Currency must be liquid, and digital currency exchanges exist to improve the liquidity of digital currencies. Exchanges can provide a centralized market for digital currencies, allowing for greater liquidity, reduced transaction costs, and a more secure transaction process.
The following is a list of the world's top 10 virtual currency exchanges. There are many exchanges around the world, and it is recommended to choose a larger exchange.
When trading digital currencies, everyone is concerned about security issues. This is a very new field and lacks the test of time. Therefore, it is relatively safer to choose an exchange platform that ranks high in scale, or even only use the top few exchanges.
In terms of scale and trading volume, it can be observed that there is a big gap between the top few and the bottom few. In addition, not every exchange has Chinese. In principle, exchanges that are not on this list do not need to be considered. The following is a ranking table, which will continue to change over time.
The above-mentioned digital currency exchange rankings are mainly based on spot and contracts, but when actually trading digital currencies, many people also invest in derivative financial products.
In the digital currency market, the more common derivative financial products include: leveraged trading, futures contracts, options contracts, and leveraged tokens. Special attention should be paid to the higher risks of these derivative products, so be more careful when trading.
The following table lists the top 10 exchanges with the largest cryptocurrency derivatives trading volume. This table will continue to change over time.
Introduction to the world's leading digital currency exchanges
The following are some well-known exchanges for brief introduction:
Digital currency exchange 1: Binance (Binance)
Binance was founded by Canadian Chinese engineer Changpeng Zhao
After Zhao Changpeng successfully raised funds, he founded the Binance exchange in Hong Kong in July 2017, and then moved the server and headquarters to Japan. However, because China and Japan have very strict regulations on trading currencies, they finally moved to the Republic of Malta, which is more friendly to virtual currencies.
Binance has become the world's number one platform for virtual currency trading volume, reaching 200 million users worldwide in 2024, providing transactions for more than 450 cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, etc.
Cryptocurrency Exchange 2: Bybit
Bybit was founded in March 2018 and focuses on the trading of cryptocurrency derivatives. It provides a variety of cryptocurrency spot and derivatives. The order maker fee and order taker fee will vary depending on the user level.
Cryptocurrency Exchange 3: Coinbase
Coinbase, a San Francisco-based company, is the first U.S. cryptocurrency company to receive a $1 billion investment valuation and the first to bring in $1 billion in annual revenue.
At the end of October 2018, it obtained approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services to become a qualified custodian of cryptocurrencies. In November of the same year, it also opened an over-the-counter (OTC) counter for Coinbase Prime customers (financial institutions that wish to trade with commercial funds).
It was publicly listed on the Nasdaq in the United States on April 14, 2021 with the code COIN. There are public financial reports available for query, and its current market value is US$42.46 billion.
Cryptocurrency Exchange 4: OKX
OKX was founded in 2017 and was formerly known as OKeX. It is an exchange headquartered in Seychelles, East Africa (originally headquartered in Beijing). It was originally an exchange mainly engaged in contract trading.
OKX provides spot and derivative trading, as well as financial products and other services for more than 300 cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Cryptocurrency Exchange 5: Upbit
Upbit is a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange established in 2017. It is currently the exchange with the largest trading volume in South Korea. Its feature is that it can be traded using KakaoTalk (South Korea’s communication software).
Cryptocurrency Exchange 6: Bitget
Bitget Exchange was established in 2018 and registered in the Republic of Seychelles in Africa. In addition to providing cryptocurrency trading services, it also provides other cryptocurrency-related services, such as copy trading, margin trading, etc.
Cryptocurrency Exchange 7: Kraken
Kraken is one of the oldest crypto exchanges, founded in 2011, but it took two years of development and testing before going online for trading in 2013.
Initially the exchange only offered trading between Bitcoin, Litecoin and Euro, but eventually added other currencies and margin trading and positioned itself as a professional Bitcoin exchange.
In September 2020, Kraken also received approval from the Wyoming Banking Commission, becoming the first exchange in the United States that can set up a bank.
Cryptocurrency Exchange 8: KuCoin
KuCoin was established in 2017 and has offices in multiple countries/regions. KuCoin supports a variety of virtual currencies, futures trading and other services, and provides a multi-lingual customer service team that supports simplified and traditional Chinese.
Cryptocurrency Exchange 9: HTX
HTX, formerly known as Huobi, is a cryptocurrency exchange headquartered in Singapore. It was originally established in China and later set up offices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Russia and the United States.
Cryptocurrency Exchange 10: MEXC
MEXC was established in 2018 in Singapore. It is a centralized exchange. Some people also call it the Matcha Exchange. It focuses on completing 1.4 million transactions per second, and provides spot, margin, futures and other transactions.
Things you should know about using digital currency exchanges
Here are some important things you should know before trading cryptocurrencies.
1. Cryptocurrency transactions are still high-risk transactions. Because they are very new and the nature of digital currencies tends to be decentralized and not centrally managed, not all countries have laws and regulations to provide complete control and protection.
2. All major exchanges have experienced hacking and losses. Whether the exchange is able to protect customer assets depends on the scale and technical strength of the exchange itself.
3. The security of the digital currency field still needs time to be tested. Some foreign forums suggest that large amounts of funds should not be kept in the account for a long time. If there is profit, it can be withdrawn regularly and only a small amount can be left in the account, which is also a practice that can be considered.
How to choose a digital currency exchange?
On the premise that you have a full understanding of the risks and sufficient knowledge, the key points to consider when evaluating a cryptocurrency exchange are in the order of importance:
1. Large scale: Try to choose a large exchange as much as possible, which will be better in terms of security, quality, and cost. It should be noted that large scale is relatively reliable, but it still does not guarantee absolute security.
2. Chinese localization: Especially with Chinese customer service, problems can be solved more easily. It should be noted that although some platforms provide Chinese interfaces, they are not completely Chinese localization, and may not provide services in Chinese areas. You need to try them out yourself.
3. Good service and experience: The official website interface experience and customer service experience after use. Most platforms can be registered for free, and you can experience it yourself after registration.
