Crypto exchange

You are stepping into the exciting world of crypto and are looking for a crypto exchange or crypto broker to start or to switch to in order to save money, for example. Switching is not something you think about when you are already with a crypto provider. But why not? You probably do it for your health insurance, car insurance, energy, mobile phone provider and maybe even your television provider. By switching you may get more offers elsewhere, allowing you to spread your opportunities better than with your current provider. It is also possible to increase your returns with cheaper prices. After all, that’s your goal, right? Here’s a crypto tip if you don’t know where to start. When you are in the starting blocks to start trading crypto you should first ask yourself: “what is important to me that a crypto exchange or broker should require?“. Should a crypto provider have a lot of offerings, cheap prices, an app, many services besides just trading, being able to deposit and withdraw crypto, good reviews, simple design, language capabilities, etc. Pick three criteria that you think are really important. Once you have that clear for yourself, find the answers via this page and you can go directly to the crypto exchange or broker that suits you. We at CoinCompare.eu offer you the tools to help you make that choice.

Crypto exchange summary

The crypto market is relatively new and can quickly become overwhelming which can scare people off. This page assists to help you make a decision on which crypto exchange or broker to trade with. Through this page you can find out for each crypto exchange and broker which crypto markets and crypto coins they offer, what the prices and trading costs (fees) are, which payment methods are supported, whether they support an online wallet and staking, whether they have an app, how to contact them, whether they are reliable and what we think of the exchange or broker. All providers (exchanges and brokers) have been completely gone through to be able to indicate what the differences are. We have also made use of the providers to give an opinion and a review. The choice ultimately lies with you what you find important and what you go for. If cheap prices is in your top 3 criteria, CoinCompare will also help you compare crypto prices. We compare prices of bitcoin and all altcoins from the following providers:

Crypto exchange

Coinmerce, Bitvavo and Coinbase

Crypto broker

BLOX, BCM, Knaken, Bitonic, Anycoin Direct, BTC Direct and Bitmymoney

Crypto exchange or crypto broker?

If you are just starting in the crypto world or wanting to switch, you have the choice of trading at a crypto exchange or a crypto broker. A crypto exchange is a cryptocurrency and token trading exchange and is similar as a stock exchange, but than for crypto. A broker is as an intermediary between you the trader and the exchange where your trade takes place. Both offer their capabilities and options in services and have their own pros and cons.

Providers as Binance, Bitvavo and BLOX provide you a lifetime discount or a welcome bonus when you register through CoinCompare.eu and start trading there. See our Crypto Deals to read more about these discounts and welcome bonuses.

What is the difference between crypto exchange and broker?

With regularity, in the news, in a blog or website, it is written or spoken about a crypto exchange while that crypto provider is actually a broker. Although you as a user will hardly notice whether you’re trading at a crypto exchange or a crypto broker, there are some differences between the two. The biggest difference between a crypto exchange and a broker is the use of order books. When you trade cryptocurrencies at an exchange like Bitvavo or Binance, and place a buy or sell order, your order will be filled at that exchange. When you trade with a broker like Coinmerce or Bitladon, your buy or sell order will be processed at one of the affiliated exchanges that the broker works with and is connected to. So your order will not be processed at the broker itself, but at the exchange where your order can be filled the fastest. Therefore, you’ll never see the volume of a broker on marketcap tracker like CoinGecko. The same applies when you swap crypto for crypto. A broker is often more expensive in transaction fees for this reason, as the broker pays the exchange for using their order books.

Pros and cons between crypto exchange and broker?

When to choose for a crypto exchange or a broker? As mentioned before in the previous paragraph, you won’t notice much of a difference whether you trade at an exchange or a broker. If you haven’t chosen a provider yet or you haven’t figured out yet where to switch to, it is useful to know what the pros and cons are between the two. It will help you to make your choice. CoinCompare.eu supports 14 exchanges and brokers which all support the Dutch language or iDEAL. It is ultimately a personal choice as to which provider you want to use. Important criteria to take into account are price, offering, user friendliness, contact and customer service. After all, you want to be properly assisted in the process from registration to trading.

Crypto exchange

Pros:

  • Often cheaper by using own order books.
  • Multiple trading pairs including stablecoins.
  • Support hardforks, staking and saving services.
  • Store purchased or sent crypto to the exchange’s online wallet.

Cons:

  • Difficult to reach by e.g. only a contact form and has a later response time.
  • Platform is often difficult to use due to many options and sometimes requires some experience.
  • Most exchanges are located abroad, so no Dutch language is supported.
  • Most exchanges are not under the supervision of the DNB for wwft, besides Bitvavo.

Crypto broker

Pros:

  • Easily accessible with faster and personal contact.
  • Platform more user-friendly for starters due to simple design.
  • Most brokers are located in the Netherlands and therefore support the Dutch language.
  • All brokers that allow crypto trading in the Netherlands are regulated by the DNB.
  • Support in most cases the payment method iDEAL.

Cons:

  • Often more expensive due to use of order books exchange.
  • Less trading pairs. Often only with EUR (€).
  • Rarely support hardforks, staking and saving services.
  • Some brokers do not support an online wallet for sending or withdrawing crypto.
  • Crypto not always stored at the broker, but at the affiliated exchange.

As far as security is concerned, both options are almost the same. Measures such as two-factor authentication, ddos prevention, IP address verification and wallet security (if supported) are implemented by default. The majority of providers also offer dedicated security pages to inform you what you can do and what you should pay attention to in order to secure your crypto and data.

Compare crypto exchange

Whether you are stepping into the crypto world or are more experienced or looking for new crypto provider, then nothing is as nice as overview that helps you to the compare crypto exchange. Each exchange or broker offers its own features and services. Do they offer many different cryptocurrencies? How much are the transaction costs (fees)? Do I need to register? Do they have an app available? Do they support staking? Can I pay with iDEAL? Can I get a discount? And so on. We have listed the most important key points and pillars at the top of this page for every crypto exchange and broker to make exchange comparison possible for you.

Best crypto exchange 2022

The best crypto exchange is Binance, for now. Also for the beginner! If the support of the Dutch language is a must, then Bitvavo is the best choice, since Binance does not support the Dutch language currently on the web application. To help you get started, we have assessed each exchange and broker on some criteria. Based on the criteria design, content, functionality, security, customer service, crypto offerings and price we have given a score from which an average is derived. The average score is displayed per exchange or broker at the top of the page. Please note that determining the best provider is often a subjective choice based on your personal requirements, experience and needs. It could be that you are 100% satisfied with a provider while it has a low score on our website.

Best crypto app 2022

Crypto exchange Binance has the best crypto app, because of the versatility of its options, cheap prices and a nice amount of crypto offerings. The crypto app of Binance still supports the Dutch language, which makes it convenient for Dutch and Belgium citizens. It is also possible to switch between advanced trading and simple trading. The simple trading option is called Binance Lite. This is ideal for beginners who have not yet mastered the use of graphs and analysis tools. The Bitvavo crypto app is a great alternative, depending on your experience and requirements. After all, Bitvavo is one of the cheapest in terms of prices and has a wide range of crypto. Don’t feel like choosing which crypto to go for and want to keep trading as simple as possible? Then BLOX might be the crypto app for you. Crypto apps from brokers like Bitladon, Coinmerce, Knaken and LiteBit are fine, but some have high prices, others are not user-friendly or the app doesn’t work 100% yet.

Crypto staking

Nowadays with the DeFi developments, it is possible at some crypto exchanges and brokers to earn ‘interest’ as passive income through crypto staking. Exchanges and brokers as Binance, Bitvavo, Bitladon, Knaken and Luno all support crypto staking. By hodling your Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Ripple or other supported crypto at one of the providers for a certain amount of time, you shall initiate the staking process and earn interest. Some providers require an activation of the staking service in the dashboard of your profile. Depending on the crypto you choose, interest rates vary from 2% to 10%. That’s more than you’ll get at your bank!

Buy crypto with iDEAL

You can buy crypto with iDEAL from all crypto exchanges and brokers supported on our platform. The support of iDEAL is one of the criteria for adding a crypto exchange or broker to our price comparison platform. The process of buying crypto with iDEAL differs per provider how they deal with iDEAL. With some providers it is possible to buy crypto directly using iDEAL and with others you first have to deposit money using iDEAL, before you can buy crypto coins. Binance, LiteBit and Knaken support the ability to buy crypto directly via iDEAL. At Bitvavo, Coinmerce and Bitladon, you must first deposit money to your account via iDEAL as ‘funds’ to buy crypto.

Crypto exchange conclusion

Choosing a crypto exchange or a crypto broker remains a difficult task. It doesn’t matter whether you choose an exchange or a broker. In the end it all comes down to what you feel most comfortable with and where you think you can trade crypto decently. So make sure you take your three main criteria seriously, because crypto trading is not something you learn in a day. It takes a long time and you prefer to spend that time on the crypto trading platform where you want to feel comfortable. Please note, all information given on this page is not financial advice. Do your own thorough research and decide for yourself what suits you.

Frequently Asked Questions

A crypto exchange is a trading platform where it is possible to trade in cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Each exchange offers its own trading options, variety of crypto, payment methods and fiat money like the euro (€) and the dollar ($).

If price is your main criteria, Binance is the best exchange. If the Dutch language is most important, Bitvavo is the best. Do your own research to find out what suits your needs. Ask yourself: “what are the three most important pillars a crypto exchange or broker should require?“. And decide your choice based on your answers.

The exchanges and brokers on CoinCompare.eu are reliable and secure. All crypto providers handle security and privacy, driven by legislation, as priority number one. However, keep in mind that you, the user, are ultimately the best defense against account breach and theft! Therefore, we always recommend using a hard wallet (external) to be completely independent from online wallets.

Every exchange offers Bitcoin. In addition, almost all of them also offer altcoins, including Ethereum, Litecoin, Cardano, Dogecoin, Ripple and many other popular ones. See which crypto’s they offer on the dedicated crypto exchange or broker info page.

At exchanges Binance, Bitvavo and Coinbase and brokers like Coinmerce, Bitladon, LiteBit, Knaken, Bitmymoney and Luno it is possible to store your crypto in an online wallet. BLOX, Bitonic, Anycoin Direct, BTC Direct and SATOS do not support an online wallet and therefore it is not possible to store your crypto’s there.

The vast majority of exchanges and brokers have an app. Only Bitonic, Anycoin Direct, SATOS and BTC Direct don’t. Binance has the best crypto app. Bitvavo and BLOX have a good alternative.

Currently, exchanges and brokers as Binance, Bitvavo, Bitladon, Knaken and Luno support crypto staking to receive interest. More providers are expected to follow in the future.

At exchanges like Binance and Bitvavo and broker BLOX, you will receive lifetime discounts or a welcome bonus when you register at the provider through CoinCompare.eu. Also, the more you trade at the exchanges, the more discount you shall receive on the transaction fees. This also applies for when trading at broker Bitladon.

All exchanges and brokers support the Dutch language, except Binance, Coinbase and Luno. In general all exchanges and brokers support common languages as English, German and some even Italian, French or Spanish.

All crypto exchanges and broker support the payment method iDEAL. Binance, LiteBit and Knaken support being able to buy crypto directly through iDEAL. At Bitvavo, Coinmerce and Coinbase you first have to deposit money to your account through iDEAL, before you are able to buy crypto.

Besides iDEAL and SEPA most exchanges also support Giropay, Bancontact, SOFORT, MyBank, credit card (VISA/MasterCard) and EPS. On the dedicated exchange info pages you will find which payment methods they support. Transactions are mostly processed on the same day, due to EU bank cooperations.

Directly to exchange >

Coinmerce logo banner

Scores a 4.3 out of 5

  • ≥0.2% fee
  • 300+ crypto
  • App iOS & Android
  • Online wallet
  • Staking
  • No starter bonus

Receive 10 euro for free >

The brand BLOX in coloured letters at CoinCompare

Scores a 3.9 out of 5

  • 0,25% fee
  • Large offerings
  • App iOS & Android
  • Online wallet limited
  • Staking
  • Welcoming bonus

Directly to broker

Knaken banner

Scores a 3.8 out of 5

  • 1.5% ave. fee
  • Large offerings
  • App iOS
  • Online wallet
  • Only euro (€) staking
  • No starter discount

Directly to broker

Bitadon-at-CoinCompare

Scores a 3.7 out of 5

  • ≤1% fee
  • Big offerings
  • App iOS & Android
  • Online wallet
  • Staking
  • No starter discount

Directly to exchange

Scores a 3.7 out of 5

  • 1.5% fee
  • Big offerings
  • App iOS & Android
  • Online wallet
  • Staking
  • No starter discount

Directly to broker

Black letters with a blue dot on the i brand logo of Anycoin Direct

Scores a 3.5 out of 5

  • 2% ave. fee
  • Large offerings
  • App iOS & Android
  • Online wallet
  • Staking
  • No starter discount

Directly to broker

Bitmymoney-at-CoinCompare

Scores a 3.5 out of 5

  • 1% ave. fee
  • Few offerings
  • App iOS & Android
  • Online wallet
  • Staking
  • No starter discount

Directly to broker

Bitonic logo 2.0 black brand name with green diamond

Scores a 3.4 out of 5

  • 1% ave. fee
  • Only Bitcoin
  • App iOS & Android
  • Online wallet
  • Staking
  • No starter discount

Directly to broker

BTC Direct banner

Scores a 3.4 out of 5

  • 2,5% ave. fee
  • Few offerings
  • App iOS & Android
  • Online wallet
  • Staking
  • No starter discount

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