There are thousands of cryptocurrencies in the market right now. Every day, new cryptocurrencies are added, and it becomes very important to be able to easily buy or sell such cryptocurrencies in an efficient manner. This can be achieved through cryptocurrency exchanges. Fortunately, some cryptocurrency exchanges have proven to be efficient, secure, as well as accessible at any time. One exchange that has showcased that it can be one of the best in the market is Bittrex.
Bittrex promotes itself as one of the most secure cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. Unsurprisingly, many of its users believe so as well. With its innovative environment, Bittrex has experienced an increase in its usage over the years. In this article, we are going to go through all the important details about Bittrex, where we also show you how you can open a Bittrex account and use it with ease. Let’s begin with some brief information about Bittrex and its background.
What is Bittrex?
As more cryptocurrencies are added to the market, and as more people become interested in them, it is important to have trusted sites where you can easily buy and sell them. There have been numerous cases where cryptocurrency exchanges were hacked, leading to millions of coins being stolen and assets being lost. To illustrate, Coincheck, a cryptocurrency exchange, was hacked in 2018, where $530 million worth of cryptocurrencies were stolen. Such incidents can lead to a lot of uncertainty and panic when it comes to trusting an exchange. However, some exchanges have built quite a reputation when it comes to security. One of them is Bittrex, a US-based cryptocurrency exchange.
Bittrex was founded in 2014 by Bill Shihara, Richie Lai, and Rami Kawach. All three of them previously worked for Amazon and were also involved with Microsoft. Over the years, Bittrex has been climbing the ladders as one of the best exchanges to use. It is considered a top 15 cryptocurrency exchange by many experts.
In 2018, Bittrex also partnered with New York’s Signature Bank. This partnership made USD to cryptocurrency transactions much easier and accessible to people in the US.
When it comes to trading in Bittrex, it was primarily a crypto-to-crypto exchange, meaning that you could not trade cryptocurrencies in Bittrex with fiat currencies. However, you could use stable coins such as Tether (USDT), which serve the same purpose and have the same value as the USD.
In terms of cryptocurrency support, Bittrex supports more than 300 cryptocurrencies. This is considerably larger than many other cryptocurrency exchanges. In terms of trading pairs, there are more than 800 available in Bittrex. The more popular a cryptocurrency is, the more trading pairs it usually has. The likes of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether have the most trading pairs in cryptocurrency exchanges such as Bittrex.
Bittrex has had quite a success over recent months. Usually, during a bullish trend, the trading volumes increase massively. According to CoinMarketCap, as of August 9th, 2021, Bittrex is the 16th biggest exchange when it comes to trading volume.
Bittrex trading fees are relatively low. The usual charge for each trade is 0.25%. While this percentage might be a little higher than some other exchanges, such a fee makes transactions for new traders much simpler when compared to other exchanges.
Another key feature that makes Bittrex one of the best exchanges in the market is its speed. Developers used elastic computing when building the Bittrex exchange. As a result, trades are almost instant, making Bittrex one of the fastest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world.
Unfortunately for some users, Bittrex is not available everywhere. In 2018, Bittrex made an update that permitted users from countries such as North Korea, Iran, Syria, Cuba, and some others to use Bittrex exchange. This update included individuals with economic sanctions as well. While many understood the stance that Bittrex took, a lot of former users had their accounts frozen, which led to them losing all their assets in Bittrex.
Moreover, whenever there is a huge increase in trading volumes, especially during bullish trends, Bittrex finds it hard to welcome new users. Perhaps the biggest downside of all is the customer service in Bittrex. Many users have complained that Bittrex has failed to respond to questions, where it took many weeks until Bittrex staff finally gave a response. The same can be said about potential issues in the exchange. Since the main focus of Bittrex is security, it finds it hard to focus on other aspects as well. Nevertheless, Bittrex is still considered better than a lot of other cryptocurrency exchanges.
Related: Top 9 Cryptocurrency Exchanges in 2021
Bittrex Security
Perhaps the greatest feature of Bittrex is its security. Even though it may need some improvement in terms of engaging with its users, the high level of security in this platform is what makes it one of the best cryptocurrency exchanges in the market. There has not been any hacking incident in the history of Bittrex so far, making it one of the safest exchanges today.
Bittrex claims that they use cold wallets to store users’ funds. Approximately 90% of all the funds are kept in a cold wallet. Cold wallets are hardware cryptocurrency wallets that do not need to be online in order to work. This makes such funds invulnerable to potential online attacks. This way has proven to be very efficient so far.
Furthermore, Bittrex also uses SSL encryption. This enables more privacy for users within Bittrex so that information from external participants is kept private. This has made phishing attempts unlikely to happen in Bittrex.
Another feature in the security aspect is 2-factor authentication (2FA). While a 2FA is optional, it is highly recommended because it increases the security levels of your Bittrex account.
Since Bittrex is US-based with its main headquarters in Seattle, it is up to date with American laws and continually follows them. To promote an even safer platform, Bittrex employs the Anti-Money Laundering Programs so that it cannot be used for illicit activities. Moreover, Bittrex also uses a Know Your Customer (KYC) protocol in order to ensure that none of the users have harmful purposes.
The verification process in Bittrex has three levels. In the first level are the Unverified users. Usually, Unverified users are new users, and they are not allowed to either withdraw or deposit funds in their Bittrex account.
The second level is the Basic accounts. Such users can withdraw or deposit around $3,000 per day. This might be convenient for new traders. However, it means that you are limited if you want to trade in larger amounts.
The third level is the ID Verified Accounts. Users of this level that do not have the 2FA can withdraw approximately 1 BTC per day. The ones who have the 2FA enabled can withdraw up to 100 BTC per day.
Bittrex Pros and Cons
Each crypto exchange has its pros and cons. Here are Bittrex’s pros and cons.
Bittrex Pros
Fees
While a 0.25% fee per trade might be a little bit higher when compared to some other exchanges (i.e. Binance), the fee is fixed. This makes transaction spendings much more organized and easily calculated, especially for new traders.
Cryptocurrency Support
Bittrex supports more than 300 cryptocurrencies. This is a much larger amount than most other exchanges. This gives users a larger selection option for trading. Moreover, Bittrex continually adds new cryptocurrencies every day.
Verification and Security
Another feature that makes Bittrex better than some of its competitors is the verification process. Bittrex attempts to take as little information as possible so that privacy is respected (i.e. name, surname, address, and date of birth). At the same time, Bittrex maintains high-security levels. It is up to the users to determine the verification level they want to be at. The higher the level, the less limited they are when it comes to trading in Bittrex.
Speed
As suggested earlier, Bittrex was designed in such a way to make transactions almost instant. This gives Bittrex an upper hand when it is compared with some of its competitors.
Bittrex Cons
Customer Service
There have been numerous complaints that Bittrex has not responded in time to some of the questions, criticisms, requests, etc. Even though Bittrex has later apologized to its users for some of the problems that were occurring in user verifications, customer service is definitely an area they can improve at.
Accessibility
As the saying goes, too much of anything might be good for nothing. While Bittrex remains one of the most secure exchanges, some argue that it is more secure than it needs to be. Because of the high level of security, some users have experienced being locked out from their accounts because Bittrex found them suspicious, even if they were not involved in any harmful activity. This has led to users losing their funds. However, Bittrex is working on fixing this issue.
Potential Pump-and-Dumps
The same can be said about the large number of cryptocurrencies supported in Bittrex. Pump-and-dump schemes occur when a group of organized investors purposefully pump the price of a cryptocurrency so high by buying a large portion of the supply, and then they immediately sell them, making the price drastically go down to where it was. Such schemes usually occur with newly listed cryptocurrencies.
How to Use Bittrex?
Below, we will show you how to use Bittrex step-by-step.
Step 1: Sign Up
The first thing you need to do is open an account. Simply go to Bittrex and click “Sign Up” if you do not have an account already. You should enter an email address and type a password. An email verification will be sent to you at the address that you typed.
Then, you need to enter a phone number that is going to be linked with your account. Once you do that, you should enable the 2 Factor Authentication (2FA).
Other verification steps require that you upload a government-issued ID such as a Passport, a utility bill that confirms your address, and a picture of your face (as recent as possible)
Step 2: Fund Your Account
Once your account is opened and verified, you need to fund your Bittrex account. The easiest way to fund your account is by transferring them from another wallet. To do this, you need to go to the “Wallets” section. There, you click the coin you want to deposit, press “+”, and then press “Deposit”. Once you do that, an address will be given to you. You can type that address in the wallet that you are receiving funds from and send the desired amount of tokens you want. This has been the usual way of funding a Bittrex account in the previous years.
Today you can fund your Bittrex account with fiat currencies by paying with a credit or debit card. Only VISA cards are supported as of August of 2021. The other way of funding your account is through a wire transfer.
Step 3: Start Trading
Once you fund your Bittrex account, it is time to start trading. Bittrex is user-friendly, making it very easy for new traders to comprehend how it works.
The first thing you need to do is create API Keys. Go to Settings and then go to API KEYS. Turn on all the boxes except “Withdraw”.
Then, go to “Markets” and select a cryptocurrency that you want to trade with. After doing so, you can determine the number of tokens you want to purchase. To know the live prices of cryptocurrencies, you can check the Order Book. Once you type the number of tokens you want to purchase, simply press “BUY”. Shortly after that, your purchased tokens will be at your disposal.
Related: How To Buy Cryptocurrency? – A Step-By-Step Guide
Bittrex Vs. Binance
When it comes to competition, Binance is likely to be on top of the list. Even though Binance remains the leading exchange in the market, it does not necessarily excel at every aspect.
For instance, Bittrex is much more supported in the US than Binance. Binance users in the US are highly limited, even with Binance.US. Bittrex, on the other hand, uses American laws as the backbone for every new feature they add to the platform.
When it comes to cryptocurrency support, both have a very large number of cryptocurrencies, with more than 300 each.
As for fees, both have very low fees, with Binance offering slightly lower than Bittrex (0.1%). However, trading fees with fiat currencies in Binance are higher than Bittrex.
Both Bittrex and Binance are very secure. However, there have been hacking attempts on Binance, even if they were interrupted. Bittrex remains the more secure choice.
When depositing funds, there is a minimum requirement of deposit in Binance, but not on Bittrex. The mobile app of Binance is much better than Bittrex, however.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Should I use Bittrex?
If you are a new trader and are looking for a user-friendly exchange that is very simple to use, then Bittrex might be just the place for you. Furthermore, if you think security is a priority when it comes to trading, then you should definitely consider Bittrex.
Is Bittrex Safe?
Bittrex is one of the safest exchanges in the world. 90% of the assets are kept in a cold wallet so that it is very hard for hackers to have a chance of stealing your money.
Does Bittrex Support Fiat Currencies?
Bittrex started supporting fiat currencies in 2021. This has not been the case in the past. Users were unable to trade fiat currencies with cryptocurrencies, but that has changed.
Also read: Kraken Review 2021 and A Definitive Guide to Using the Popular Crypto Exchange
Takeaways
- Bittrex is a US-based cryptocurrency exchange.
- It has a 0.25% trading fee.
- It supports more than 300 cryptocurrencies.
- It is considered the most secure exchange in the market
- It employs a KYC and Anti-Money Laundering Program to maintain security levels.
- To use Bittrex, you need to create an account, verify it, deposit funds, and then you can trade.
- When compared to other exchanges, Bittrex excels in security, an excellent user-friendly platform, and a large variety of cryptocurrencies.
- Overall, Bittrex is a good cryptocurrency exchange.