Ask HN: Where do you go to trade your cryptocurrencies? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Where do you go to trade your cryptocurrencies?

42 pointsgcatalfamo38 comments

What sites/platforms do you consider best and trustworthy? Why?

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Comments are off the top of my head when last used, not very scientific, just markets I've used lately.

* gdax.com - coinbase's exchange - only btc/eth/ltc, easy to buy with CC, high fees, high traffic

* etherdelta.github.io - only erc20 tokens, contract based, low fees, very bad ux, low traffic

* kraken.com - quite a few alt coins and tokens, insanely slow support, bad ux, average to high fees, average traffic

* hibtc.com - many coins, average fees, slow site, low traffic

* bitfinex.com - many coins, average fees, high traffic

* poloniex.com - many coins, high fees, high traffic

* liqui.io - I really don't recall

You can always go to coinmarketcap.com and see the various exchanges for each coin.

Questions on your list (which is appreciated) if anyone can fill these in:

-Which have (legal) US compliance?

-Which have options/futures or other contracts?

-Which have red flags (holds on withdrawls for mysterious reasons, like Poloniex, for example)

-Which have security red flags?

-Which have actual support help?

-What countries are they based in?

Kraken is one of the safest choices IMHO. I automated my trading via a script:

https://github.com/elsesiy/crypto-trader

For those reading this, Kraken does not (and has no intention too), of buying the NY BitLicense. I had to close my account with them as my address was registered in NY.

Also not able to use them if you live in the state of Washington.

I want able to find on their site which states they do support so you might want to email them first before setting up an account you can't use.

This is very interesting. Does it work? How much do you invest to have a (positive) return?

oh, the script just executes a buying strategy that avoids short term fluctuations. It's not a profit-making strategy.

They are having serious capacity issues at the moment. Recently they have disabled creation of advanced orders. That was the last straw for me. Their UIs have been slow and clunky for as long as I've been using them (2 months). Opening a margin position is sometimes a problem, because their margin pool is empty, and there is no way to know that until you try to open a position, so you end up spending time manually bruteforcing what is the most margin you can get.

They have not been hacked. That's the only thing going for them, as far as I'm concerned.

I think not being hacked is a major plus in the space of crypto currencies. Which exchange (with a solid API, US law compliant) would you suggest instead?

We are working on a platform for exchanging Ethereum (ERC20 tokens) at Ethdex. Exchange happens atomically and on chain. No counter party risk, unlike exchanges such as Bittrex. We aren't rent-seeking or forcing you to use a token.

http://ethdex.io

https://github.com/Ethdex/contracts

So how does this differ from Ox?

We have a FAQ[1] which is being fleshed out but take a look if it helps.

We are 100% non-rent seeking.

In Ethdex we incentivise Trading platforms by allowing fees to be charged in Eth, the natural currency of Ethereum. Not by creating a token and forcing its utility (ala ZRX and 0x).

We also support Multi-Relay, which is something 0x does not support. As a maker you can submit your order to every trading platform, every slack channel and every subreddit. Other platforms cannot do this.

We also don't have any obligations to VC's to ensure they make profit.

[1]: http://ethdex.io/faq

Bittrex: lots of cryptocurrencies, fast, simple and I didn't had problems with them to this day.

Yeah bittrex is the best exchange you're going to find right now. Doesn't have a ton of smaller coins but all the main ones are there.

They claim to be operating out of the US, and the address listed is a half empty strip mall in the Las Vegas suburbs. They post no licensing details. Seems legit?

They managed to get a BitLicense (one of very few orgs to do so) which at least somewhat lends to legitimacy. Also pretty easy to find the people involved, and a founding team of infosec people is a pretty decent means to start an exchange. https://bittrex.com/home/about

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitLicense

As far as I can tell they do not have a BitLicense, they just applied for one. The wikipedia page you linked even includes the 3 companies who have been granted one so far, and none are Bittrex.

Hmmm you're right. Interesting

I personally use Gemini for primarily trading Ethereum but dabble with Bittrex and Poloniex (got an account pre-BitLicense).

Poloniex, I don't trust with the majority of my funds for various red-flags that the community has presented and Bittrex doesn't seem to have any retail presence (other than being in an abandoned strip mall in LV).

Gemini is founded by the Winklevi twins.

What red flags have you heard about concerning Poloniex?

I would've told you Coinbase until not long ago, but they seem to be going down the drain in terms of support (and I promise: you will at some point need it). It's been over a month for me to even get a single reply to a ticket where there are hundreds of dollars in limbo, and I'm not alone (check their @CoinbaseSupport reply threads)…

Previously, my setup was USD<>BTC at Coinbase, and BTC<>AltCoins at Bittrex… Might try some of the other suggestions for USD<>BTC in the future.

Most of them (?) let you trade without verifying identity, as long as you only withdraw cryptocurrencies.

The largest one in Europe seems to be Kraken. Bitfinex was one of the first to let people use leverage, but nowadays you can get it on most of them.

If you want to withdraw fiat, you'll need to have a verified account (think sending them a photo of your ID/passport and some invoices to verify your location).

http://Binance.com is by far the best! (for BTC => ALT trading)

Interview with the CMO - http://news.8btc.com/8btc-interview-binance-cmo-he-yi-talks-...

shapeshift.io - I used to use this a lot. It doesn't hold your crypto for more than a minute.

bitmex.com - (futures exchange) - This is a gem. They're extremely professional. Every feature seems throughly considered, e.g. margin positions are valued based on global indices, not the local princes, to prevent flash crashes. The API is the most feature complete I've seen. One thing that bothers me is that Bitmex seems to have a conflict of interest, since they run a trading bot ('anchor market maker') on their own platform.

etherdelta.github.io - (ICO tokens only) - This was designed so that the exchange owner never controls your tokens, an Ethereum contract does. You decide whether this reassures or frightens you. It supports all tokens which is probably the main reason I used it (besides being a cool proof of concept). The in-browser UI is pretty bad.

I usually use SFOX (sfox.com) since they let me trade on multiple exchanges at the same time and I'm big on arbitrage (I have scripts to do it for me). Not sure why they're not more popular. Most UIs on exchanges are utter shit so at least SFOX's is decent.

I traded on Poloniex once but they stopped withdrawal on Monero and would not answer. Finally they processed the withdrawal like a week a later. I am not using this platform anymore.

Currently I am using Bitfinex and it's working pretty well!

Gemini to transfer from bank account for free instant buy capability, then switch over to GDAX for the higher volume USD pairs. Poloniex for crypto pairs.

Honestly KYC for cryptocurrencies is ridiculous. What if I want to buy for a company shall I identify the beneficial owner?

Cryptocurrencies have limitations against alternative payment systems: (1) they are "push" only (2) have a huge buy/sell spread and (3) risky fluctuation, if they do not have at least anonymity benefit why should I prefer them to UDS, EUR or GBP?

Anyway seems that there are ATM for bitcoins, never tried one (https://coinatmradar.com/). Did anybody already tried one?

Ask HN expansion: It would be good to know as well the degree of KYC enforced by each of them (KYC = know your customer)

Almost all exchanges have tiered KYC. Almost all allow you to deposit any amount but limit withdrawal. Thus, this is largely dependent on how much information you're willing to share and how much money you want to be able to move within 1 day. Basic KYC is typically name and address, while highest tiers require passports.

I'm looking for recommendations for those in New York State. Everything seems to be blocked here.

Coinbase/Bittrex are licensed to sell/trade cryptocurrency in NY. If you want to put just a little bit of money in and trade on altcoins, have to buy BTC/LTC/ETH on coinbase and move it to bittrex. Minimum wire transfer to bittrex is 10k atm.

I'm not aware of any other exchanges that can trade in NY right now

Hey Mason, I can personally vouch for Gemini (being in NY myself). They allow for immediate trading of your ACH deposits, before the money has cleared, which I think is a massive boon to cc-traders.

I haven't had any availability issues with their backend (i.e Coinbase) and their support staff seems responsive to the fact that the trading GUI needs an overhaul (2 separate pages for buying and selling ETH).

I used to go to TradeHill. So now, not really much trading to do anymore.

Can someone share their experience with Bitfinex? Compare to others?

https://www.bitfinex.com/posts/216/review

Bitfinex is closed for US customers.

Poloniex. Because it's easy

I use a mix of Gemini and Kraken.

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