There are more than 1,600 cryptocurrencies in circulation today. Together, they create a market cap of more than $289 billion. As crypto continues to grow, it only makes sense that cryptocurrency exchanges continue to grow.

Around the globe, investors are very eager to start trading on this rapidly-growing platform. The question, then, is which platform to choose, and which crypto exchange is the best one for you to get started on.

While all exchanges allow consumers to sell, buy, or trade cryptocurrencies, they’re not all created equal. Whereas some exchanges are ideal for less-experienced traders, others are better-suited for full-time, professional traders.

 

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Here’s what you need to know about the top five crypto markets out there today, and how you can take advantage of each.

Coinbase

Coinbase is an exchange based in San Francisco.

Founded in 2012, it currently offers four tradable coins and an expansive set of tools for merchants who want to start trading. Users on the platform can sell, store, and buy tokens. Then, they can use them to make payments to companies like Expedia and Overstock, which accept bitcoin.

As the first cryptocurrency platform to achieve a valuation of more than $1 billion, Coinbase has become one of the most popular crypto exchanges out there.

 

BitMEX

BitMEX is a mercantile exchange for bitcoin. While some platforms, like Coinbase, cater to retail investors, BitMEX is designed to cater to dedicated traders.

It processes more than $2 billion in transactions daily. It does not currently handle fiat currency and is not available to customers throughout the United States.

 

Gemini

Gemini is an exchange launched by two former Facebook employees. Similar in structure to Coinbase, Gemini isn’t available in all 50 states throughout the country. Designed to support the trading of bitcoin and Ethereum, Gemini provides FDIC insurance for cash balances.

 

Kraken

Kraken is a digital currency exchange that offers 17 different cryptocurrencies for people who want to trade on the platform. Unlike many other exchanges, this one offers a tiered program. This makes it effective for both beginning investors and more experienced traders. While you cannot fund the platform via U.S. dollars, it is possible to trade other cryptocurrencies from your wallet or other platforms.

 

KuCoin

One of the strongest exchanges, KuCoin, also offers a mobile app (Android and iOS). The platform has been constantly updating its mobile app, and is currently one of the best and brightest in the industry.

 

Choosing the Exchange that Works for You

When it comes to choosing a cryptocurrency exchange, finding the one that suits your goals, needs, and experience is essential.

These five crypto exchanges all offer various benefits and drawbacks, and those features make them ideal for some investors while ill-suited to others.

When you understand this, as well as the fact that not all exchanges are created equal, you can take proactive steps to identify the exchange that works best for you. A solid understanding will also allow you to take full advantage of the platform. If you’re like most traders, you’ll find that you actually use a mixture of exchanges over the course of your trading lifetime.

 

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It’s essential to fluidly adapt to the exchanges you use and to be cognizant of when things just aren’t working. Once you’re proficient in these aspects, you can find an option that suits you, your trading goals, and your long-term objectives.

For years, people have been calling cryptocurrencies a bubble and proclaiming that their ultimate “burst” is imminent. If that’s true, of course, it begs the question of what, exactly, could cause such a major crash. Here are the four primary reasons why cryptocurrency crashes, and a few justifications for why you should trust in the overall fairness of the market:

 

1. Regulation

Regulation has been both a blessing and a curse in the world of cryptocurrency. While regulation has made crypto much safer for investors, the stipulations surrounding regulation can lead to fluctuations in the market. For example, if regulators in the E.U. or the USA get together to ban crypto exchanges while other companies stepped in to provide services within the crypto industry, it would have a large effect on cryptocurrencies across the board.

Take China, for example, which “banned” cryptos back in 2017. Despite moves taken by the country, crypto is essentially impossible to ban. The people and businesses interested in using it simply took their business elsewhere. While many people expected the market to collapse, it actually began to boom.

 

2. Crypto Exchanges

Before about 2014, there was a single crypto exchange that was responsible for more than 70 percent of all trading volume. It was called Mt. Gox and, at the beginning of 2014, it froze all trading, which resulted in an 80 percent crash through the entire crypto market.

While something like this could theoretically happen again today, the crypto market is so distributed now that virtually no exchange is responsible for more than 10 percent of all trading volume. This is as it should be. As long as trading stays this distributed, crypto crashes due to greedy exchanges will be much less likely.

 

3. Extension of Credit

Some exchanges allow people who trade on them to purchase cryptocurrency coins using credit cards. According to recent estimates, anywhere from 3-4 percent of purchases are made on credit cards and many of those can’t be paid back to buyers.

While this is one of the many factors that will inevitably drive the market higher, it’s unlikely that investors will leverage purchases within the market. Even if this did take place, it would be unreasonable to expect the action to have a strong impact on the market.

 

4. Tether

Tether is one cryptocurrency that acts as a “wildcard” within the whole system. Issued seemingly out of nowhere, the system behind Tether is very complex. Today, Tether is priced right around $1.6 billion and is connected to many other cryptocurrencies and exchanges. Because of this, any potential discovery that Tether’s valuation is inflated or exaggerated could cause a massive hit to the overall market.

Luckily, analysts place this risk as one with low probability and don’t see a realistic chance that it will have a major negative effect on the market anytime soon.

 

The Overall Stability of the Crypto Market

While the crypto market gets a great deal of flack for being unstable, it’s fairer than many people give it credit for. Although it’s true that the market flexes up and down, it generally holds gains and experiences fluctuations it ultimately recovers from. This is good news for investors. If you can handle a bit of uncertainty, there’s a great deal to be gained in the crypto market.

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