The Top 7 Best Altcoin Exchanges in 2023
Altcoins make up 80% of the entire crypto market. This page compares the best altcoin exchanges and shows you how to choose the right platform.
Altcoins have become a huge part of the cryptocurrency market over the last few years. Many crypto exchanges now let you buy and sell hundreds of different coins. Our experts have picked out the best altcoin exchanges for each different type of investor and compared their best features.
Best altcoin exchanges overall for 2023
-
eToro: Best for beginners, copy-trading & demo-account -
Public: Best for sharing beginner trading ideas -
Bitstamp: Best for professionals & trading with APIs -
Uphold: Best for building long term wealth -
OKX: Best for futures and margin trading -
Nexo: Best for earning interest & rewards -
KuCoin: Best social trading altcoin exchange
What are the best altcoin exchanges?
Min. Deposit
–
Best offer
Payment Methods:
Apple Pay, Bank Transfer, Credit Card, Debit Card, Google Pay, PayPal
Min. Deposit
$ 10
Best offer
Accepts customers from the USA
Deposit $100 and get a $10 bonus!* Build a diversified portfolio with crypto, stocks, and ETFs — all in one place
Trade on the world’s leading social trading and investing platform
Payment Methods:
Bank Transfer, Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal, Wire Transfer
Full Regulations:
CySEC, FCA
77% of retail CFD accounts lose money.
Min. Deposit
$ 1
Best offer
0% deposit fees, 0% withdrawal fees, 0% trading commissions
Set up automated trades and up to 50 limit orders with ease
Buy and sell 90+ cryptos and utility tokens, precious metals and national currencies with as little as $1
Top altcoin exchanges
1. eToro. Best for beginners, copy-trading & demo-account
Pros & Cons
Popular ‘Copytrader’ function so users can follow top traders
Mobile platform has great functionality
Minimum first time deposit of $200
Expedient customer service, with live chat support provided
Over 2,000 CFDs available to trade
Does not provide the MetaTrader platform
High spreads on some assets
Comparatively high fees for withdrawals and account inactivity
Overview
We love eToro because it makes it simple to trade crypto at home or on the go. If you’ve never bought cryptocurrency before, then eToro makes it simple to buy 75+ of the leading coins, including the likes of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin. Every crypto trade comes with a flat 1% fee, which makes it one of the cheapest crypto brokers on the market to boot.
As well as being a broker that offers lots of investor protection, eToro offers a very social trading experience. You can easily see what’s trending on the crypto market every day, browse the latest technical analysis about every one of those tokens, and copy other people’s trade suggestions from your desktop or the eToro app.
The fees: You will be charged a 1% fee every time you buy or sell crypto. The charge is included in the market price that’s displayed on eToro. CFD trades may be charged an overnight or weekend fee if you leave the position open.
77% of retail CFD accounts lose money.
2. Public. Best for sharing beginner trading ideas
Pros & Cons
Commission free stock and ETF investing
Share and compare your portfolio on a social trading platform
Trade crypto, fractional shares, and alternative investments
You can’t trade on margin or use leverage
No forex, options, funds, metals, or bonds
Overview
We love Public because it’s a social platform where you can share trading tips and get ideas from other people. Public offers 9,000+ financial instruments, including cryptocurrencies and stocks from around the world.
Alongside a community of other investors all sharing their ideas, Public offers real time news and information so that you can see the full picture before you invest. And the assets don’t just include your run-of-the-mill assets; you can make alternative investments in things like handbags and comic books as well.
The fees: Cryptocurrency trades are charged a 2.5% fee per transaction.
3. Bitstamp. Best for professionals & trading with APIs
Pros & Cons
Low trading fees and no spreads
Supports multiple fiat currencies
Regulated platform
Limited number of coins available
Major fees on deposits and withdrawals
Liquidity has suffered due to the limited selection of coins and most liquidity is concentrated in top names like Bitcoin and Ether
Overview
We love Bitstamp because it has a proud reputation for top performance over more than decade. Bitstamp offers trading on 75+ cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin, while staking is available on Ethereum and Algorand.
Bitstamp was one of the first crypto platforms to set up shop in 2011 and has built up trust since. It’s designed with institutional traders in mind, so it prides itself on near 100% uptime. It stores 95% of assets in cold storage and offers a sliding scale of fees so that high volume traders get the best rates.
The fees: There are no trading fees if you trade less than $1,000 in a rolling 30-day period. Above that, fees start from 0.4% and decline the higher your trading volume is. There is a 15% charge for staking. Withdrawals are charged a flat €3 fee.
4. Uphold. Best for building long term wealth
Pros & Cons
Wide range of cryptocurrencies available
Zero deposit and withdrawal fees
Crypto wallets to store your coins
Low minimum deposits and fast account set up
Spreads can be high for some cryptocurrencies
Services vary depending on region
Customer support is limited
Overview
We love Uphold because it’s a regulated and transparent digital asset platform. There are 160+ cryptocurrencies available to hold and trade, along with three fiat currencies; GBP, EUR, and USD.
Uphold’s key features include the ability to schedule transactions to avoid trying to time the market. With a focus on long term wealth building, Uphold also offers the ability to earn rewards of up to 25% on staked crypto, as well as 4% cashback paid in XRP for purchases made with the Uphold card.
The fees: Crypto spreads start from 0.9% and are usually lower than 1.3% for BTC and ETH. Other cryptocurrency spreads are higher. Average spreads on fiat currency are 0.2%. There is a $0.99 fee for transactions under $100 made with the Uphold card.
5. OKX. Best for futures and margin trading
Pros & Cons
Stake ETH to freely mint FIFA WORLD CUP 2022 NFTs & big prizes
350+ cryptocurrencies & NFTs available across 650+ trading pairs
Crypto spot & derivative markets available
Pay using hundreds of local payment methods
Not available in the US
Lack of fiat withdrawal options
Overview
We love OKX because it’s an adaptable and flexible exchange, with an app that’s available in three different versions depending on how you trade. Choose from the beginner-friendly Lite version, Web3 option for NFT traders, or the Pro version for a plethora of trading tools.
From an app or desktop you can trade 350+ crypto coins on one of the world’s top crypto exchanges. You can fund your account easily, through a variety of simple payment methods, and a sliding scale of fees that means you can access discounts by holding the OKB token or trading high volumes.
The fees: Regular users pay a 0.1% fee on spot crypto trades. OKB crypto holders are entitled to a discount, up to 0.02% off for holding more than 2,000 coins. High volume traders are also entitled to a discount, with the cheapest fees available for traders with a 30 day trading volume above $10,000,000,000.
6. Nexo. Best for earning interest & rewards
Pros & Cons
Offers excellent rates of interest on crypto and fiat savings
Nexo debit card makes it easy to access and spend your funds
Access crypto loans and collateral
Equipped with top quality security infrastructure and insured
No anonymous option, your identity must be verified to place buy and sell orders
Margins calls if the value of your collateral drops between a certain level
Overview
We love Nexo because you earn rewards every time you make a purchase. You can trade 60+ cryptocurrencies and earn rewards of up to 0.5% on every transaction, then store your coins on Nexo to build your wealth through passive interest payments.
You can trade on the go from a mobile app and Nexo is designed for simplicity. Every trade is locked in at the rate you see on your screen, so you won’t suffer from price slippage, and it has the added bonus that any crypto held in your account automatically starts to earn interest.
The fees: Nexo charges a 2% spread on buy and sell transactions. There are no fees for storing coins in your Nexo account. Depending on your loyalty tier, you receive a fixed number of free withdrawals, and any additional withdrawals will be charged a network fee.
7. KuCoin. Best social trading altcoin exchange
Pros & Cons
Anonymous trading with up to 2 BTC withdrawals/24 hours
Wide variety of cryptocurrencies
No deposit fees
Low trading volumes not suitable for big traders
Doesn’t support U.S. customers
You might experience delays and lags during high-traffic times.
Overview
We love KuCoin because it;s a great place for beginners to trade more than 700 altcoins. KuCoin is a social trading platform with 20+ million investors worldwide in 200+ countries.
KuCoin’s beginner zone offers up rewards up to $500 for new users. The rest of the platform has plenty of features for the crypto enthusiast: a staking service to earn money on your stored crypto, an NFT marketplace, and margin trading features to buy leveraged tokens.
The fees: Trading fees are charged on a sliding scale. Fees are 0.1% on trading volumes below 50 BTC in a 30 day period. Discounts are available if you pay fees in KCS or store more than 1000 KCS in your account.
What is an altcoin exchange?
An altcoin exchange is a place where you can invest in cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin. It’s a marketplace that lets you buy and sell crypto from other people in exchange for fiat currency (like GBP or USD) or for other cryptocurrencies.
The term ‘altcoin’ refers to any cryptocurrency that isn’t Bitcoin. There are some exchanges that only allow you to buy and sell Bitcoin but nowadays the vast majority offer at least some altcoins and the top ones can offer thousands in total. Ethereum is the largest and most popular altcoin, any exchange that offers ETH or any other coin qualifies as an altcoin exchange.
How does an altcoin exchange work?
It works by matching buyers with sell orders in order to facilitate trades. Whenever someone submits a bid to buy an altcoin, it looks for a seller willing to accept a bid at that price. When it does, the transaction goes through. If there is no seller at that price then the bid remains ‘open’ until someone takes the offer.
How should I choose an altcoin exchange platform?
The most important thing to consider is which coins you can trade on the platform. You may have an idea of the altcoins you’re interested in, or you might want the widest selection to choose from. Below are some other factors that influenced how we ranked these exchanges.
- Trading fees. Exchanges tend to have low trading fees but how they charge users can vary. The most you should expect to pay is a 0.5% commission on each trade, but many platforms are lower and the average is between 0.2% and 0.3%.
- Fee discounts. Platforms that boast their own cryptocurrency often offer lower fees to those who hold it. A good example of this is BNB (Binance coin) on the Binance exchange. Similarly, there are often trading discounts for high volume traders, although you might need to trade more than $100,000 worth in order to access them.
- Range of coins available. Some exchanges offer a limited number of coins, while others offer thousands. If your priority is access to the leading altcoins, then a smaller selection is fine. If you want to look at more ‘lottery tickets’, then prioritise a broad range.
- Payment methods. You can normally pay with a bank transfer or credit/debit card on an altcoin exchange, but alternative payment methods can be more hit and miss. If you want to use a method like PayPal then it’s important to check that it’s available before you sign up.
- Security. You want to be able to trust any financial platform that handles your money. Look for regulatory approval from financial bodies and check the customer reviews to see how other people experienced the service.
- Fiat deposits and withdrawals. Some exchanges require you to own cryptocurrency in order to sign up. This is normally the case for decentralised exchanges like Uniswap where you have to connect your crypto wallet in order to make any trades.
- Additional features. Many exchanges offer advanced charting analysis tools to help you make the right buy and sell decisions. Others offer other ways to make money from your crypto, such as staking. If those are important to you then the platform your choose can make a big difference to the bottom line.
Should I use an altcoin exchange?
It’s the best way to buy and sell most cryptocurrencies. Exchanges offer you the best prices and much lower trading fees than standard brokers, and many crypto exchanges now offer thousands of different coins and tokens.
Altcoin investing can be risky but exchanges provide the most flexibility to swap between them as well as alternative ways to make money beyond straight buying and selling. Nowadays you can trade options and futures on leading altcoins like Ethereum, or stake different DeFi coins in order to earn some extra interest.
Lots of exchanges have made a big effort to appeal to beginners over the last couple of years. There’s often plenty of extra learning material or a slimmed down interface to make it more accessible. You aren’t restricted to one exchange either; many people create accounts with multiple platforms in order to shop around for the best price.
Pros and cons of altcoin exchanges
To help you decide if an altcoin exchange is for you we’ve pulled together a list of the pros and cons in the table below.
Pros
- Can buy or sell any cryptocurrency, even those with very small market cap
- Minimum deposits can be as small as $1
- Most altcoin exchanges have a mobile app for convenience
- Many platforms offer leveraged or margin trading on altcoins
- Some exchanges offer a demo account that you can use to practice
Cons
What are the fees for altcoin exchanges?
The trading fees range from a commission of 0.1% to as high as 1% or 1.5% on every trade. There is no fee to create an account unless you use a premium service like Coinbase Pro. You may have to pay for deposits and (more commonly) withdrawals.
FAQs
Is Binance or Coinbase a better exchange?
What are the top 3 crypto exchanges?
More of the best crypto rankings
Sources & references
Risk disclaimer
Invezz is a place where people can find reliable, unbiased information about finance, trading, and investing – but we do not offer financial advice and users should always carry out their own research. The assets covered on this website, including stocks, cryptocurrencies, and commodities can be highly volatile and new investors often lose money. Success in the financial markets is not guaranteed, and users should never invest more than they can afford to lose. You should consider your own personal circumstances and take the time to explore all your options before making any investment. Read our risk disclaimer >
