Decentralized exchanges are global marketplaces where users can engage in peer-to-peer transactions. Not having to act through a bank or third-party system, all transactions are supported, documented, and executed by smart contracts on these DEXs.
Coinciding with the rise of cryptocurrency over the past few years, DEXs have developed over time into comprehensive financial tools. Currently, across all the different decentralized exchange platforms, they receive roughly 12% of the trading volume that centralized platforms experience. This is a drastic change from previous years, up over 800% from just two years ago, demonstrating the rise in movement to these decentralized platforms.
While DEXs have many functions, such as providing liquidity pools for new programs, they are most commonly used for buying, trading, and staking cryptocurrency. With the diverse application of what DEXs can do, many new platforms have sprung up, creating fierce competition within this community.
Yet, DEXs are far from the only place that cryptocurrency is bought and sold. While commonly associated with decentralized systems, there are centralized platforms that also offer users the ability to buy and trade cryptocurrency. Due to crypto’s incredible success over the last 10 years, crossing the 2 trillion USD market cap mark, it’s no wonder that centralized systems also want a piece of the pie.
In this article, we’ll be wading through all the different options when it comes to ways of buying and selling cryptocurrency. Pulling from the very best of both decentralized and centralized systems, you’ll be able to find the right platform for you in no time. We’ll be discussing:
Binance
AAX
FTX
dYdX
Binance
A list of methods of trading cryptocurrencies couldn’t be constructed without mentioning Binance, which is currently the most actively used platform for trading crypto. In a typical 24h period, Binance sees upwards of $62,000,000,000 move through the platform, demonstrating the extreme extent to which this platform is used by people around the globe.
Founded in 2017, this Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange has grown into a mammoth within the community. It offers over 500 cryptocurrencies, as well as a range of virtual tokens and altcoins. Additionally, part of what has made this platform so sought after is the heavy discounts that it offers when using its native token for trading.
With the incredibly high liquidity of the BNB token, users are able to trade with very low fees, letting them push the yield from any trading that they go further than ever before. Equally, this platform has heavily invested in security, providing multi-tier security that ensures the funds of everyone on the platform.
Equally, the platform has superb throughput, with the functionality to produce over 1.4 million orders every single second, demonstrating how advanced this platform is when it comes to trading. If you’re looking for the most conventional option, then the one you’ll probably come across first, and that offers a range of useful trading options is Binance. There’s a reason it’s become so revered!
AAX
Founded in 2019, AAX is the first cryptocurrency exchange that uses the same technology for crypto trading that’s used within the London Stock Exchange. By using LSEG Technology’s Millennium Exchange, AAX is able to extend its services to the London Stock Exchange Group’s partner platform.
With this partnership, AAX offers unbeatable standards of security and performance, pulling from the vast resources of this partnership in order to give users an excellent level of integrity. While aligning with the requirements of institutional market participants, AXX offers users an incredibly broad level of functionality for cryptocurrency trading.
The platform has incredibly low trading fees, offering 0.016% market fees and 0.064% on taker fees when you pay with their native token AAB. They have an active user base of over 2 million cryptocurrency investors, with a 24h trading volume of over $1,750,000,000 USD. Due to the LSEG technology, AAX offers ultra-low latency, helping users get instantaneous trading that brings a whole new level to crypto day trading.
With an application, a website, FIX, and API, traders also have the option to trade absolutely anywhere. With a balance of complicated trading features that are broken down with easy tutorials, both beginners and experts can use this trading platform to move, buy, trade, and sell their favorite cryptocurrencies.
If you’re looking for a product that has an unmatched level of security, reliability, and accessibility, the AAX would be a wonderful platform to start cryptocurrency trading on.
FTX
FTX is a cryptocurrency exchange that directly focuses on trading. Their slogan, ‘built by traders, for traders’ is the central pillar of this platform, with everything they do accommodating this message.
One aspect that sets FTX aside from the majority of crypto trading platforms is the fact that it actively focuses on creating a product that is easy enough to understand so a beginner can use it, but complicated enough in its toolset that it can be used by professional cryptocurrency trading firms.
This platform was founded in 2018 by Sam Bankman-Fried, and has grown into a market that offers over 100 different cryptocurrency pairs. From this comprehensive range of different pairs, users are able to place market orders, add trailing stop figures, and ensure that they can trade in any way that they want.
The main products that this platform offers are future trading, where users can go long or short on certain cryptocurrencies, options trading, and spot markets. While this is an incredibly useful centralized tool, part of that centralization is that it does not offer any services to U.S residents, meaning if you’re from America, you won’t be able to use the platform.
Currently, FTX is the third most populated platform in terms of 24h trading volume, very nearly reaching the $11,000,000,000 mark every single day.
If you’re from other territories and want a centralized platform for trading cryptocurrency, then FTX could be a fantastic option for you.
dYdX
Coming in as our only completely decentralized exchange platform on the list, dYdX allows users to buy and trade some of the biggest cryptocurrencies in the world. Specializing in cryptos that have large market caps, like Bitcoin, Solana, Ethereum, and DOT, this platform has become incredibly popular over the past few years.
In fact, some of the hype that surrounds this platform is that it does exactly what centralized systems like the above FTX do, but while being completely decentralized. dYdX allows users to trade crypto with advanced derivatives, allowing for margin trading on your favorite cryptocurrencies.
In fact, the name dYdX comes from Leibniz’s Notion in mathematics, which represents infinitely small increments of x and y, nodding towards the marginal trading pairs you could construct on this platform. With both margin and perpetual on a huge range of cryptocurrencies, this platform allows users to control the level of trading they participate in, to a large degree.
Founded in 2017 by Antonio Juliano, a former engineer at Coinbase, this platform has received massive interest from investors, receiving a total of $87 million in funding in the initial run of the project. Since these incredible beginnings, dYdX hasn’t slowed down, now reaching a total of 33 different pairs which can be traded on the platforms.
What’s more, it has a total 24h trading volume of upwards of $2,762,000,000, demonstrating the huge amount of currency that now runs through this decentralized platform. If you’re looking for a decentralized way of effortlessly buying, selling, and marginally trading cryptocurrency, then this could be the platform for you.
Final Thoughts
With developments like Web 3.0 marking a distinct movement to decentralized systems, it’s no wonder that cryptocurrency is as popular as it currently is. This change will likely only become more intense over the next few years, with more people understanding what cryptocurrency is and therefore turning to this form of digital currency.
To facilitate the movement of investors into the world of crypto, platforms that allow for the buying, selling, and trading of cryptocurrency have cropped up around the world. From decentralized platforms where cryptocurrency got its beginnings to core centralized platforms that allow for a range of different uses for the bought cryptocurrency, there are now options out there for everyone.
By reading through these top four options, you’ll be able to see exactly what each platform does. From there, you’ll be able to select whichever platform works the best for you and start trading crypto in a matter of minutes. Best of luck on your journey into crypto trading!