What are the differences between Coinbase and Bittrex exchange? There is a humongous list of crypto platforms out there for grabs but all may not be suitable for every trader since all of them are not created equal.
The same principle is applicable for these two platforms, Coinbase and Bittrex, as well. Therefore, it is important for you to know the differences between them so that you eventually end up choosing a platform that will suit your crypto trading needs in the best possible way.
This is where this article will be of great help. A vast majority of crypto users and holders trust these two crypto platforms.
Both of them have been around for a while in the crypto space and have been doing a great job to have a steady flow of users.
However, Coinbase is a bit easy to navigate but the fees are a bit daunting, which is where Bittrex beats it. Check out Differences Between Bittrex and Binance.
Coinbase is a good platform to use by the newcomers to buy cryptocurrencies but the features of Bittrex seem to be a bit more in number and usefulness as well.
Apart from these basic differences between them, there are also a lot of other specific aspects of these two platforms to discuss in order to make a closer and appropriate comparison between them.
All of these aspects are covered in this article for your better knowledge. Also, make sure that you go through the ‘Which is Better’ section to get the right answer to all your queries.
Contents
7 Differences Between Coinbase and Bittrex Exchange
Coinbase and Bittrex are two of the most famous and most commonly used crypto exchanges in the United States.
However, in spite of that, both of these two exchanges serve different purposes based on their features and functionalities.
Therefore, if you have to select one between Coinbase and Bittrex exchange, it will be difficult if you do not know the differences in their purposes and utility.
Read on to know the different purposes and which crypto exchange offers the users more advantages than the other.
1. History
The Coinbase exchange was founded by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam in 2012. It became a quick hit among the early BTC adopters and in less than two years it boasted of having about a million users.
It is this feature that attracted some of the major venture capital firms to invest a significant amount of money in it. Later on, it released a separate crypto trading platform for the advanced traders in 2015 that allowed professional crypto trading.
Named Coinbase Exchange, it was later changed to GDAX or the Global Digital Asset Exchange. However, now it is called Coinbase Pro. There is also another notable Coinbase product, an API.
This allows the developers to build apps and the vendors to accept payments from their customers in digital currency.
In comparison, the Bittrex exchange was founded by Bill Shihara, Richie Lai, and Rami Kawach in 2014. It is their prior experience with cyber security that has enabled them to create a crypto exchange that is more reliable security-wise.
It is this value proposition that has established Bittrex as the most dependable player and a serious contender to be one of the best crypto-to-crypto exchanges in the crypto space right from the word go.
Since last year this platform also offers to buy digital assets with fiat currency, however, with strict requirements.
2. Licenses
As for licensing, notably, Bittrex was not allowed to operate in New York since 2019 by The New York Department of Financial Services. It rejected its application and it is also not allowed to operate in a couple of other US states such as Hawaii, Connecticut, and Vermont.
The good thing about the Bittrex crypto exchange is that though it is not regulated by the US governing bodies, it surely does comply with all of the US laws specific to this space. It also reports periodically to the FinCEN or the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
On the other hand, the Coinbase exchange is licensed and is allowed to engage in money transmission business in most of the US states and jurisdictions.
Also, they operate all over the world as they are authorized to do so by the Financial Conduct Authority. They can issue electronic money following the Electronic Money Regulations 2011.
3. Verification Procedure
For the verification process, the Bittrex exchange takes the help of Jumio which is an identity verification company. This company can check local records for the verification purpose in more than 200 countries.
On the other hand, Coinbase has its own in-house team to do the verification job. You will need to provide a photo ID issued by the government for that.
4. Fees Charged
When it comes to fees charged for trading on these two platforms, Bittrex seems to have a fairly decent and simple fee structure. The platform typically charges a flat fee of 0.25% on all trades made on it.
This fee is charged as the product of the amount, the purchase price and the rate. If any portion of an order is not executed the full amount is refunded when that specific order is canceled.
On the other hand, the Coinbase platform and Coinbase Pro platform have different fee structures. As for the Coinbase platform, the fee charged for buying and selling crypto coins is usually 1.49% for all when a standard bank account is used.
However, when traders use a credit card or a debit card to make the payments, a fee of 3.99% is charged by this platform. Coinbase Pro, however, uses a maker-taker fee model for making advanced trades on it.
The charge for taker orders ranges between 0.04% and 0.50% and the maker fee is between 0% and 0.50%. The fees charged are however based on the 30-day trading volume in USD for all order books.
5. Payment Methods
When the US citizens use the Coinbase platform, they are allowed to make the payments through wire transfer, bank accounts or by using a debit card.
As for the European citizens, all payments related to deposits and withdrawals can be made through a bank account. If you wish to use your debit card, you can do so for buying only in that case.
On the other hand, if you use the Bittrex platform for crypto trading, you do not have to worry about the payment methods because this is a crypto-only exchange.
This is a significant advantage of using this platform because it eliminates the technicalities of it. However, this is also a point that makes it quite unsuitable for the newcomers in the crypto trading field because they prefer to use a one-stop crypto platform where they can use fiat currencies to start buying and selling crypto coins.
6. User Interface
In spite of all the features of the User Interface, a few Bittrex users point out that it is quite annoying to scroll through the screen up and down all the time to see the order book details and key charts.
Also, the design of the interface needs some improvement because you may not be able to see the timeline and the order book graph at the same time. It also does not offer any notifications about the time to execute a particular trade.
The most annoying thing of all is that if and when an order is canceled, the page needs to be refreshed all together again to place a new order. Otherwise, it shows errors and all the chart drawings are also lost at the same time.
On the other hand, since the Coinbase platform is designed keeping beginners in the crypto industry in mind, the user interface of it is quite easy to use and is crisp and clear.
Though you will not find the advanced features on it, it will be incredibly easy for even a novice to start buying and selling crypto coins using fiat. And, do not forget the mobile app of this platform which is also quite user-friendly.
7. Other Differences
Here are a few other differences between Coinbase and Bittrex exchanges that will help you even further to make the right choice between them.
Coinbase is a good platform to start your journey in the crypto space as a beginner. However, if you have gained some experience in crypto trading and are looking for a much wider and diverse range of Alternative Coins to trade with, Bittrex is surely the platform to consider in that case.
Coinbase is a comparatively much easier to use platform. It also comes with a handy and easy-to-use mobile app that will help you to trade on the go most conveniently.
However, if you are looking for a more intuitive and secure platform to trade with a large number of different cryptocurrencies, then Bittrex is the right platform.
Talking about the mobile app, that of Coinbase may be easy to use but the mobile app of Bittrex, though looks pretty much the same as all other mobile apps of several other crypto exchanges, is slightly better.
This is because of its additional features such as it allows the users to create a watch list for specific types of coins. It also allows placing buying and selling orders right from the phone and using several technical charts for a proper analysis.
As for the wallets, however, you will need to have a different wallet for every different type of crypto coin you want to buy on the Bittrex platform. This means that you will need a Bitcoin wallet within your Bittrex account to buy Bitcoin, an Ethereum wallet to buy Ether, and so on.
All these different wallets will be linked to your Bittrex account. This may sound very confusing to you for all good reasons but the good thing is that you do not need to log in several times separately in order to access these different wallets on Bittrex.
Coinbase will allow you to buy BTC, ETH, and LTC with USD, a feature that is not supported by Bittrex, as of now. However, Bittrex, on the other hand, offers over 400 trading pairs as well as more than 200 different Altcoins to its users to trade with.
It only offers the most predominant crypto coins such as Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Tether, Litecoin, Ripple and others but it also supports lesser-known Altcoins such as Polymath, eBoost, Siacoin, Factom, and a lot more.
The location of Bittrex was in Las Vegas, Nevada when it was launched in 2014, but as of now, the head office is set up in Seattle, Washington. On the other hand, Coinbase had its head office in San Francisco, California since its launch in 2012.
In terms of customer support, Coinbase is quite better than Bittrex. Though both these platforms provide support to the customers in almost the same ways, there have been a lot of reports of issues regarding the customer support of Bittrex. However, the company apologizes publicly for it.
Which is Better Coinbase or Bittrex Exchange?
Here are a few factors that will help you to determine which among Bittrex and Coinbase exchanges will suit you and your crypto needs the most.
Ideally, whether you choose Bittrex or Coinbase, you probably cannot go wrong with your crypto endeavors.
However, with a diverse set of features and functionalities, it is quite difficult to say which one is better than the other.
Moreover, since it all depends on the personal preferences, needs, conditions and the type of coins preferred to trade with, you should ensure that the platform you choose is reliable and trustworthy.
However, in comparison, Bittrex seems to offer a noteworthy advantage when it comes to ordering entry options.
Add to that, the platform also allows you to place ladder limit orders and trailing stop losses orders. These orders are especially helpful in risk management and allow more control over the techniques of it.
In addition to all these features, the Bittrex platform will also allow you to choose whether or not you want to cancel any order if you feel that the specific order cannot be fulfilled even if you entered immediately.
Moreover, if you want to make your choice based on the trust and reliability factors, Bittrex is the one exchange that you should check out.
With that said, you can also use both Bittrex and Coinbase platforms for your crypto trading needs since they both complement each other and both these crypto exchanges are quite reliable, safe, and secure.
This way you will get both, a broad variety of crypto coins to trade with Bittrex as well as get an option to convert your fiat currency into crypto very easily using the simple approach followed by the Coinbase platform.
Conclusion
Though Bittrex and Coinbase can be used as an alternative to each other, it will be unwise to compare these exchanges without knowing the differences between them. However, this article will help you a lot in making the right choice.
I have special interest in crypto and intend to help common people to gain knowledge about the digital asset as well as its potential. Follow Me at Linkedin.
