Robinhood vs Coinbase vs Binance – 5 Differences

What are the differences between Robinhood vs Coinbase vs Binance? This article deals with the specific differences between Robinhood, Binance and Coinbase, three of the most popular and widely used crypto exchanges by the crypto traders and investors.

Yes, though the primary purpose of all these three exchanges is to allow users to make transactions of crypto coins, there is a lot of difference between them.

There are several crypto exchanges out there with each of these having their respective features, functionalities, pros and cons.

Choosing one among them is really a difficult task if you do not know the differences between each of them in the first place. Check out Fiat vs Crypto Wallet.

On the other hand, when you know the differences in all possible aspects of a crypto exchange, it will be much easier for you to choose the one that will cater to all your needs.

Robinhood vs Coinbase vs Binance – 5 Differences

Ease of use, the features offered, fees, security, coin support are just a few specific aspects in which one crypto exchange differs from the other.

Here is a summarized comparison list of Robinhood, Binance and Coinbase for you to decide which one among the three you should select for pursuing your crypto trading strategies.

1. Fees

Robinhood: The Robinhood is undoubtedly the most favorable crypto exchange to go for if you are looking for a low-cost option for trading crypto coins. The fee system is pretty simple and the amount charged is also quite low for each trade.

This actually depends on the type and style of your trades. However, the best part of it is that there are no commissions charged by them making this crypto exchange quite popular among the crypto traders and investors.

Whether you trade stocks, ETFs, options, or cryptocurrencies over Robinhood, you can expect to have higher profits on each trade since there are no fees charged for account management, inactivity of accounts or moving your coins around as well.

However, the platform charges a fee for order flow which depends on the trade. This fee is added to the total automatically which makes it a bit difficult to determine the crypto trading expenses clearly.

Coinbase: On the other hand, when you consider the fee structure of Coinbase, it is more expensive and complex as well. The amount of fees charged by this platform will also vary according to the type of account you choose from, which includes the normal version and the Coinbase Pro.

However, the fee charged by this platform for the standard accounts is usually more or less 0.5% of the spread on crypto purchases and sales.

However, the exact amount is quite hard to estimate because the market changes rapidly. Apart from that, the platform also charges a significant amount of fee based on the type and amount of purchases made by a user. This can be either fixed or a variable percentage, whichever is higher, for a particular type of transaction made.

Binance: And, as in the case of Binance, this platform is quite favored due to its feasible and low fee structure overall for funding your account as well as for trading cryptocurrencies. In addition to that, the fee structure of Binance incentivizes high-volume traders.

The platform also charges maker and taker fees, which are however identical. Typically, users of this platform are charged a fee of 0.1% for each transaction but when they use BNB tokens it offers them discounts while paying the fees.

The fees charged by this platform however come down if the trading volume is higher which may go as low as 0.02%. Typically, for active traders this platform typically offers the lowest fee possible for trades made on this platform.

2. Features and Services

Robinhood: The features, functionality and services offered by Robinhood are quite different from Coinbase and Binance. On this platform the investors can trade with different standard assets such as ETFs and stocks as well.

However, the key point of difference is in the cryptocurrency offerings. The numbers, only seven, may not be highly impressive but the fact that it includes some of the most popular crypto coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Litecoin and others make it quite worthwhile.

Coinbase: On the other hand, Coinbase allows transacting more than 50 different types of crypto coins but the notable exclusion is Dogecoin. Apart from this specific lack of access, this platform provides its users with important market information as well as descriptions of different crypto coins.

However, the range of support offered by this crypto trading platform varies according to the type of cryptocurrencies. Also, the fees charged vary depending on the country of the trader, the type of the asset traded and the payment method.

The best part is that Coinbase supports some of the most stable crypto coins. It also comes with other popular features such as its own digital wallet which is encrypted and allows the users to trade, withdraw or store their crypto coins. Another popular feature of it is the USD-backed stablecoin.

Binance: As for Binance, this crypto platform is accessible in more than 180 countries all over the world. Binance, the main platform, functions much like the other crypto exchanges allowing buying, selling, and trading digital assets on it.

The users can add funds to the accounts created through a standard financial account or buy crypto coins by using a credit card. They can then withdraw the coins to their crypto wallet or trade them over the platform.

This platform supports a larger number of cryptocurrencies, in fact, 10 times more than that of Coinbase. While Coinbase supports only 44 crypto coins, Binance has access to more than 500 crypto coins. The minimum order amount of Binance is $1 as compared to $2 of Coinbase.

A few other unique features of the Binance platform are that it offers user rewards and giveaways through the Binance rewards center that increases user participation on this platform. It also hosts airdrops for crypto coins.

The Binance Academy offers free education which includes everything from basic lessons to advanced trading tutorials.

Apart from that, the advanced charting feature of Binance allows the users to create multiple overlays to have more advanced charting views along with several trading indicators using the TradingView charts embedded in the platform.

The public access allowed to the API keys allows the third-party apps to be integrated with this platform easily.

One thing that is most unique in the case of Binance is its large variety of trade options offered to the users.

It in fact has the widest array of trade types that you will find on any other crypto exchange which includes limit order, stop limit order, market order, stop market order, post only order, trailing stop order, OCO or One-Cancels-the-Other order, time in force limit order, strategy order, margin trading, P2P trading, pool liquidity, guess the price battles and more.

3. Additional Platforms

Robinhood: The upgraded account of Robinhood, Robinhood Gold that charges a monthly fee of $5, allows the investors to make an instant transfer of funds of up to $50,000.

It also allows access to margin trading and Level II market data. The interface is quite simple but the analysis tools, once again, are minimal as compared to those offered by the other online brokers.

Coinbase: The Coinbase platform also offers an upgraded account, Coinbase Pro, which offers useful trading charts and several detailed research materials to help the users significantly in making a trade more efficiently. It does not come with a monthly fee but is still considered to be an expensive account upfront.

Binance: As for Binance however, for the users based in the United States, this particular crypto exchange has built a separate platform. This is done in order to abide by the strict Know Your Customer as well as Anti-Money Laundering restrictions imposed by the United States.

This Binance.US platform offers a limited trading options as well as a selection of crypto coins as compared to its primary platform. It also does not offer margin trading, does not allow purchases through credit cards, and extensive crypto-to-crypto trading options.

The high buying fees and deposits do not make Binance.US particularly a great option as of now for the US residents.

4. Online and Mobile Experience

Robinhood: Apart from the user-friendly and comparatively intuitive interface, Robinhood is known to come with a simple mobile app as well. This app also comes with unique and useful features that will allow you to make similar crypto trades that you can make on the online platform.

The app also allows you to access different investment information as well by using different charts, pricing data, and stock collections.

Coinbase: On the other hand, the Coinbase app comes with a minimalist design which makes it very easy for the beginners to use it and understand it.

Adding to the mobile experience is its intuitive buying and selling feature though the learning curve may seem to be a bit steeper when you use the Coinbase Pro account.

This is due to the reason that it comes with a set of extra market tools which makes it easier and useful for an experienced crypto trader but not for a novice.

Binance: The mobile app of Binance on the other hand is also very useful but you will not need to check out whether or not it comes with trading compatibility with other apps as you may have to do while using the web apps of Coinbase and Robinhood.

The best part of Binance is that it comes with a web platform, an iOS trading app, an Android trading app, and a Microsoft trading app, all of which may not be present in most of the trading platforms.

5. Security Features

Binance: As for the security features of Binance it comes with unique ones. Though it does not have a dedicated digital wallet like Coinbase it partners with one of the leaders in the digital wallet world, Trust Wallet.

It has more than five million users and protects the crypto assets with advanced security measures such as biometric access, PIN, encrypted key, and a 12-word recovery phrase.

It also restricts access to specific addresses with an address white-listing feature that prevents withdrawing or accessing your funds.

It also comes with two-factor authentication, Google Authenticator app, SMS notification and advanced verification with a picture and a government-issued photo ID of the user.

Additionally, it also offers device management so that you can restrict a particular device that you do not recognize or want to access your account.

Coinbase: As for the security features of Coinbase, it includes a built-in and dedicated digital wallet where you can store your crypto assets.

It is safe and secure that comes with biometric access controls and password protection. It also comes with a 12-word encrypted recovery phrase, and a two-factor authentication with a six digit time-sensitive password.

However, the most distinguishing security feature of Coinbase is that it comes with a cold storage where they store about 98% of the entire crypto balance.

This means that the crypto assets stored in it are not connected to the internet and therefore are well protected from online thieves. The crypto vault of Coinbase also offers further security to the stored crypto coins and prevents fraudulent withdrawals.

These are time-locked and need multiple user approvals to open and allow withdrawals that need to be made within 24 hours or it will be canceled. Coinbase is also a crypto exchange that offers FDIC insurance of $250K.

Robinhood: The Robinhood, on the other hand, uses several different ways to keep your crypto assets protected. The account is protected by a password which itself is hashed by using the latest BCrypt hashing algorithm.

This is one of the best in the industry which does not need storing the passwords in plain text, ever. All sensitive details of the users including their social security number are encrypted before storing and the mobile and web apps communicate with the servers most securely by using the TLS or Transport Layer Security protocol.

Every security feature of this platform comes with the latest ciphers and configurations. The policy of the platform is not to access the bank credentials of the users once these are verified.

The third-party integrations used to access the details of a bank account including the account number and the balance available are most reliable. The mobile app can also be accessed most securely by using FaceID, TouchID or a custom PIN code.

Apart from offering a two-factor authentication, the majority of the coins are stored in a cold or offline storage. The remaining is stored in a hot or online storage to support daily operations.

Then there is crime insurance to protect your coins from theft, cyber security breaches and other losses. The codes and security infrastructure are reviewed on a regular basis by them as well as other third-party security experts.

The platform allows better coin management with strict security ensured during operation. Crypto coin transfers especially need approval from a selected group of people and this group is never fixed which adds to the security aspect.

The list is disclosed either internally or externally. Finally, the platform abides by the money transmitter laws of The United States and follows the Bank Secrecy Act requirements being registered with FinCEN for providing money services business.

Which is Better – Robinhood or Coinbase or Binance?

The answer to this question is best left to the users themselves. This is because it is all about their needs and personal preferences.

However, instead of labeling one as the best, the other as better and one as good, the features and functionalities of all these three exchanges can be summarized in a paragraph or two.

This will probably help you a lot in judging which among the three exchanges you should get registered with.

When you consider the user experience aspect solely, Binance seems to fare much better than Robinhood or Coinbase. However, this does not mean that Coinbase and Robinhood lag far behind Binance.

However, it is just due to the fact that Binance keeps on adding new and more useful features all the time which offers it with a slight edge over the other two exchanges.

Apart from offering a ton of different trading options, Binance also comes with other favorable and useful functionalities such as user education, basic and advanced charting to help the beginners as well as the experienced traders alike.

It also has a lot more features that add value to it as well as for the crypto traders of all levels.

Binance is considered to be a solid platform for both the beginners as well as the active and experienced crypto traders alike.

The exchange charges rock-bottom fees and even allows access to the upcoming crypto assets to learn more about them so that users can make a much better speculation and investment decision. The exchange also offers prizes.

However, the only downside of Binance seems to be its availability. This exchange can only be used by the US residents since it is not available outside the United States.

As for Coinbase, this crypto exchange is best suited for those who are stepping into the exciting world of crypto for the first time. This is not because it has inferior features as compared to Binance but more specifically due to the reason that it comes with a simple, easy to use, and intuitive onboard interface.

It also comes with a user education component that is easy to understand by the beginners who are not very much acquainted with the technicalities and complex jargon associated with the crypto industry.

The features of Coinbase make it very simple for the beginners in this market to buy their first digital currency. With crypto bonuses, Coinbase is a huge motivator for the beginners to learn more about crypto trading and investing.

However, this crypto exchange should be avoided for those traders who are on a budget but want to make high volume trades.

This is because the fees charged by Coinbase on each transaction are much higher in comparison to the fees charged by other crypto exchanges available in the market, including Binance. These fees will add up to a substantial amount to eat up your profits.

As for Robinhood, it ranks 6^th in the list of popularity and people’s choice while Binance is ranked 5^th.

A few of its unique and interesting features include allowing you to set alerts for important events such as new coin releases, important government reports, and more.

This will keep you prepared so that you can stay over and top of the effects caused by the important information flow.

This specific crypto exchange is also good for the beginner traders and investors in the crypto world since it does not have any entry threshold.

This means that you can easily start trading on this exchange with whatever little capital you may have. Add to that, you will also not have to worry about the commissions that may eat up your profits made because there aren’t any.

However, the significant downsides of this crypto exchange include its limited availability which is strictly restricted to the US residents and citizens only.

Also, the platform does not offer extensive options for technical analysis and it also limits buy orders on specific types of crypto assets.

Therefore, with all these features and factors kept in mind, it is important that you choose a platform to trade your crypto that will serve all your purposes and meet your expectations comprehensively.

If the differences mentioned above are not sufficient for you to make a decision, you may be better off consulting a reliable financial advisor for that matter to choose a platform according to your needs.

Conclusion

The volatile crypto market is ever-growing. Therefore, traders and investors must evaluate the risks in it while determining their strategies and choosing a crypto exchange. The features, potential, and perks offered are vital factors to consider.