The Best Crypto Exchanges to Use: Our Recommendations
Get ready for the next bull market with our exchange recommendations
Market Review
News & Updates
We continued this week with a rather choppy market, Bitcoin ranging in the area we talked about last week - between 25.3k and 23k. Bitcoin tested the lower end of the range quite a bit, however as of writing Bitcoin still trades around 23.3k, while Ethereum is remaining flat at 1.6k compared to last week.
This week shows again how short-lived these new narratives are. Last week we spoke in our weekly analysis about the new narrative around ‘Asian’ coins, driven by the return to QE (Quantitative Easing) in the Asian markets and a more open stance of Asian legislators towards Crypto, especially in China. Fast forward 7 days, most tokens corrected significantly and we are waiting for a new narrative to be formed, maybe something that is more sustainable (we can at least hope for that)…
Our overall market analysis has not changed too much in the last weeks. Bitcoin failed to establish support in the 24k area but is continuing to trade a narrow range of 2k for more than two weeks now. For a move upwards, we would like to see Bitcoin break the range high around 25k and establish a daily close above. Then a continuation towards the range between 28.5k and 30k seems very likely. On the downside, we would need to see the current range to hold (lows at 23k), otherwise, a move back toward 21k seems likely. Seeing that Bitcoin is flirting with that range as we speak, a move to the downside seems more likely.
Our expectation remains that we will still test the previous lows in the next months, however, continue this current run towards 28k in the coming weeks. It's a great time to dollar-cost-average into the markets.
What else happened this week:
The Best Crypto Exchanges to Use: Our Recommendations
Have you made it this far and are excited to get your hands on some fresh Ethereum, Bitcoin, or even some Doge? Just make sure to not lose it all again by keeping your coins on the next FTX or MtGox (speaking of, seems like MtGox Bitcoin is going to be released this month, see news above)!
In this article, we'll provide some recommendations on the top crypto exchanges to use, not just based on security concerns but all the following characteristics that make a good exchange in our eyes:
High Security
Good User Experience
Additional features
Low Fees
Good Availability of tokens
Decentralised (DEX) or Centralised Exchanges (CEX)?
With increasing security concerns about CEXs (recently fueled by the failure of FTX in 2022) came the rise of DEXs in the last few years.
The main advantage of the DEX lies usually in its security. Because of its decentralized nature, there is no third party that keeps your coins and most of the time also no login is needed. You ‘just’ connect your wallet and are ready to go. The FTX scenario would not have happened on a decentralized exchange, so it could be considered safer.
On the other hand, centralized exchanges are improving their security in the aftermath of FTX and implementing tools to prove that they hold all user funds in their wallets and are solvent. In general, CEX has better all-around functionality and is usually snappier with a better user experience.
Whether you should use a CEX or a DEX is up to you, but our recommendation would be to use a DEX when possible and you feel comfortable around it (which might take a while).
What DEX to use?
Sooo, ready to buy some ETH on a DEX? Want to try the true Crypto experience and embrace the decentralized nature of this space? Well, then you have a handful of exchanges to pick from, and for starters, we would recommend 1inch.
But first things first, what to look at when picking a DEX? Start with checking on what blockchain your coin trades. Is it BSC or ERC20? Or even on Solana? Most exchanges only operate on one or a few blockchains, so make sure to pick an exchange that operates on your blockchain of choice. Go to Coingecko and check the markets (here for OPUL: Opulous Kurs, OPUL Chart und Marktkapitalisierung | CoinGecko) and you will see just the exchanges where you will actually be able to trade the coin.
Decentralized exchanges can easily get complicated, so we recommend using ones that have a good UI and a good track record for security. Uniswap, Sushiswap, and Pancakeswap are great examples of this and can definitely be trusted. If margin trading is your thing, you could also check out more elaborate exchanges like dYdX, but would recommend keeping that for a later stage.
But why recommend 1inch then? Well, 1inch is an aggregator, it does the work for you. It checks where the coin you want to trade has the best liquidity and automatically routes it via that exchange without you even noticing. It’s also very easy to use and has a good reputation.
Rather using a CEX? Unleash the Kraken
While there are some rumors about the security of Binance floating around, it’s probably still the best exchange out there in terms of features, user experience, liquidity, and availability of tokens. And we do believe that funds are SAFU with CZ, so go ahead and use Binance if your coin of choice trades there (again, check Coingecko).
Wanna go the safer route? Coinbase and Kraken are both publicly traded companies and therefore more transparent about their financials, making them likely the safest choices. The only downside to Binance for both is the lack of some features (e.g. IDOs, Grid trading) and the lack of some of the tokens Binance has. But they do offer a great user experience when it comes to on- and off ramping of FIAT money (USD / EUR).
So what would we recommend? Use Kraken or Coinbase to get your USD/EUR into the crypto space and make your first Bitcoin trade. For more advanced trading, move your funds to Binance and scroll through the 100s of tokens they have available (and if that’s not enough, there always is Kucoin, but that’s for another day)…
Tl;dr - What are you guys recommending:
CEX
Binance: It's the biggest, it's the best (for more established coins). Funds are safu. Use it as your base exchange for everything once you on ramped your FIAT
Kraken/Coinbase: Two of the best Fiat on- and offramps, high security and good liquidity for the biggest token pairs.
Kucoin: Want to trade a small altcoin and can’t find it on Binance? Kucoin might help you out. Just make sure to move big funds off Kucoin afterwards as it is not considered as safe as Kraken/Coinbase or even Binance
DEX
1inch: Aggregator that combines DEXs on 10 different blockchains
Uniswap: The DEX with the most liquidity, easy to use. The go-to DEX if you want to trade directly on a certain DEX. But why would you?
DYDX: A bit more advanced than Uniswap, offers leverage, fewer pairs to trade
Action for this week
In this section, we will summarise the main actionable items from each newsletter and other posts that are worth reading
Sign up for your exchange of choice! Have an account on Binance already? Maybe give a decentralised exchange like DYDX a try!
Take a few minutes and go over the Coingecko stablecoin report. Definitely worth a read!
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