The Best Cryptocurrency Exchanges in The UK

Many crypto exchanges are operating on the market of digital assets. Choosing the right one is a non-trivial task: you need to analyze the platform’s technical capabilities, study its history, and compare working conditions with other media. To simplify the job, our cryptocurrency expert Alex has compiled a ranking of the UK’s best crypto exchanges in 2021.

The list will not include exchanges that are out of fashion. Many people probably know more popular crypto exchanges, but these exchanges gave up positions, and younger but progressive platforms took their places. It is better to focus on them.

Also, this review does not include platforms that provide clients with low-quality support and for which there is a lot of negative feedback from users. Why take the risk if they do not offer any additional benefits and present such risks? Let’s move on to the direct list of the best crypto exchanges in the UK, presented below.

Top UK Cryptocurrency Exchanges in 2021

Some exchanges are better suited for less-experienced traders and retail investors, while others are geared toward institutions or traders making large trades. Exchanges must provide enough liquidity to make trading on them comfortable.

These exchanges allow users to sell and trade cryptocurrencies and fiat money, whether in dollars, euros or yen, and bitcoin or ether. Various cryptocurrency exchanges support their digital currencies. Based on different factors, we created our ranking of the best cryptocurrency exchanges in the UK, with a detailed review of each below.

Best Cryptocurrency Exchanges in The UK: Reviews 2021

1. CoinJar Exchange

Founded in 2013, CoinJar Exchange is a centralized platform. According to some resources, exchange has an average reliability rating. Initially, it was a platform that only allowed to buy and sell bitcoins. CoinJar system for the entire period of its existence has never been hacked, indicating the site’s reliability.

As of February 2021, 13 cryptocurrencies are traded on the exchange; the most active trading pair is BTC/AUD. The maximum trading volume for the last 30 days was reached on February 11 in 858 BTC. The pros of CoinJar include the following aspects of activity:

• reliability
• availability of a mobile application
• low commissions

2. ChangeNOW Exchange

ChangeNow is a cryptocurrency exchange that allows you to exchange cryptocurrencies instantly and at the best exchange rate. This exchanger is integrated into many major trading platforms, enabling you to track the best qualities of the necessary cryptocurrency for the client and make a purchase on his behalf. The service charges a relatively low fee for this service while maintaining the complete anonymity of the user.

Stablecoins USDT, USDT ERC20, USDC, TUSD, PAX, DAI, and GUSD can be used on the exchange. There is also support for USD and EUR. Users can use bank cards to buy cryptocurrencies. There is no registration on ChangeNow; there is no verification as usual. However, if the exchange decides that a particular transaction is suspicious, it may require a KYC procedure.

3. CEX.io Exchange

One of the oldest crypto exchanges, it started its activities in 2013. At first, it was engaged in the provision of cloud mining services and had the largest pool. Since 2015, it provides crypto trading services. It can trade with a leverage of 1:3. It is a multifunctional platform that supports limit and market order types. The platform functions with both fiat and cryptocurrency funds.

Cryptocurrency deposit/withdrawal is automatic with a nominal fee. As for fiat currencies, users can withdraw them to Visa and MasterCard. The site also provides bank transfers, Skrill, SEPA, AstroPay. It does not require mandatory verification, but the verification itself is difficult enough. The pluses of this exchanger can include the rapid crediting of funds and its application.

4. Coinburp Exchange

CoinBurp is the UK and European way to buy, sell and spend the cryptocurrency. With instant deposits and withdrawals in pounds sterling and support in euros and some of the lowest commissions and most effortless registration process. The exchange is recognized as one of the fastest-growing cryptocurrency platforms in the UK and ranks as one of the most popular and reliable cryptocurrency platforms.

5. Binance Exchange

Binance, a centralized exchange, was launched in 2017. To fully work on this platform, identity verification is required. The project also launched a decentralized version of the site – Binance DEX. The platforms differ in their approach to the organization of trading. The decentralized exchange has fewer working instruments and trading pairs, but its level of security is higher.

As of May 2020, Binance has an ecosystem of services that includes a tokenization platform, blockchain incubator, training center, research department, and other projects. To date, the product line of Binance has 965 trading pairs, and it takes one place in the CoinMarketCap ranking by trading volumes. The platform’s interface is translated into many languages, and users have a variety of ways to buy a cryptocurrency for fiat money.

The amount of commission for each user is set individually. It depends on the volume of trades and how much the trader has in his account of the exchange’s internal cryptocurrency, Binance Coin (BNB). The minimum fee for a transaction on the spot market is 0.0120% of the transaction amount, the maximum – 0.1000%. For some assets, there are restrictions on the amount of withdrawal and transfer fees from the system.

On the forums, you can find comments about the fact that the exchange has unprofitable rates compared to other platforms and about the problems with logging in from some browsers. Most reviews of Binance are positive.

6. CoinFloor Exchange

Coinfloor is one of the largest exchanges in the U.K. Founded in 2013, Coinfloor is a centralized platform. The exchange has an average reliability rating and has a good reputation. It supports several cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies, including the British pound, euro, Polish zloty, and the U.S. dollar.

As of February 2021, three cryptocurrencies are traded on the exchange; the most active trading pair is XBT/GBP. The maximum trading volume for the last 30 days was reached on January 29 in 252 BTC and distinguished by the absence of trading commissions. 100% of users’ funds are stored on a cold wallet with multi-signature.

7. Changelly Exchange

Changelly has been operating since 2015, and it quickly became the leading instant cryptocurrency exchange platform. The number of supported cryptocurrencies is 150+. Customers can also buy cryptocurrencies directly with a debit or credit card. The commission for trading is 0.5%. The exchange provides the ability to trade the most significant cryptocurrencies and stable currencies.

The exchange does not require verification and provides an API to take advantage of additional features. Customers from more than 30 countries can also perform transactions between fiat and cryptocurrency and buy a cryptocurrency for three fiat currencies (US dollars, euros, and pounds sterling) and sell bitcoins for euros (only for EU customers).

8. Coinbase Exchange

Coinbase was founded in 2012, and for the first two years, the company provided digital wallet services. The company launched its exchange in 2014. The advantages of the exchange include the convenient purchase of cryptocurrency for fiat currency, the availability of a platform for professional traders, and generally suitable trading.

Due to its intuitive interface, high turnover, and wide popularity Coinbase became exchange No.1 among the beginners trying themselves in crypto-trading for the first time. The option of margin trading may return to Coinbase this year. In 2017, the exchange attempted this type of trading but later abandoned it due to legal uncertainty in the United States. As for regular trading, various kinds of orders are supported: market, limit, and stop.

The disadvantages are frequent blocking of accounts without explanation and the possibility of getting a response from the support service, violations of privacy, and inaccessibility for many countries’ residents.

9. Kraken Exchange

A San Francisco company founded cryptocurrency exchange Kraken in 2011. It is one of the largest crypto exchanges in trading volume with American and Canadian dollars, euros, yen. There are 56 trading pairs traded on the exchange. Trading is done through crypto and fiat currencies.

Cryptocurrencies can be deposited/withdrawn automatically with a nominal fee, which is usually 0.2% of the amount and decreases in the case of increasing trading turnover. Verification is required. The exchange provides several types of verification, and the higher the level, the more opportunities are available to the user for trading.

The pros of this exchange are its excellent reputation, its mobile application, and its high-security system. Still, an extremely complex interface and toolset make it not quite adapted for beginners’ work.

10. Bitstamp Exchange

Bitstamp is one of the most senior representatives of the industry, operating since 2011. The exchange is regulated by international financial watchdogs, making it one of the most reliable crypto exchanges. It supports many payment methods, including bank cards and transfers, and has low deposit and withdrawal fees but has high fees for low trading volumes.

The exchange is not in such high demand due to the small number of traded pairs: Bitstamp supports only 14 traded pairs and only five cryptocurrencies.

A mobile app is available, which combines the functionality of a trading platform and a cryptocurrency wallet. Has a simple terminal interface, quality customer support 24/7.

11. Bittrex Exchange

Bittrex Exchange was founded in the U.S. in 2014, and since 2018 Bittrex International has been open to customers from other countries. The platform supports over 220 cryptocurrencies and more than 500 trading pairs. Simultaneously, deposits and withdrawals are possible both in cryptocurrency and in fiat – U.S. dollars.

Bittrex has its own OTC marketplace. However, there is no margin trading option at the moment. The exchange’s advantages are flexibility, the availability of its own OTC trading platform, and a mobile app for Android and iOS. At the same time, the disadvantages are the mandatory verification and confirmation of one’s identity.

Features to Know About Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin Exchanges in 2021

Cryptocurrencies are developing, this sphere is expanding, and there is not much left before public recognition and wide use, so experts believe. Do you have any cryptocurrency right now? If not, hurry up and buy one because this is the most promising investment area right now. Crypto-assets are predicted to go up sharply in the next 5-10 years.

The crypto world is a place where everything changes in the blink of an eye. New technologies appear here almost every day, key players and trends change much faster than in any other industry. For some people, this direction is too chaotic, but it’s a place with 1,000 opportunities for us.

Investing in the crypto market now is very different from investing in 2017. Back then, the goal was to make money by speculating on this or that coin. In 2020, investors carefully chose the coin that will be successful in the future. Now everything is done to make money from cryptocurrency: there are all sorts of crypto platforms, many countries give the “green light” to cryptocurrency.

The Best Bitcoin Exchanges

The cryptocurrency market today is considered a perfect investment vehicle. Great growth and high volatility allow increasing the capital in a few days. The most popular cryptocurrency is Bitcoin. Many people try to buy it for investment purposes. And the best way to do this is the exchanges.

There are many criteria for ranking the best cryptocurrency exchanges for bitcoin trading. Analytical services use indicators of volume, traffic, liquidity, trust, or reputation. For example, according to Coinmarketcap, the top-5 exchanges in the UK (taking into account traffic, liquidity, and trading volume) is as follows:

• Binance
• Coinbase
• Bitmex
• Kraken
• CEX.io

These services are well proven. There are many transactions per day, and there is always an opportunity to buy or sell cryptocurrency quickly. In addition to Bitcoin, you can purchase forks of this cryptocurrency at most of these services. One of the most popular Bitcoin Cash is traded on each of these exchanges.

The Most Popular Cryptocurrency Exchanges

The most common way to buy cryptocurrencies among crypto-enthusiasts is to use a crypto-exchange. Crypto-exchanges have a wide range of functions for-profit and the lowest commission costs since they are liquidity providers themselves.

So how do you choose the most appropriate crypto-bigger? Suppose you are a beginner and do not understand all the intricacies of blockchain. In that case, the advice will be banal: it is better to use the exchange with more users, and the daily trading volume is much higher than that of the competitors.

As a rule, minor problems arise with well-known cryptocurrency exchanges, such as Coinbase and Binance. Their functionality is straightforward; the site has localization for many languages, often found, and beginners’ training materials.

Cryptocurrency Exchange With Lowest Fees

There are several commissions on crypto exchanges: for deposits, for withdrawals, and for trading operations (commissions differ for makers and trackers). A maker is a user who makes a market by placing pending orders, such as limit orders. The commissions for him are lower. A taker is a user who partially or fully closes an order with his market order. He is charged higher commissions.

Although on some cryptocurrency exchanges, the fees for a maker and a taker are the same. The best crypto exchanges with low commissions in the UK are:

• Binance: 0.1-0.02% broker spot commission; 0.1-0.04% taker (if you pay for BNB, the discount is -25%).
• KuCoin: maker 0.1-0.0125%; taker 0.1-0.03%.
• Kraken: the average fee is 0.26%.
• Coinfloor: fees range from 0.30% to 0.10% depending on your 30-day trading volume.

The Best Cryptocurrency Exchange App

Many large trading floors such as Binance, Huobi, Bitfinex, and others have their official mobile applications. You need to be extremely careful and make sure that you are not downloading a fake one. Such programs are suitable for trading on the go, or there is no possibility to work from a laptop/computer.

In the world of digital money with very volatile assets, the chance of a profitable buy or sell can catch you at any moment. All platforms have different interfaces and functionality; they all depend on which exchange you are used to working. The best applications of cryptocurrency exchanges in the UK:

• Coinbase (iOS, Android)
• LiteForex mobile trading (iOS, Android)
• Blockfolio (iOS, Android)
• Bitcoin Ticker Widget (iOS, Android)

Cryptocurrency Exchanges That Don’t Require ID

Cryptocurrency exchanges differ by many parameters, one of which is the presence or absence of verification, identity confirmation. Some users prefer to remain anonymous; others just want to start trading as quickly as possible, without wasting time waiting for confirmation from the exchange administration.

However, the other technology develops, the riskier it is to do business. Specific regulations were created to reduce such risks: the Know Your Customer (KYC) method and the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) directive.

If confidentiality of your data is a crucial concept for you, the best option for traders from the UK would be the cryptocurrency exchanges Bitmex, Paxful, and LocalBitcoins.

Bitmex has full functionality available without verification, and there are no restrictions on withdrawals, deposits, and trading for unverified users.

Paxful and LocalBitcoins are well-known p2p exchangers. They allow you to quickly find a counterparty from any country globally and buy or sell a cryptocurrency, including cash. There is a restriction: trading should not exceed 1000 euros in one year on LocalBitcoins or 1500 dollars on Paxful.

The Safest Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Every day there are recent reports about rates going up or down, hackers stealing coins from users, or ransomware demanding payments in bitcoins. When working on a cryptocurrency exchange, users need to secure their data and prevent access to their own money.

The top three cryptocurrency exchanges for reliability in the UK are CEX.IO, Coinbase Pro, and Binance. Next are BitMEX and ItBit. CEX.IO works on Know Your Customer and anti-money laundering (AML) principles, has received PCI DSS certification as proof of compliance with payment card industry data security standards.

The service allows (and strongly recommends) using two-factor authentication through calls, texts, or Google Authenticator. We should be the ones to keep ourselves and our money safe, so when registering an account at a cryptocurrency exchange (and at any marketplace in general), use the most complex password and two-factor authentication. These simple rules will help you protect your savings.

The Largest Cryptocurrency Exchanges

The largest cryptocurrency exchange is the exchange with the most significant daily trading volume. This indicator is straightforward to express in numbers because the more traders use the exchange for trading, the more liquid the cryptocurrency exchange is.

Making an objective ranking of cryptocurrency exchanges is difficult. BTI published a study in August 2018, which concluded that cryptocurrency exchanges overestimate daily trading volume by more than $6 billion. More than 70% of the sites overestimate the trading volume, some by several thousand times.

This is how new exchanges are promoted, making money-laundering deals and misleading traders:

• Binance: the daily turnover is $341 500 413.
• Coinsbit: the daily turnover is $82 333 901.
• Bithumb: the daily turnover is $60 684 811.

The Best Decentralized Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Centralized cryptocurrency exchanges imply that trading must be trusted by a third party that is committed to protecting users’ funds and their confidential information. As for decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges (DEx), the transactions pass directly from user to user without the participation of a third party (p2p-trading).

The principle is the following: the user sends his cryptocurrency (e.g., BTC) to the so-called gateway, which turns them into the same number of conditional proxy tokens be traded within the blockchain of the decentralized exchange. These tokens are backed by actual Bitcoins stored in the gateway. The user then creates an order to sell their DexBTC to another proxy token (DexETH). All transaction parameters are securely stored on the blockchain. After receiving the tokens, the user can withdraw them at any time.

The year 2018-2019 has seen a large number of newly developed DEx. Decentralized exchanges worth looking at for use in the UK are:

• Binance Dex
• IDEX
• Bisq Network

The Best Cryptocurrency Exchange for Altcoins

Altcoins are traded on specialized cryptocurrency exchanges. Not all exchanges support all altcoins, and most crypto exchanges support only a limited list of altcoins with the largest market capitalization. For some more specialized altcoins, you will need to find an exchange that supports them.

Many altcoins are showing good jumps in value. Some of them offer good opportunities for investors, such as Tezos, Stellar, Nano, Basic Attention Token (BAT) and many others. As a rule, altcoins are necessary to diversify a trader’s portfolio, and work as a backup to balance profits and losses.

Our first recommendation is Binance. This cryptocurrency exchange offers more than 150 altcoins that can be traded with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Also noteworthy are Bittrex, CEX.io, and Kraken, which support more than 130 altcoins and over 400 trading pairs.

Cryptocurrency Exchanges That Let You Pay With Cash

There are not many ways to buy a cryptocurrency for cash in the UK. However, as cryptocurrency becomes more and more popular, it is possible to find a way out.

The first option is to use a Bitcoin ATM. There aren’t many of them; you can find them all on Coin ATM Radar. If that option doesn’t work for you, you can pay by credit or debit card using the crypto exchanges Coinbase, CEX.io, LocalBitcoins, and Paxful. However, this type of purchase fee will be very high: 3.99% for Coinbase and 3.5% + £0.20 for CEX.io.

Bitit, you can buy cryptocurrency on the cryptocurrency exchange by spending a voucher purchased in advance on Flexpin or Neosurf. However, the commission will also be not minor and will be 8%.

Best Cryptocurrency Exchange For Beginners

For those who are just getting acquainted with cryptocurrencies and crypto trading, it is best to start with cryptocurrency exchanges for beginners, which are maximally optimized for inexperienced users. The trading platforms themselves have quite a complicated mechanism, and the wrong action can lead to loss of funds.

It is essential to understand how everything works, and for this, a crypto exchange should have a friendly, understandable interface, a lot of helpful information, responsive tech support. Also, newcomers from the UK should pay attention to supported trading pairs and terms of deposit and withdrawal of funds.

Artex Global’s editorial staff has highlighted a few good options of cryptocurrency exchanges for beginners. First of all, it is Binance. The main pluses: broad functionality, low commissions, affordable entry threshold, fiat support. Binance is objectively one of the best options for beginning traders. Having analyzed thematic forums, we can see that it is recommended to beginners in 90% of cases.

What’s next?

The difference in approaches to the organization of projects forms a variety of choices. Some clients care about anonymity, others want to be sure that they will be reimbursed in hacking, others are looking for derivatives solutions. Depending on the user’s needs, each of the digital asset exchanges presented has its advantages and disadvantages.

The review also showed that many platforms are developing additional services in parallel and working on new technical solutions. That said, which crypto exchange is better, everyone should choose based on their preferences.

If you are interested in other cryptocurrency exchange markets and then our guides about the best New Zealand cryptocurrency exchanges, the best Canada cryptocurrency exchanges, the best cryptocurrency exchanges in the US, and the best Australia cryptocurrency exchanges will help you.