply holding coins on CEX.IO

Learn more

Buy crypto with a card

Own crypto in minutes using your card

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Among the numerous websites providing bitcoin exchange services, the positive reputation of CEX.IO makes it worth the trust of the users all over the world. With the customer base of over 3,000,000, the platform can be recognized as the one that can be relied on. Starting your bitcoin trading on a platform with substantial history, you will benefit from a deep understanding of the market and customersвђ™ needs. We are constantly working on enhancing the security, ensuring the high level of customer support, and providing our users with new opportunities for trading on the bitcoin market. CEX.IO is regularly considering the addition of new coins, which was not so long the case with dash, zcash, and bitcoin cash. Still, every cryptocurrency has to pass a thorough check to be listed. Our due diligence and concerns about the quality of the service yield results. Now, we are moving forward to achieve the status of the best cryptocurrency exchange.

Best cryptocurrency exchange: what does it mean for us?

For you to be able to recognize a reliable online exchange and sort out those that appear to be too weak, we list several features, paying attention to which would help you to make the right choice. 1. Service safety and security. It is critical to ensure that your data will not be leaked to any other parties. Thus, the availability of certificates, like the PCI DSS, serves as the proof of serviceвђ™s safety. Besides, the regulation of exchanges is also important. For example, CEX.IO.

Is officially registered in the UK;

Has a money services business status in fincen;

Complies with the legal requirements of the countries where it functions.

Beware this ‘celebrity’ bitcoin scam

Losses of up to £200,000 are being reported by victims of a sophisticated global investment fraud

Criminals are exploiting trusted global websites to post fake celebrity endorsements for cryptocurrency, in one of the most prolific internet scams which? Has seen.

Victims of a prolific bitcoin scam are reporting individual losses of up to £200,000 after following links on AOL, MSN, yahoo and facebook.

Which? Has spoken to dozens of people who’ve encountered the scam – which falsely claims celebrities have backed a bitcoin investment scheme – while browsing legitimate sites.

In many cases, the fake advertorials are convincingly designed to look like pages from the BBC or mirror websites.

Read on to find out how the scam works, how to avoid falling for it, and why which? Is calling time on legitimate sites hosting dodgy links.

Celebrity ‘endorsements’ used to ensnare investors

Celebrities used in these fake advertorials include deborah meaden and peter jones from dragon’s den, ant mcpartlin of presenting duo ant and dec, billionaire businessmen lord sugar, sir philip green and sir james dyson, presenters simon cowell and holly willoughby, and former love island contestant charlie brake.

To be clear, none of these celebrities are responsible for the fraud, but their images and reputations are being ruthlessly abused by organised scammers.

We’ve found countless variations of the scam still live at least three years after it first surfaced, but most of them proceed in a similar way.

How the scam unfolds

Imagine you’re browsing AOL.Co.Uk. On the sidebar you spot a picture of dragons’ den star deborah meaden, with a black eye.

There’s nothing obvious to suggest it’s an advert – it looks like an image from a legitimate news story.

Clicking on it takes you to a news story on a third-party page, which seems like a respectable news site for investors. It describes how meaden and her fellow dragons were impressed with a bitcoin investment scheme on an episode of the show.

The strange photo of meaden’s black eye is forgotten as you read how the dragons chose to invest and reaped the financial rewards. At the bottom of the page is a web form where you can express interest in joining the investment scheme.

Heeding the warnings that the scheme will soon close to new investors, you submit your name, email address and phone number.

The buy-in

A short while later, you receive a phone call from your ‘investment manager’. She or he encourages you to make a surprisingly modest initial investment to purchase £250 worth of bitcoin.

By email you receive a link and login details to the ‘trading platform’ where your bitcoins are being held. Over the coming weeks the value of your bitcoin holdings appears to increase, and your investment manager calls you frequently, encouraging you to buy more.

When you refuse to pay anything further and mention that you’re thinking of cashing out, your investment manager releases £40 to your bank account so you can ‘enjoy the profits’. Reassured, you carry on investing.

Months later, you’ve sunk £5,000 into the scheme – although your bitcoins are valued at £50,000 on the trading platform.

Now you decide it’s time to enjoy your returns, so your manager directs you to deposit their commission – a further £5,000 – into a bank account and await a phone call releasing your funds.

This was the appalling experience of one which? Reader, who has asked to remain anonymous.

The scale of the problem

We’ve obtained exclusive data from police fraud reporting centre action fraud, which shows the huge scale of the problem.

There were 1,560 cases of cryptocurrency investment frauds reported in the first six months of 2019 alone. In the same period, there were 212 reports of investment fraud where celebrity endorsement was specifically cited by the victim as an enabler of the scam.

Action fraud is a self-reporting tool now no longer used in scotland, so it’s likely that these alarming figures are in fact underrepresenting the scale of the problem.

What is bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency – a form of digital money which can be bought with other currencies, traded for them and (where retailers accept it) used to buy goods and services. Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin run on a technology called blockchain – essentially a huge online database of transactions.

Blockchain’s great strength is that it’s considered unhackable. This is because rather than transactions being recorded on a traditional centralised database which someone could manipulate, they’re recorded and updated in many locations simultaneously.

Bitcoin is far from the only cryptocurrency to be targeted by scammers. In july 2018, we explored the sometimes murky world of ‘initial coin offerings’. Unlike bitcoin, which has achieved some respectability and is accepted by some retailers, there is no guarantee that investors will be able to spend these newly established cryptocurrencies anywhere.

How to stay safe

This scam proceeds along classic psychological principles – appealing to authority (using celebrities and trusted sites), starting out with small demands (£250) before gradually escalating and releasing a nominal sum to trick you into thinking you can get the rest.

All the traditional investment advice applies. Be extremely sceptical of grandiose claims, and seek advice from a financial adviser registered by the financial conduct authority if you’re not sure about something.

Novice investors should consider traditional investments first and aim to build wealth gradually through a diversified portfolio.

The websites respond

We’re extremely concerned to hear reports of legitimate websites serving up scam adverts – some of them in recent weeks – and we put our allegations to them.

A facebook spokesperson said: ‘we don’t tolerate fraud on our platform, which is why we’re taking action to stop scams wherever they appear. We have donated £3m to citizens advice to deliver a new UK scam action programme, and we have created a new scam ads reporting tool on facebook in the UK, supported by a dedicated internal operations team.

‘if people see something on facebook they think is a scam, we urge them to report it by clicking on the top right of any ad they see.’

A microsoft spokesperson explained that ‘the issue of “ad cloaking” is a challenge across the online advertising industry’ and that microsoft is ‘working…to address the techniques scammers use and detect, block and remove advertisements more effectively.

In the meantime, we urge customers to remain vigilant and only engage with brands they trust and recognise.’

A spokesperson for verizon media, the parent company of AOL and yahoo, told us: ‘deceptive and misleading ads are not acceptable, and we expect our partners to comply with all laws, regulations and our policies.

‘we will take action to block ads in violation of our policies, as well as bad actors who work to circumvent our human and automated controls.

‘we have a new, simplified adfeedback reporting tool for our users to identify anything they believe to be “misleading or a scam” through a simple thumbs up, thumbs-down icon on ads served through our platforms that is rolling out now. Our teams will remove any ads identified and confirmed as such.’

The full investigation appeared in the december issue of which? Money magazine. You can try which? Money today for just £1 to have our impartial, jargon-free insight delivered to your door every month.

Martin lewis: spread the word – don’t believe scam bitcoin code or bitcoin trading ads

I don’t do adverts. If you ever see one with my face or name on it, it is without my permission, and usually a scam. Admittedly some are supposedly legit firms bending the rules to imply a link (though do you really trust firms that’d do that anyway?).

The latest facebook ad plague with me in is the ‘bitcoin code’ or ‘bitcoin trader’ scam, which lies saying I suggest investing in it. In fact they’re not even about bitcoin (see my real view on bitcoin), but about binary trading, something no one should touch with a bargepole.

The ad looks like this…

Sadly we’ve already heard of people who’ve lost over £20,000 saying: “I only pursued it because I thought it was recommended by martin.” the thought of that makes me feel physically sick. I’ve spent my career trying to campaign for financial justice and now these b*****ds leach off that trust to rob vulnerable people.

Please help by doing two things (thanks in advance)…

Spread the word. An easy way is to share this facebook post or retweet this twitter post or link to this blog.

Report the scam. If one pops into your timeline, report it to facebook (or elsewhere) and post in the comments that “this is a fake ad, martin lewis warns against this, do not trust it.”

And yes, it’s been reported to facebook many times. Yet its systems are abysmal – instead of using image recognition to proactively block, it takes scammers’ money and relies on people reporting them.

Best online brokers for bitcoin trading

Best bitcoin trading platform

Tradestation - best trading platform

Coinbase - best crypto exchange

Etoro - low fees

Kraken - maker-taker fee schedule

Bittrex - most altcoins

Gemini - offers gemnini dollar

Robinhood - best mobile app

Here's a breakdown of some of the best online brokers for US crypto trading.

Best trading platform - open account
promo offer: commission-free trades on stocks, etfs & options trades

Best crypto exchange

Low fees - open account
promo offer: 0% commission stocks

Maker-taker fee schedule

Most altcoins

Offers gemini dollar

Best mobile app

Pricing details

Below is pricing information for each of the top online brokers for bitcoin trading. Each company uses a different structure.

Tradestation - open account
promo offer: commission-free trades on stocks, etfs & options trades

Coinbase - coinbase.Com

If buying bitcoin from a linked ACH account, the average commission is

1.49%. If buying bitcoin by selling another cryptocurrency you already hold in your coinbase wallet (or vice versa), then the average commission is

.50%. For example, buying $1,000 worth of bitcoin would cost

$15 from a linked bank account.

Etoro - open account
promo offer: 0% commission stocks

Kraken - kraken.Com

Bittrex - bittrex.Com

Robinhood

Pricing details per exchange

Final thoughts

Bitcoin brokers

Finding a bitcoin broker is definitely something every bitcoin trader needs to consider in order to actively engage with the cryptocurrency market. However, it’s challenging to identify the best bitcoin brokers because there’s just too many of them.

There are a few things you’d have to look out for when reading bitcoin brokers reviews. These include:

Location – you need to be very well aware of the current legislation of your country on the matter of cryptocurrency. Even if you’ve found the best bitcoin broker in terms of sheer functionality, if it doesn’t operate in your particular region there’s no use of it.

Trading fees – given that this is likely to be your main expense when trading, fees are particularly important to consider. Upon examining a bitcoin trading platform, be it a bitcoin exchange, you need to make sure that their trading fees are aligned with the industry’s average.

Volume – looking at the order book volumes is also something that you might want to keep in mind. Regardless of whether you want to buy or to sell bitcoin, you have to guarantee that there is enough liquidity on the bitcoin trading site that you’ll be able to execute your positions.

Deposit and withdrawal conditions – one of the main things that you should keep an eye out for is the limitation in terms of deposit and withdrawal. You have to know how much mone yyou’re able to put in or withdraw from the platform in order to tailor a strategy.

We at newsbtc provide insights on some of the best bitcoin brokers in order to facilitate our readers in making a rather tough choice.

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So, let's see, what we have: here's a breakdown of some of the best crypto exchanges for US residents. In our assessment and ranking of cryptocurrency exchanges, we focused on traditional exchanges headquartered and regulated in the united states. At bitcoin broker