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Cryptocurrency trading can be a complex and exciting journey, but choosing the right platform to buy and sell it is an important first step. Binance is one of the most popular crypto trading platforms out there, but is it the right one for you to trade crypto?

In this Binance review, well break down everything you need to know, from its wide variety of coins to its fees and trading features.

Key Takeaways:

Binance is a global cryptocurrency exchange, known for its extensive range of services and high trading volumes. It was founded by Changpeng Zhao (CZ) in 2017. As of now, it has a user base of over 200 million traders from more than 100 countries. The platform handles an average daily trading volume of around $20 billion (source: CoinMarketCap).

Binance, though initially founded in China, established its headquarters in Japan shortly thereafter. This relocation was due to regulatory restrictions on cryptocurrency businesses within China. It subsequently expanded its operations to Taiwan and then Malta, seeking jurisdictions with more favorable regulatory environments for cryptocurrency exchanges.

Binances product suite is diverse, including:

The platform supports trading in over 389 cryptocurrencies, including popular assets like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Binance Coin (BNB). It is also known for its user-centric approach, with a strong emphasis on security and regulatory compliance.

Spot trading fees on Binance apply to transactions involving buying or selling cryptocurrencies at current market prices. These fees are tiered based on the users VIP level, which is determined by their 30-day trading volume and Binance Coin (BNB) balance.

The base fee for spot trading starts at 0.10% for both makers (those who provide liquidity) and takers (those who take liquidity). Using BNB to pay for fees provides a discount, typically around 25%. Higher VIP levels enjoy progressively lower fees.

Heres a breakdown of the spot trading fees by VIP level:

The fees for futures trading are generally lower than spot trading fees and are also tiered based on the users VIP level. The base fee for futures trading starts at 0.02% for makers and 0.05% for takers. Similar to spot trading, higher VIP levels enjoy lower fees.

The fees for options trading are typically a flat rate per contract. Currently, Binance charges a flat fee of 0.02% of the notional value of the contract, which is competitive compared to other exchanges.

Depositing funds into Binance is generally free, but withdrawal fees vary depending on the cryptocurrency and its network. Binance adjusts these fees according to network congestion and transaction costs.

For example, Bitcoin (BTC) withdrawals typically have a fee of 0.00012 BTC, while Ethereum (ETH) withdrawals have a fee of 0.0016 ETH.

Heres a sample of withdrawal fees for some popular cryptocurrencies:

Check out the full Binance fee structure here.

Yes, Binance is a safe crypto trading platform. Heres a breakdown of the security features Binance employs to ensure a secure trading environment.

Binance prioritizes cooperation with international regulatory bodies to ensure compliance. Heres a breakdown of their current regulatory licenses:

Here is the list of complete Binance licenses.

Binance Futures allows you to speculate on the future price of cryptocurrencies without owning the underlying assets. It offers two types of contracts: USD-M (USDT or USDC margined) and COIN-M (crypto margined).

USD-M contracts are settled in stablecoins like USDT or USDC, providing a stable value basis, while COIN-M contracts are settled in the cryptocurrency itself, like Bitcoin or Ethereum, adding an additional layer of risk and potential reward due to the volatility of the settlement asset.

Binance supports perpetual and quarterly futures contracts. Perpetual contracts do not have an expiration date, allowing you to hold positions indefinitely, while quarterly contracts have fixed expiration dates, such as every three months. This provides opportunities to capitalize on longer-term trends or events.

Here are some key insights to consider about Binance futures:

Binance also offers options trading. This allows you to speculate on the future price movements of cryptocurrencies without directly owning them. By using options contracts, you can bet on whether the price will go up (call option) or down (put option) within a certain timeframe. It offers European-style options contracts, which can only be exercised at expiry.

Binance Margin Trading allows you to borrow funds to increase your trading position, offering leverage of up to 5x. It provides both cross-margin and isolated-margin trading.

Here are some key points to consider:

Binance Copy Trading lets you copy the strategies of experienced traders, called Lead Traders, in both Spot and Futures markets.

It offers detailed profiles of each Lead Trader including their performance, PnL, strategies, risk tolerance, and trading history. This transparency helps you choose a Lead Trader that aligns with your investment goals and risk appetite.

When you copy a trader, a share of your profits, up to 10%, is paid to them, creating an incentive alignment between you and the Lead Trader. This feature simplifies trading for beginners and offers a potential passive income stream for experienced traders.

Binance offers several crypto trading bots to automate trading strategies, including Grid, Arbitrage, Rebalancing, and TWAP bots. Here is a quick overview of Binance bots:

Binance Earn provides a suite of financial products designed to generate passive income on your cryptocurrency holdings. Heres a breakdown of the products:

Binance P2P Trading allows you to buy and sell cryptocurrencies directly with other users, facilitated by an escrow service. It also has zero fees on P2P trades.

The escrow service ensures that transactions are secure and fair by holding the sellers crypto until the buyer confirms the payment. This process reduces the risk of fraud, making P2P trading a safe and reliable option for acquiring or liquidating crypto assets.

Additionally, Binance P2P supports over 100 fiat currencies and 800+ local payment methods, including bank transfers and online wallets like Google Pay, UPI, Banxa, etc., providing flexibility and convenience for traders worldwide.

Binance Launchpad is a platform designed to help promising blockchain projects raise capital and gain traction. It acts as a launchpad for new cryptocurrencies and tokens by providing them with access to Binances large user base and resources.

Heres how it works:

There have been 93 projects launched on Binance Launchpad so far. This platform has become a popular way for new crypto projects to gain exposure and liquidity, while also offering users the opportunity to invest in promising early-stage ventures.

Binance Leveraged Tokens (BLVTs) are an interesting experiment that offers leveraged exposure to cryptocurrencies without directly using margin trading. Unlike margin trading where you borrow funds to amplify gains (and losses), BLVTs are a type of derivative product that aims to deliver magnified returns based on the underlying assets price movement.

BLVTs came in two flavors: BULL (UP) and BEAR (DOWN). Bull BLVTs aimed to amplify gains when the underlying cryptos price increased, while Bear BLVTs aimed to profit from price decreases. The leverage ratio isnt fixed but targeted in a range, say between 1.25x and 4x.

Imagine theres a BLVT named BTCUP that targets 3x leverage on Bitcoins price. If the price of Bitcoin goes up by 5%, BTCUP would ideally aim to deliver a 15% increase (3 times the underlying movement). Conversely, a BLVT named BTCDOWN targeting 3x leverage would aim for a 15% gain if Bitcoins price dropped by 5%.

Binance BNB Chain is a powerful blockchain, combining two previously separate chains: Binance Chain and Binance Smart Chain (BSC). This fusion creates a robust ecosystem specifically designed to fuel decentralized applications (DApps) and smart contracts.

The true strength of BNB Chain lies in its ability to attract developers and users. Heres why:

Binance NFT Marketplace has become a popular destination for trading non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Unlike traditional marketplaces limited to a single blockchain, it allows you to buy, sell, and trade NFTs across multiple chains, including the popular BNB Chain and Ethereum.

This flexibility opens the door to a wider variety of NFTs, encompassing everything from digital artwork and collectibles to unique virtual items.

The platform provides user-friendly tools for creators to mint and sell their NFTs, with transparent minting fees. This accessibility encourages a wide range of artists and creators to participate in the growing NFT ecosystem, expanding the variety and volume of NFTs available for collectors and traders.

Binance Pay cuts out the middleman for cryptocurrency transactions. Imagine a system for sending, receiving, and even spending cryptocurrencies, that works anywhere in the world and doesnt charge any fees. Thats the core functionality of Binance Pay.

Beyond the basics, Binance Pay boasts a wide range of features. You can choose from over 200 different cryptocurrencies, including major players like Bitcoin and Ethereum, to carry out transactions. This flexibility caters to users with diverse crypto holdings. Transactions themself are borderless, meaning you can send and receive crypto from anyone around the globe without restrictions.

The benefits extend to businesses as well. By integrating Binance Pay, merchants can open their doors to a whole new customer base: crypto users. This not only expands their payment options but also attracts a tech-savvy demographic.

The entire system prioritizes security. It utilizes robust security features to safeguard user funds and transactions. This makes it a reliable option for those wary of traditional online payment methods.

The Binance Web3 Wallet is a simple and secure tool within the Binance app. It helps you enter the decentralized web, also known as Web3, without the usual hassles of crypto wallets.

You dont need to worry about keeping a seed phrase. Instead, it uses an MPC technology that splits your private key into three parts stored in different places, like your device and cloud storage. This keeps your assets safer by reducing the risk of losing them.

Creating the Binance crypto wallet is quick and easy. You can set it up in seconds using the Binance app. The wallet lets you manage different cryptocurrencies, swap tokens across various blockchains, and explore decentralized applications (dApps). You can also move funds smoothly between your Binance Exchange account and your Web3 wallet, swap tokens at good rates, and earn rewards on your assets through staking and lending.

The wallet is designed to give you full control over your assets. Its a self-custody wallet, meaning only you have access to it. If you lose access, Binance cant help you recover it, so its important to back up your wallet and keep your recovery details safe.

The wallet also has an Emergency Export feature, letting you get your private keys if you ever need to, ensuring you always have access to your assets.

Currently, Binance offers 389 different coins and over 1200 trading pairs. This extensive selection includes coins from various niches such as artificial intelligence (AI), metaverse, real-world assets (RWAs), gaming, DeFi, and more.

On Binance, you will find some of the most popular and high-market cap coins. However, if you are interested in trading low-cap coins, you might not find them on Binance. For low-cap coins, you can check out our review of MEXC, another crypto exchange that specializes in this area.

Binance supports some popular cryptocurrencies, which include:

Binance offers a variety of payment methods to fund your account. Here is the list:

Binance also offers an extensive P2P market where you can buy and sell crypto using over 800+ local deposit methods. This means you can find a payment method that works for you, regardless of your location.

Binance offers various customer support channels to address user inquiries and concerns.

Talking about user reviews, Binance receives 85% negative reviews on Trustpilot. However, most of these are fake, according to Trustpilot. The Binance app receives a 4.6/5 rating on the Play Store and the same 4.6/5 on the App Store.

While Binance offers multiple avenues for customer support, user experiences seem to vary. The live chat function appears to be the most popular choice, but wait times and the effectiveness of communication can be inconsistent.

Binance offers a user-friendly trading platform with a variety of options and assets. The most basic option is Convert, where users simply choose their cryptocurrencies and execute the trade without charts, order books, or fees.

For more experienced users, Binance offers the Classic trading platform. The trading interface might seem complex at first, but it displays charts, order books (showing buy and sell orders), and your trade history. Dont worry, Binance also offers tutorials and guides to help you navigate it.

You can place different order types to control how your trade gets executed. A market order buys or sells at the current market price, while a limit order allows you to specify the price youre willing to buy or sell at. It also has a mobile app for both Android and iOS devices.

Therefore, Binance offers a user-friendly platform for buying and selling crypto, with features for both beginners and experienced traders.

Binance isnt without its drawbacks. While it boasts a massive user base and extensive features, some aspects can leave some users wanting.

One major concern is the limited channels for withdrawing fiat currency, the traditional government-issued money like US dollars or Euros. This can make it cumbersome to convert your crypto holdings back to cash, especially for users in certain regions.

Another major concern is Binances ongoing legal issues (Binance vs. SEC saga), especially with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC has accused Binance of breaking several rules, leading to a long and very public legal fight. This situation has made some users worry about how safe and compliant Binance really is.

Binances CEO, Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, is also sentenced to 4 months in prison after pleading guilty to violating U.S. laws against money laundering.

In addition, some users are unhappy with the limited selection of altcoins on Binance. Although it supports many cryptocurrencies, it is sometimes slow to list new projects. Other exchanges often add new and upcoming cryptocurrencies faster, which can be frustrating for users who want to invest early in new and promising digital currencies.

Another big drawback is that Binance is not available in the United States. Instead, there is Binance.US, which is a separate platform. However, Binance US does not offer all the features that the global Binance platform does. It supports fewer cryptocurrencies and has limited functionality, which means the experience for US users is not as good as for users in other countries. This separation is due to specific US regulations, but it still leaves American users feeling like they are missing out on what Binance has to offer.

Bybit and Coinbase are the best Binance alternatives to consider. Here is a quick Binance vs. Bybit and Binance vs. Coinbase comparison:

To begin using Binance, you need to create an account. Visit the official Binance website. On the homepage, you will find a Sign Up button in the top right corner. Click on this button to start the registration process.

You will be asked to provide your email address and click Next. Now, create a strong password. Make sure your password is unique and secure. You can also enter our Binance referral code QH6V74V5 to get a signup bonus and fee discount. After entering these details, click on the Create Account button.

Binance will send a verification email to the email address you provided. Open this email and click on the verification link to confirm your email address.

Once youve created your Binance account, its important to complete Know Your Customer (KYC) verification. This helps Binance comply with regulations and keeps the platform secure for everyone.

To begin KYC, click the Profile icon in the top right corner. Select Account from the dropdown menu and click Identification. Youll see different verification levels.

Basic verification is the minimum requirement. Start by providing your personal details like name, date of birth, and address. Youll need to upload a clear photo of a government-issued ID (passport, drivers license, or ID card).

You will also be asked for a selfie and a photo of yourself holding your ID. Follow the on-screen instructions carefully. Once submitted, verification typically takes a few minutes to several hours.

Theres Advanced verification, which may require additional documents like income proof. This is optional, but recommended if you plan on trading large volumes.

If you already own cryptocurrency, depositing it directly into your Binance wallet is an option. Go to the Deposit button. Choose Deposit Crypto to see a list of supported cryptocurrencies. Find the one you want to deposit.

Binance will provide a unique deposit address specific to that cryptocurrency. Copy this address and use it as the recipient address when transferring funds from your external wallet. Double-check both the address and the network you select to avoid losing your funds.

For those who prefer fiat currency like dollar deposits, Binance offers several deposit options like bank transfers and credit/debit cards. Go to the Deposit button and this time choose Bank Deposit. Youll see various deposit methods, including bank transfer (SWIFT or SEPA) and credit/debit cards.

Select your preferred method and follow the on-screen instructions. Bank transfers require your bank details and initiating a transfer from your bank account. This can take a few days depending on your bank. Credit/debit card deposits involve entering your card details and completing the transaction, usually instant but with potentially higher fees.

Binances services encompass various cryptocurrency trading and investment opportunities. Navigate to the Trade dropdown menu at the top. For a beginner-friendly experience, choose Spot. On the left side, youll find the trading pairs listed. To trade Bitcoin (BTC) for Ethereum (ETH), for instance, locate the BTC/ETH trading pair.

The center of the page displays the price chart alongside the order book, which shows buy and sell orders from other users. Below this is the order entry section. When placing a trade, you can choose between Market, Limit, and Stop-Limit orders.

Read the rest here:

Binance Review 2024: Features, Fees, Pros & Cons - NFTevening.com