Bittrex hit headlines for its ability to convert US dollars into bitcoin back in 2018. Its history generally has been one which has caught the attention of the news – for both good and bad, with its innovations being matched by the sad announcement of the blocking of 31 countries in 2019 due to licensing disputes. For a little while, people questioned the future of the exchange.
However, it’s clear now those bumps in the road weren’t going to slow Bittrex down any further, and it’s come back with a vengeance. But just how good is Bittrex today? After all, the most important thing is how good a product is being provided for its users. Well, that’s exactly what we’re going to find out in our Bittrex exchange review.
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We’ve made it clear in this Bittrex review that this exchange offers plenty to support those who require a wide variety of options. However, that’s not to say that this is not a user-friendly platform. Sure, it’s not aimed at the mainstream in the same way Coinbase is, but we’ve been very impressed by the clarity of the website and how easy it is to use.
It’s as uncluttered as could be considered reasonable, while incorporating the vastness of the options on show. This means that beginners should not feel threatened by its scale. It’s also easy to sign up to, making its appeal much greater than may have been initially thought.
On top of that, its security is something Bittrex takes great pride in, having achieved something rather rare in the world of exchanges through its lack of breaches. This is vital to ensuring consumer funds, in part thanks to the practise of keeping most funds offline.
From a technical standpoint too, we’ve been very impressed, with no issues in our experience. In fact, quick loading times are something they’re frequently praised for. It’s a big thumbs up for this part of our Bittrex exchange review.
There are two key ways to add payments to your Bitrex account: with US dollars, or through bitcoin or another type of altcoin. Other than the fees we’ve already mentioned, there’s no information on fees in this regard – other than the fact they expressly state there are none for wire transfers, and any fees would be on the bank’s side of things.
Domestic wires take between 1-2 days and international wires take 5-10 days to settle. Do note that Bittrex does not have any control over the blockchain, and they cannot make them go faster, so that is also not down to them.
The Bittrex minimum deposit required depends on the altcoin, with many needing 0.1 coin as a minimum. The minimum for US dollar is $50. In terms of a recommended option, that really depends on what you are looking for. For many people, being able to use USD is a big selling point, and that will be the obvious choice for them.
First things first, Bittrex has an extremely large Help section. Considering the many facets to this site, that really is all important. However, we did find some things still tricky to find, but when we did, the information was solid and easy to understand.
It’s fair to say that Bitrex had a tough job on their hands here because of the sheer volume of information available. All in all, we would still conclude this part of our Bittrex review by saying the Help section is very good, but not quite perfect on a structural level.
The live chat team is also available between 6am and 4pm PST between Monday and Friday. It’s not quite around the clock, but it’s still very good and more than most of their competitors offer. Our experience with the customer support team was very good (we will go into the more general opinion elsewhere). If this is not available, you can also submit a request. A very solid effort in this part of our Bitrex exchange review.
We discussed this briefly earlier in this Bittrex review but security, alongside speed, is one of Bittrex’s defining features. They call it an elastic, multi-stage wallet strategy, which means they move coins from cold to hot wallets to maximum security. Once again in this Bittrex exchange review, can’t argue with their results so far considering their history of evading hacking.
They also utilise SSL encryption, meaning all your data is secure. Other things utilised include IP whitelisting, which authorises account activity only from specific IP addresses. This has irked some people, but as a security feature, it’s one which gets results. The same practise is utilised with wallets. They also have a cross-chain recovery service, meaning that up to 5000 USD can be recovered if accidentally transferred wrongly.
Due to all this, the refusal of the New York Department of Financial Services is one of controversy – but it’s no Bittrex scam and they’ve gone on record arguing against it. How much this affects your feelings towards them is a personal judgement call: we can only provide the facts in this part of our Bittrex exchange review.
Finally, all accounts must be verified using government issued identification, and you’ll also need to take a face photo for verification – a passport is strongly recommended.
The bad news is we can’t really give you a comprehensive answer in this part of our Bittrex review – or at least one that we can be sure will still be the case when you’re reading this. Bitrex offers an absolutely huge amount of cryptocurrency to trade with: roughly over 200 at the time of writing. The reason we say roughly and the reason we don’t want to write a list in this portion of our Bittrex exchange review is simple: the selection is ever-changing.
Don’t get us wrong, bitcoin is unlikely to disappear anytime soon, for instance. But because Bittrex is dedicated to keeping up to date with the constantly advancing world of cryptocurrencies, that means this list is always being added to. On some occasions, some cryptocurrencies are also removed to keep Bittrex safe and streamlined. Key examples include Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ripple and Dash, to name but a few.
Although it’s ever-changing, one thing that does remain the same – and is a huge positive in this Bittrex exchange review – is that the selection is always absolutely massive. Bittrex is aimed at the more experienced user, and that means going beyond the basics of what is expected.
Happily, there’s no confusion in this part of our Bittrex review. The Bittrex trading fees are pretty much standard for this kind of business: 0.2% both ways. This is something we really appreciate because we’ve come across so many examples of exchanges which make this information needlessly complicated.
Considering that so many people tell us they’re put off by the apparent complexity of these types of exchanges, making this as simple as possible is a big help. The fact that this is done by an exchange which is known for being aimed at a more advanced user base shows that every one of their competitors can and should strive for something similarly easy to understand.
It’s top marks for ease of use in our Bittrex review here. The only complication is that there are discounts for large orders and promotional fees. Naturally, these are time restricted so the fees you get will vary. It’s good, competitive stuff here.
So, this is another area of our Bittrex review which is a little tricky. There actually does not appear to be any clear section on the site which point-blank tells us which countries are available.
The only clear caveat here is that you are not able to use their services if you’re part of a country or state that is embargoed by the United States. Later, it does actually specify some countries, including North Korea, Iran, Syria, Cuba and the Crimean region. However, it’s believed that other countries are also without access, but we don’t want to say without confirmation.
This vagueness is a flaw and sadly, has to be a mark down in our Bittrex review. The only other confirmed restrictions are those 31 states that were announced in 2019. These include, but aren’t exclusive to, the likes of Uganda, Pakistan, Venezuela, Egypt and more. The good news is that it does appear to be available in most European markets.
This part of our Bittrex review is partially a guide so you can get an idea of what to expect when signing up to this exchange.
Firstly, you’ll need to register an account. This is really simple: just go to the homepage and sign up. All you need is an email and password. You can then verify your account using your phone number.
The next step is to enter your profile details including name, age and so on. Make sure this is correct because next up, you will need to verify your identity.
This requires you to take photos of your identification (preferably a passport), and should take 10-15 minutes including processing. US users will also need to add their social security number. That’s pretty much all there is to it. You can begin by selecting Bittrex trading.
To deposit funds, go into holdings, hit Bittrex deposit and input your wallet address. If you don’t have one, you can get a wallet address at this point.
Now you can choose what you want to deposit. Keep in mind there are different minimum deposits. Do make sure to use the same types of coins with the same address. In other words, if you have created a bitcoin address, any other coin sent to that address could be lost permanently. This is made clear by Bittex but is a common enough issue that we see it brought up by a lot by customers.
Head over to Bittrex markets and choose a currency. You can find the prices in the order book, and if your bid is accepted, it will be sent to your bitcoin wallet. Once again, transaction times and minimums vary because we’re dealing with an awful lot of variables here. When you’re ready to make your Bittrex withdrawal, it’s as simple as hitting the icon and telling it where to send the money.
We were really impressed by how easy this process is made. Once again in our Bittrex exchange review, they’ve made clear that a lot of variety doesn’t necessarily compromise its ease of use.
This is a rather interesting part of our Bittrex exchange review because essentially, the reputation and customer feedback of the exchange is mixed. A small part of this comes from the whole issue with New York licensing, although we do think Bittrex have done an awful lot to prove themselves away from that. Once again, this is an issue they disagree with and have fought against.
The other largely comes from earlier problems with their verification scheme. It wasn’t working perfectly to begin with, and although it’s something they’ve apolagised for, some customers are still not happy.
Right now though, Bittrex does generally have a great reputation, especially for security and speed. Also as those issues don’t seem to have reappeared, we really think we should view them as teething issues considering all their efforts since. All in all, we still view this as a positive aspect of our Bittrex review.
This Bittrex review has been an interesting one. There’s no doubt it hasn’t always been an easy ride for this exchange, and they may not be for everyone. Some people have issues with their verification scheme, and others will simply prefer something less complex, even though every effort has been made to be user-friendly.
That said, there are many things that Bittrex does better than pretty much anyone else. These include the sheer amount of versatility and options being balanced this well – not to mention that ultra-impressive security record. Our conclusion is that some may prefer another option, but there will also be some for whom Bittrex is absolutely peerless, depending on what you’re after.
Trading financial products carries a high risk to your capital, especially trading leverage products such as CFDs. CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
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