Coinbase Review

Coinbase Products

Coinbase is a very simple and easy to use cryptocurrency exchange that mainly markets themselves towards beginner cryptocurrency traders and investors. Therefore, the exchange does not offer a wide variety of cryptocurrencies to buy and sell. As of this writing, Coinbase offers the following cryptocurrency products:

• Bitcoin (BTC)
• Ethereum (ETH)
• Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
• Litecoin (LTC)

While the number of cryptocurrencies available are limited, they are highly liquid and sought after by many. Coinbase does plan on offering more cryptocurrencies in the future but will remain very slow and cautious in doing so.

Coinbase Trading Conditions

As Coinbase is a very simple cryptocurrency exchange with their focus on beginner traders and investors, the trading conditions are very limited. Users of Coinbase are limited to simple buy and sell orders at the current market price. There are no advanced options for setting stop losses or limit orders. As well, users can not trade on margin or use leverage. While these trading conditions are simple and limited, they are preferred by the vast majority of new cryptocurrency traders. However, Coinbase released a more advanced trading platform in 2015 known as GDAX. More experienced traders can navigate to this exchange platform to experience more advanced trading methods. All Coinbase users have access to the GDAX platform in addition to the traditional Coinbase exchange.

Coinbase Account Types

Coinbase only offers two types of accounts; Individual Accounts and Business Accounts. The account types are essentially the same, below we will walk through the process of setting up either of these accounts.

1. The first step to creating a Coinbase account is to provide your name, email address, country of residence, and to set a password. You will then need to verify your email address by clicking a link sent by Coinbase.
2. Next, choose whether you want to set up an Individual Account or Business Account.
3. Now you will need to verify your phone number. This is needed for 2-factor authentication which helps to keep your account more secure.
4. The final step to creating your account is to provide Coinbase with a payment method. Users can choose between Bank Wire transfers or Credit Cards. Both these methods require the user to verify their identities in order to comply with US government regulations.

Coinbase Commissions & Fees

Coinbase has a very transparent fee structure which states the fee at the time of purchase. The fees are based on which payment method is used by the user and range from 1.5% - 3.99%. Generally, credit cards charge the highest fees while bank wire transfers are lower but require a minimum transfer amount of $100. The fees are quite low in comparison to Coinbase’s competitors but are still higher than most of the advanced exchanges. As well, there are the standard mining/transaction fees involved with sending cryptocurrency to and from the Coinbase exchange.

Coinbase Platforms and Tools

Coinbase features their very own proprietary trading platform. The platform is web-based and is incorporated into the Coinbase website. The main platform offered by Coinbase isn’t really a trading platform at all, but rather an interface for buying and selling cryptocurrency. The tools and features are quite limited because the focus is on ease of use and simplicity. Traders can view a simple price chart of the cryptocurrency asset they are buying or selling, and place buy and sell orders at the current market price.

In addition to Coinbase’s standard trading interface, they have also implemented a platform known as GDAX. This platform is available to all Coinbase users and is primarily meant for more experienced traders to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. Traders who use this platform for buying and selling have access to advanced charting and analysis techniques and tools. They can easily analyse volume, price movements and trends, just like other more advanced trading platforms.

Is Coinbase Mobile Friendly?

Coinbase is very mobile friendly as they feature downloadable mobile applications for both Android and Apple smart devices. As well, the website is fully optimized for mobile devices. Users of Coinbase can easily trade on mobile devices as the interface is so simple to begin with. The mobile design stays true to the desktop version and offers all the same available features. However, the GDAX trading platform is not mobile friendly.

Coinbase Promotions

When Coinbase was first launched they had a promotional affiliate program in place to reward users who got new users to sign up and buy cryptocurrency. However, this promotion is no longer in place and no other promotions are currently offered.

Coinbase Deposits & Withdrawals

Coinbase offers an impressive list of deposit and withdrawal options. In fact, they offer more options than most other cryptocurrency exchanges. Users can deposit both fiat currency and cryptocurrency to their Coinbase account. See the available payment and withdrawal methods and their aspects below.

Bank Transfer (USA)- Deposits and withdrawals via this method take between 5-7 business days and incur a fee of 1.49%.

SEPA Transfer (Europe)- Deposits and withdrawals via this method take between 1-3 business days and incur a fee of 1.49%.

Credit/Debit Cards- Payments via this method are instant and incur a fee of 3.99%.

Coinbase Customer Support

The primary method of customer support offered by Coinbase is through email. Response times typically take anywhere from 24-72 hours, depending on how many users are requesting support. Another available method is through telephone support which is available 24/7, 365 days a year. Also, users can find updates and new information by following Coinbase on Twitter. Before reaching out to support, all users are advised to check out Coinbase’s extensive FAQ support page. Users can find the answers to most if not all questions they might have on this page.

Coinbase Research and Education

Coinbase does not feature an education centre on their website, but they do have an impressive blog. The Coinbase blog has loads of content that is very educational for all levels of cryptocurrency traders. On the blog, users will find extensive articles, user guides and more. Also, the support page can be very educational for users of Coinbase as well.

Coinbase Noteworthy Points

The Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange definitely has some noteworthy points worth mentioning. For instance, they are one of the only cryptocurrency exchanges that are regulated and authorized to provide cryptocurrency exchange services I the United States. Another point worth mentioning is the fact that Coinbase is probably the easiest to use and most user-friendly cryptocurrency exchange out there.

Conclusion

The Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange stands out from the rest of them for many reasons. It is very user friendly making it a great place for beginners to start with cryptocurrency trading. As well, the exchange offers a wide variety of payment options including both fiat and cryptocurrency options. A downside of Coinbase is there lack of features for the average user, but even this issue has been solved with their GDAX platform. Another area that Coinbase could improve upon is featuring a wider variety of cryptocurrency assets. Other than that, Coinbase is an excellent cryptocurrency exchange and is trusted and used by many.